# General Information (F-H)

F Layer
The F Layer is a region of the ionised gas in the ionosphere, often known as the Appleton Layer. It is the most important layer from the point of view of long-distance radio communications.

Fabian Society
The Fabian Society is a socialist association founded in London in 1883 which aims at the reorganisation of society by the emancipation of land and capital from individual and class ownership, and the vesting of them in the community for the general benefit.

Fabliau
Fabliau is a form of early French literature consisting of short versified tales, comic in spirit and intended primarily for recitation. They were mainly written between the 12th and 14th centuries in northern France, and caricature every subject, but particularly women.

Faeces
Faeces is the term applied to egested food.

Fairlop Oak
The Fairlop Oak was a 500 year old oak tree with a trunk 14 meters in circumference in Hainault forest, Essex. Beneath its branches an annual fair was long held on the first Friday in July. It was blown down in 1820.

Fallow
Fallow is land left unsown for a period, usually a year. Fallowing is an ancient process, it has been known for centuries that the same crop frown on the same land deteriorates after a few years, partly because the soil is exhausted and partly because of disease. By leaving the land for a year, it can recover and subsequent crops improve.

Fan Tan
see "Sevens"

Fandango
The fandango is a Spanish dance involving lively movements accompanied by the chatter of castanets, snapping of fingers, and stamping of feet.

Fantan
Fantan is a Chinese gambling game, in which bets are made on any corner of a rectangular card, with numbered corners. When bets have been made the banker places on the table a head of counters and divides them into fours. The winning number is decided by the number of counters in the last batch; if one counter is left over, number one wins, if 2 number 2 and so on. Fantan is a gambling card game for any number of players, played with a full deck of 52 cards.

Fantasia
In music, a fantasia is a more or less impromptu composition bound by no formal rules.

Fantoccini
Fantoccini was a puppet play popular in Italy in the 15th century and in England and Germany in the 18th century.

Farad
The farad is the unit of measurement of electrical capacitance. A capacitor has a capacitance of one farad if a quantity of one coulomb has to be imparted to it in order to raise the potential difference between the plates by one volt. More convenient units for small capacitances are the microfarad and the picofarad.

Faraday Cage
The Faraday cage is an earthed metallic wire or gauze screen enclosing electrical equipment to shield it from the influence of external electric fields.

Faraday Screen
A Faraday screen is an earthed wire screen placed in an equipment so as to prevent electrostatic but not electromagnetic coupling between components.

Faradisation
Faradisation is the medical application of electro-magnetic fields, named after Faraday who discovered such fields in 1837.

Faro
Faro is an old gambling card game, possibly of Italian origin.

Farthingale
A farthingale was a hoop made of whalebone or wood and used in its most extreme form in the 17th century as a support for widespreading skirts. The farthingale originated in Spain and was the precursor of the crinoline.

Fasces
Fasces were bundles of wooden rods made of elm or birch strapped together with an axe whose head protruded at right angles from the sticks. The fasces symbolised the authority of the senior magistrates of ancient Rome and were carried by the lictors who preceded them.

Fascism
Fascism is a political movement which originated in Italy, deriving its name from fasces, and which holds that the individual exists for the State, to whose good all his work and interests should be directed. Fascism originated in Milan in 1919, as a movement started by Benito Musolini.

Fathom
Fathom is a nautical measurement, being two metres.

Fatty acid
A fatty acid is an organic hydrocarbon with a carboxyl group at one end.

Feast of Circumcision
The Feast of Circumcision was a Roman Catholic festival celebrated on January the 1st in honour of the circumcision of Christ, and in opposition to the pagan feast of Janus held on the same day. Whereas the pagan festival was celebrated with feasting, the christian festival was celebrated with fasting.

Feast of Fools
The Feast of Fools was a mediaeval Christian celebration and merry-making.

February
February (named from the Italian Februus) is the second month of the year, in which were celebrated Februa, feasts on behalf of the manes of deceased persons.

Federal State
A Federal State is a perpetual union of several sovereign States, which has organs of its own and is invested with powers over the member-States and their citizens. This direct power over the citizens of its member-States distinguishes a federate-State from a confederation.

Federation
A federation is a union of States in which the participants retain autonomy in local matters, while a Central Government determines questions of common interest.

Feet
Feet is the plural of foot.

Fehling's Solution
Fehling's Solution is a laboratory reagent consisting of a solution containing copper sulphate, caustic soda and a double tartrate of potassium and sodium (Rochelle salt). Fehling's solution is used in the laboratory as a method for the quantitative examination of sugars.

Fell Running
Fell Running is an endurance test for both distance runners and mountaineers, deriving its name from the hills of northern England where it is mainly contested.

Felo-de-se
Felo-de-se is latin for a felon with regard to himself, and is an old term describing someone who commits suicide. Until 1823 it was the practice in England to bury suicides at a cross-roads with a stake driven through the body, but a statute of that year directed burial in a churchyard or burial-ground, without religious service, between the hours of 9pm and midnight. In 1882 both these restrictions were removed.

Felt
Felt is a fabric which is not woven, but made of fibres, usually wool, which when subjected to beating and vibration grip one another in the form of layers.

Felucca
A felucca is a fast Mediterranean sailing vessel used chiefly for fishing. It is long and narrow, with a high bow and large lateen sails.

Fermentation
Fermentation is the breakdown of sugars by bacteria and yeast.

Fermium
Fermium is a man made, radioactive metal element with the symbol Fm. It is named after Enrico Fermi.

Ferrar's Arrest
In March 1542, George Ferrar, a member of parliament, while in attendance on the house was taken in execution by a sheriff's officer for debt, and committed to the Compter prison. The house despatched their serjeant to require his release, which was resisted, and an affray taking place, his mace was broken. The house in a body repaired to the lords to complain, when the contempt was adjudged to be very great, and the punishment of the offenders was referred to the lower house. On another messenger being sent to the sheriff's by the commons, they delivered up the senator, and the civil magistrates and the dreditor were committed to the Tower, the inferior officers to Newgate, and an act was passed releasing Ferrar from liability for the debt. The king, Henry VIII, approved of these proceedings and the transaction became the basis of the rule of parliament which exempts members from arrest.

Ferret
A ferret is a domesticated polecat.

Ferrite-rod Aerial
A ferrite-rod aerial is a receiving aerial consisting of a small coil mounted on a short rod of magnetic ferrite. The coil is, in effect, a small frame aerial, and the function of the ferrite rod is to concentrate the magnetic flux from a large area surrounding the aerial. Like all frame aerials the ferrite-rod aerial has pronounced directional properties. Its main advantage however lies in its compact dimensions.

Ferrites
Ferrites are a class of chemical compounds having the general formulae MFe2O4, where M is a divalent metal. Certain of these compounds are ferromagnetic, and possess in addition other properties which render them valuable for use in electric circuit components operating at high frequencies.

Ferrochrome
Ferrochrome is various alloys of iron and chromium employed in the manufacture of steel.

Ferromagnetic
Ferromagnetic is a term applied to materials such as iron, cobalt, nickel and certain alloys, which have a magnetic permeability very much greater than unity and which varies with the strength of the applied field.

Ferrous
Ferrous is a chemistry term referring to materials which contain iron.

Fescennine Verses
The Fescennine Verses were ancient indigenous Roman songs, composed extempore, and recited at rustic merry-makings, particularly weddings. They were generally playfully abusive or licentious.

Fibre Optics
Fibre Optics is a technology using light as a digital information bearer. Fibre optic cables ( light guides ) are a direct replacement for conventional wire, coaxial cable and many forms of radio, including microwave. Fibre optic lines actually cost less, occupy less space and provided far more transmission capacity than earlier methods, while providing superior quality due to virtual immunity to electrical interference.

Fibroin
Fibroin (Fibrosin) is an albuminoid protein which forms over 50 per cent of silk.

Fidelio
Fidelio is Beethoven's only opera. It was composed in 1804 and produced at Vienna in 1805.

FidoNet
FidoNet is a world-wide hobbyist network of personal computers which exchange mail, discussion groups, and files. It was founded in 1984 and originally consisting only of IBM PCs and compatibles, FidoNet now includes such diverse machines as Apple IIs, Ataris, Amigas, and UNIX systems.

Fife
A fife is a small flute originating from Switzerland and used in military bands.

Filbert
The filbert is a nut of the cultivated variety of hazel.

FileMaker II
FileMaker II by Claris, was a database publishing tool that combined file management and form generation to give impressive visual impact. FileMaker II supported full font and size control and line and box drawing. It was a good product for generating business forms and was compatible with Macintosh networks such as ApphShare and TOPS. FileMaker II could be used to create and run scripts for automating repetitive jobs such as printing mailing labels and performing searches. Although FileMaker II was not considered a relational database, its look-up function gave it some relational attributes that let users copy data from other files when the key fields matched. Even though FileMaker II stored all the working records on disk and not in RAM, it searched database files quickly because each word was automatically indexed. Picture fields were not indexed. Indexes enhance the speed of searches only not sorts, so large data fits took some time to complete their sorts.
FileMaker II let you generate professional-quality reports and forms using an interface similar to MacDraw.

Filigree
Filigree is fine ornamental work of gold or silver wire, closely interlaced.

Fillet
A fillet was a band worn as a head-dress in ancient times. In architecture, a fillet is a band or listel used as a separation for mouldings.

Filtration
In chemistry, filtration is the process of separating suspended particles from a liquid by means of a porous medium.

Fin
Fins are expansions of the skin or body wall, or the equivalent of limbs, by means of which aquatic animals preserve their balance and swim.

Fine Gael
Fine Gael is an Irish political party. It formed in 1921 from Sinn Fein and was originally known as Cummann na nGaedheal until it changed its name in 1933. It formed the first government of the Irish Free State.

Fine Reader 4
Fine Reader 4 is an optical character recognition program by Abby Software for the PC running Windows 95 and Windows NT. Unlike other OCR systems it is very tolerant of different fonts and has a very high success rate in recognising text from a wide variety of printed sources, not just modern texts produced using standard fonts.

Finger
Finger is a computer program that displays a particular user or all users logged on the system or a remote system. Typically it shows the full name, last login time, idle time, terminal line, and terminal location (where applicable).

Fire
Fire is the rapid liberation of heat by the chemical combination of various substances with the oxygen of the air, a process known as combustion.

Fire of London
The Great Fire of London occurred in 1666, starting in Pudding Lane. It was attributed to be a Catholic plot intended to destroy the Protestant city of London. A monument to the fire was erected by sir Christopher Wren in 1671 - 1677.

Firedamp
Firedamp is the name given by miners to the explosive mixture of the hydrocarbon methane with air, which sometimes occurs in coal-mines.

Firkin
The firkin was a British measure equal to 56 lbs for butter and 64 lbs for soap, and nine gallons of beer.

Fish Kettle
A fish kettle is a large oval-shaped saucepan, usually fitted with a perforated tray with handles, and used for cooking fish.

Fission
In chemistry, fission is the disintegration of the nucleus of a heavy atom with the liberation of large amounts of energy.

Five Hundred
Although Five Hundred is now the national card game of Australia, it was invented in the USA, and promoted by the US Playing Card Company, who copyrighted the rules in 1904. The game is called 500 because the first team (or player) to reach a total score of at least 500 points wins. It is an extension of Euchre, in which the following elements have been added: each player is dealt 10 cards instead of 5, trump is not turned up, but is chosen by whoever is willing to contract for the greatest number of tricks; the size of the pack is adjusted, so that all the cards are dealt to the players except for a kitty of three cards, which can be used by the highest bidder. From the outset, special expanded decks with extra pip cards were made to allow the game to be played by six people. In Australia, 500 is normally played by four people, two playing against two in fixed partnerships; a similar version of the game is played in New Zealand. The antipodean four-player versions of 500 will be described first, followed by versions for other numbers of players. Five Hundred is still played in North America as well, but the standard American rules are rather different from the Australian game.

Fjord
A fjord is a long, narrow inlet resulting from the subsidence of a mountainous coast and the subsequent flooding of the valleys.

Flageolet
The flageolet is an old musical wind instrument, the ancestor of the modern tin whistle.

Flail
A flail is two pieces of wood joined by a leather thong or short metal chain and used for threshing. One piece of wood is held and the other then swung.

Flaminian Way
The Flaminian Way was the great road from Rome to Arimium in Umbria, made under the direction of Flaminius in 221 BC.

Flat-foot
Flat-foot is a deformity of the foot in which the arch sinks so that the whole extent of the sole is in contact with the ground.

Fleet Prison
Fleet Prison was a famous London Prison which stood in Farringdon Street, on what was called Fleet Market, from the River Fleet which flowed into the Thames. Its keeper was called the Warden of the Fleet. As far back as the 12th century the Fleet served as a Royal Prison. In the reigns of Mary and Elizabeth I it was used for religious martyrs and the political victims of the Star Chambers. In 1641 it became a place of confinement for debtors and persons committed for contempt of court, and rapidly acquired a notoriety for every kind of brutality and extortion. It was destroyed and rebuilt several times before being finally abolished in 1842.

Fleur-de-Lys
The fleur-de-Lys (flower of lily) is an heraldic representation of an iris or garden lily. It was the armorial bearing of the Kings of France from 1147 and was also borne by some English families.

Flotsam
Flotsam are goods floating upon the sea, which belong to the Crown unless claimed within a year and a day.

Flourine
Flourine is a gaseous element with the symbol F.

Flower
The flower of a higher plant consists of one or two whorls of enveloping leaves surrounding the stamen and carpels, which are the organs essential for sexual reproduction.

Flower and Scorpion
Flower and Scorpion is a domino game, a variation of Bergen, for two to four players using a double six set (28 dominoes). As in Bergen, players score for making the free ends of the layout equal. In addition, two pairs of dice are thrown before each hand to determine the flower, which gives a bonus when the ends of the layout match it, and the scorpion, which gives a penalty when it is matched.

Flugelhorn
The flugelhorn is a brass musical instrument.

Fluorescein
Fluorescein is an organic compound obtained by heating together pthalic anhydride and resorcinol. It is a red powder insoluble in water, but it dissolves in alcohol and also in alkalis, giving a brilliant green flourescence. It is used as a dye.

Fluorescence
Fluorescence is the process of emission of electromagnetic radiation resulting from the absorption of certain types of energy.

Fluoride
Fluoride is the salt of hydrofluoric acid.

Fluorine
Fluorine is a gaseous element with the symbol F belonging to the group known as halogens. It is the most chemically reactive element (many substances ignite spontaneously in it), and for this reason it is never found uncombined.

Fluorocarbon
A fluorocarbon is a compound in which hydrogen atoms of a hydrocarbon have been replaced with fluorine.

Fluorosis
Fluorosis is chronic poisoning caused by drinking water containing excessive amounts of fluoride. It results in discoloration of the teeth and a disabling arthritis which chiefly affects the spine.

Fly-wheel
A fly-wheel is a heavy wheel whose inertia maintains a nearly uniform speed of rotation under variable load or driving force. The revolving fly-wheel is a reservoir of energy by virtue of its movement of inertia, and its effectiveness depends on the amount of energy which it absorbs or gives up for a given change of speed.

Flying Teapot
The Flying Teapot was a British Bulletin Board System (BBS) specialising in the distributon of pirated software (warez) during the early 1990s.

Foal
A foal is a young horse.

Fodder
Fodder is all manner of foods given to horses, cattle, and other animals. It includes grass or any plant eaten green, or the same dried for convenience or for use in winter, and grain, beans, peas etc. or artificial products made from any nutritional material.

Fog
Fog is a cloud that collects at the surface of the earth without any definite shape.

Fohn
In geography, a fohn is a hot, dry, local Alpine wind produced by the desiccation of an air current in passing over the mountain ranges and its subsequent heating by compression on being drawn into the denser valley atmosphere.

Foil
In metallurgy, foil is a term for a thin sheet of metal intermediate between a leaf, such as gold leaf, and sheet metal. It varies in thickness according to the constituent metal or metals. Very thin tin foil is used for backing mirrors, and in chemistry and electronics.

Folded dipole
A folded dipole is a dipole aerial consisting of two conductors in parallel, only one of which is broken at the centre for connection to the feeder. This construction increases the bandwidth and the centre impedance of the aerial.

Folic acid
Folic acid is a B vitamin essential for growth, and plays many other roles in the body. A lack of folic acid causes anaemia because it is necessary for the synthesis of nucleic acids and the formation of red blood cells.

Folio
Folio is a sheet of paper folded once to make two leaves of a book or manuscript, and hence the term is given to paper of a large size used for this purpose.

Fondant
Fondant is a soft sweet made of flavoured sugar.

Font
A font is a vessel, generally of stone, used in the Christian Church for holding the water for the sacrament of Holy Baptism.

Food Council
The Food Council was a body formed in 1925 on the advice of a Royal Commission to investigate charges of food profiteering and to take action in such cases. It had few powers, and the natural fall in prices soon made it unnecessary, however the Food Council did sponsor the Weights and Measures Act of 1926.

Foolscap
Foolscap is a regular paper size of 13.5 by 16.5 inches, so called because it was originally water-marked with a fool's head and cap.

Foot
The foot is a unit of the imperial scale of measurement of length equivalent to 12 inches or 30.48 centimetres.

Footprint
In computing, footprint refers to the floor or desk area taken up by a piece of hardware.

Forecastle
The forecastle is a short deck in the forepart of a warship. In merchant ships it is the forepart of the ship where the sailors live.

Forelock
A forelock is a wedge put through a hole in a bolt to keep the bolt in place.

Foresheets
The foresheets is the inner part of the bows of an open boat where the bowman stands.

Forest
Forest is a term properly applied to an extensive woodland or to a large tract of mingland woodland and open uncultivated land. In English law, a forest was a territory privileged for game generally belonging to the sovereign and set aside for his recreation.

Forestry
Forestry is the business of growing, harvesting and marketing trees and of managing the associated wildlife and recreational resources.

Forge
A forge is a blacksmith's fireplace or furnace for melting and refining metal.

Formaldehyde
Formaldehyde (methyl aldehyde) is the simplest representative of the aldehydes. It has the formula H.CHO, and is a colourless and very pungent gas. It is very soluble in water. It has a powerful preserving effect and is used in aqueous solution for preserving anatomical specimens.

Formalin
Formalin is an aqueous solution of formaldehyde (40 per cent) and often 15 per cent methyl alcohol. It is used as a disinfectant and as a preservative.

Formic Acid
Formic acid is the lowest member of the fatty acids. It has the formula H.COOH and is found in nature in ants, stinging nettles, and in various parts of the animal body. Commercially it is used in tanning and electro-plating. Its artificial production was developed by Pelouze in 1831.

FormTool
FormTool by Bloc development is a computer forms editor that lets users create forms such as time sheets, expense reports, or activity logs. FormTool can draw vertical and horizontal lines, boxes, and grids. One keystroke can create page-wide lines or change a line into a double line. A drag mode lets you position blocks and copy or move them within or between forms using the windowing facility. FormTool can extract data from dBase, DIF, and ASCII files to merge into template forms. You can also create a form, fill it in on the screen, and print the form and data together. The on-screen data entry capabilities are limited, however. FormTool includes a forms database to sort and organise forms. Information about the forms includes date created, form name, and degree of complexity. A unique quick view lets you see forms before selecting them. The product works with standard-width paper sizes and lets you customise for odd sizes up to a width of 13.2 inches and a height of 13.3 inches. An automatic form sizer determines form size based on file size; this is a particularly useful feature when using the file importing utility.

Formula
In chemistry, a formula is an expression of the constituents of a compound by symbols.

Formulin
Formulin is a mixture of 67% methanol and 33% formaldehyde used as to preserve specimens and as a fumigant. It causes vertigo, anxiety and panic attacks if consumed.

Forth and Clyde Canal
The Forth and Clyde Canal is a canal linking the seas of the eastern and western coasts of Scotland. It was started by Smeaton in 1768 and opened in 1790.

Fortis
Fortis is a powerful explosive invented in Belgium in 1887 and intended for mining.

Fortissimo
Fortissimo is a musical term directing the singers to sing with the utmost strength and loudness.

Forty-Fives
Forty-Fives is a card game descended from the Irish game Spoil Five. It is much played among the Irish population in the New World - especially in Nova Scotia - the most popular version being one with bidding, technically known as Auction Forty-Fives, and also sometimes called One Hundred and Twenty, which is more logical given that 120 is the target score and the number 45 has no relevance to the game.

Foucault Current
see "Eddy Current"

Foundling Hospital
Foundling hospitals were charitable institutions for the care of children abandoned by their parents. They were first founded to reduce instances of infanticide during the 7th and 8th centuries by church authorities and their numbers increased rapidly during the Middle Ages, especially in France.

Fountain-pen
A fountain-pen is a refillable pen which carries its own supply of ink which runs to the writing point as required from a reservoir in the holder.

Fowler's Solution
Fowler's Solution is a solution of potassium arsenite, prepared by boiling together arsenic trioxide and potassium bicarbonate in water. It was used in medicine as a mild tonic for digestive disorders.

Fox-trot
The fox-trot is a ball-room dance danced against jazz music.

Foxbase+
Foxbase+ is a developmental tool based on the dBase data structure and programming language. Foxbase+ creates files with a .FOX extension which must be run with either Foxbase+ Development or Foxbase+ Runtime. A runtime version is necessary to distribute programs to other users. Under the runtime version, Foxbase+ programs may be executed but not modified. The runtime version ensures the integrity of source code by only allowing users with the development program access to the source code. Foxbase+ includes an interpreter similar to dBase from which you can run Foxbase+ programs or any uncompiled dBase III Plus program. In fact, you can run almost any dBase III Plus command from the Foxbase+ dot prompt without worrying about incompatibility. The Product's Assistant is similar to that in dBase III Plus. Foxbase+ has many features that make it easy to use, such as the FoxCentral interface, which allows novice users to take advantage of Foxbase+'s features. A screen and code generator is also included.

FoxPro
FoxPro is the PC version of FoxBASE+/Mac. It is a relational database with a report generator, application generator, and screen painter. Although it is a character-based product, it has some features of a graphical interface: pull-down and pop-up menus, buttons, check boxes, and scroll bars. FoxPro can be used for simple data entry, query and report applications, or complex menu-driven user applications. For less experienced users, it offers an easy-to-use, mouse-driven interface; for developers, it offers an interactive syntactical mode. There are step-by-step tutorials geared to four levels of experience. Most functions run in their own window. Colours can be assigned to any screen area. Applications created in Foxbase+ and dBase III Plus are fully supported.

Frail
A frail is a rush basket for packing figs and raisins.

Fram
The Fram was a three-masted schooner built in 1892 for Nansen's expedition to the Arctic, and used by Amundsen in the Antarctic in 1911.

Framework
Ashton-Tate's Framework is a decision support tool designed to help you organise and analyse all the information encountered in the daily work environment. Framework III contains a spreadsheet, database, word processor with outlining, graphics, and communications with electronic mail. By combining all the software tools typically needed, Framework III lets the user switch from one function or one project to another without changing disks or leaving the program. The word processing module in Framework III is the central feature of this product. It includes an 80,000-word spell checker and a thesaurus; foreign language disks are available for each of these features. You can generate tables of contents, footnote documents, and see formatting such as bold, italics, subscript, and superscript onscreen. Framework III's extremely powerful outlining capability makes the product a perfect choice for professionals who often need to organise and re-organise lengthy documents into many sections with subheadings and titles. Documents can include spreadsheet and database information as well as graphics. Electronic mail capabilities are integrated into Framework III's pull-down menus. Framework III users can communicate with each other or users of other compatible network mail programs. The electronic mail feature uses the MHS (Message Handling Service) format.

Franckincense
Franckincense is a gum resin obtained from trees of the genus Boswellia, used in the making of incense and in ancient times in medicine.

Frangulin
Frangulin is a yellow crystallizable dye extracted from the bark of the alder. It is used to dye wool, silk and cotton.

Frankincense
Frankincense is an incense derived from the resin of the tree boswellia.

Franking
Originally, franking was the right of sending letters free of charge. It was claimed for letters both sent and received by the House of Commons in 1660, and fully legalised in 1764 when all members of both Houses were allowed to send 10 and receive 15 letters a day gratis. The privilege was withdrawn on the introduction of the penny postage in 1840. Today the term is most commonly applied to the mechanical stamping of letters and parcels in place of fixing an adhesive stamp.

Franklin Aerial
The Franklin aerial is a directional aerial consisting of a number of radiating elements, uniformly spaced on a line at right angles to the desired direction of maximum radiation.

Free Lance
The term Free Lance was originally a soldier who fought as a mercenary for anyone who would pay him for his service. Now the term is applied to anyone who works for anyone who will pay them, but is not on the regular staff of any company, such as a writer for example.

Free Libraries
Free Libraries are libraries supported by municipalities, counties or charitable organisations etc. available to the public without charge. The first was established in Manchester in 1653.

Freebench
Freebench was an English right of a woman during her widowhood to an interest, generally one-third, in her late husband's copyhold land. It was abolished in 1925.

FreeForm
FreeForm by Herne Data Systems Ltd formats all styles of standard DOS disks, as well as non-DOS disks, and customized DOS disks (i.e you can make up your own copy protection schemes). It gives complete control over formatting parameters such as sector size, disk density, number of sectors and tracks. It is menu driven, and includes user configurable formatting parameters.

Freehand
Aldus Freehand is a comprehensive drawing program for the Mac that lets you produce high-quality graphics on PostScript output devices. It combines a wide range of drawing tools with colour support, automatic tracing for imported images, special effects, and advanced text-handling capabilities to create a variety of line-oriented illustrations including technical, scientific, and architectural illustrations. Its curve-handling capabilities and colour support provide flexibility for more sophisticated illustration. Freehand has strong text manipulation capabilities. Each block of text is considered an element and can be rotated, mirrored, skewed, and resized.

Freemasonry
Freemasonry is a cult with a secret ritual, considered by some to have originated with Solomon and the building of the Temple, but in its modern form dating from the mid 18th century when the Grand Lodges of England, Scotland and Ireland were constituted. Members are mainly well-to-do businessmen.

Freeware
In computing, freeware refers to free software, often written by enthusiasts and distributed by users' groups, or via electronic mail, local bulletin boards, USENET, or other electronic media. At one time, `freeware' was a trademark of Andrew Fluegelman, the author of the well-known MS-DOS communications program PC-TALK III. It wasn't enforced after his mysterious disappearance and presumed death in 1984.

French
French is a term used to denote someone or something from France.

French Chalk
French Chalk is a form of steatite or talc, used by tailors for marking cloth for which its softness and burability on the material make it very suitable. It is also used as a dusting agent to prevent adhesion of a tacky surface, as a filler in plastics and to polish floors. It can be distinguished from ordinary chalk by its greasy feel.

French Revolution
The French Revolution occured in 1789 and overthrew the despotic Bourbon Monarchy, only to itself be overthrown by the Empire of Napoleon. In 1830 another revolution overthrew the again reigning monarchy, and again in 1848.

French Tarot
French Tarot is a trick taking card game played by three or four players with a 78-card deck of Tarot cards.

Freon 150
see "Dichloroethane"

Frequency Drift
Frequency drift is a phenomenon which affects electronic circuits. It is variations in the natural frequency of an oscillatory circuit of an oscillator due for example, to changes of capacitance with changes of temperature.

Frequency Modulation
Frequency modulation is a system of radio transmission in which the amplitude of the carrier remains constant but the frequency is varied in accordance with the amplitude of the modulating waveform. In frequency modulation the loudness of the applied audio-frequency modulation is represented by the amount of change of carrier frequency, and the frequency of the signal is represented by the number of times the carrier frequency is changed every second.

Fresco
A fresco is a painting done on plaster.

Fret
In architecture, a fret is a decorative pattern consisting of a continuous series of short, straight lines or bars joining one another or interlacing, usually at right angles.

Friday
Friday is the fifth day of the week, the name derives from the Saxon Frige-doeg, the day sacred to Freya.

Frith Gild
A Frith Gild was a Saxon voluntary association of neighbours for purposes of order and self-defence. They repressed theft, traced stolen cattle and indemnified parties robbed from a common fund raised by subscription of the members.

FrontPage
Microsoft FrontPage is a collection of computer programs for Web site managers. It includes the FrontPage Editor which is a WYSIWYG Web page editor, the FrontPage Explorer can show you your site in both hierarchical and graphical views and the FrontPage TCP/IP Test checks your machine for a Winsock layer, IP address, and other items needed to establish a connection to the Internet. It also includes a personal web server and server administration programs.

Fructose
Fructose (fruit-sugar or laevulose) is a simple and very sweet sugar found in plant juices, fruit and honey. It is a mono-saccharose, white, crystalline compound.

Fruit
Fruit is a botanical term for the mature ovary of a plant comprised of two parts, the pericarp and the seed.

Fruit-sugar
see "Fructose"

FTP
FTP is the user interface to the ARPAnet File Transfer Protocol. It is a computer program that allows a user to transfer files to and from a remote networked site.

Fuchsine
see "Magenta"

Full Duplex
Full Duplex is a communications term referring to a circuit which allows independent transmission information in both directions simultaneously. - Synonym: In wire telephony, 4 wire circuit.

Fulminate
Fulminates are the metallic salts of fulminic acid. They can be made by dissolving a metal in strong nitric acid and adding alcohol. The fulminate is then precipitated. Fulminates are highly explosive compounds used for the manufacture of detonators.

Funicular Railway
A funicular railway is a railway for transporting passengers up a steep incline. They often run on the principle of balance, two carriages of equal weight being joined by a long cable which passes over a pulley at the upper end. Small power is required at the pulley to bring one car up the slope while the other descends.

Furlong
The furlong is a unit of the imperial scale of measurement of length equivalent to 10 chains, 220 yards or 201.168 metres. The name furlong derives from furrow-length.

Furlongs
see "furlong"

Fuse
a fuse is a slow burning cord or other mechanism for delaying igniting a charge, such as a mine. Early fuses (slow-matches) were made of lightly twisted hemp dipped in potassium nitrate and ignited. Modern fuses may be electrical attached to a timer, or chemical in which an acid burns away a division in a container holding two chemicals which ignite when combined.

Fusel Oil
Fusel oil is the residue left after removing the ethyl alcohol from various liquors obtained by fermentation, potato spirit being the best source. Fusel oil consists principally of isoamyl and normal amyl alcohols, together with smaller amounts of butyl alcohol, and various aldehydes and esters. It is a poisonous, unpleasant smelling, oily liquid principally used as a source of amyl alcohol.

G6-233
The G6-233 is a Personal Computer by Gateway 2000. It is built around an Intel 233Mhz Pentium II Processor with 64MB of SDRAM (expandable to 384MB), 512KB L2 Cache, 4.3GB, 10ms Ultra ATA Hard Drive, 1 3.5" 1.44MB Floppy Disk Drive, Mitsumi 32X 90ms CDROM, STB AGP 3D Graphics Accelerator with 4MB DRAM, and supplied with a 15 inch EV500 TCO-92 0.28dp Monitor.

Gabardine
Gabardine is a fabric particularly suited to water-proofing, composed of fine botany wool yarn warp, and cotton weft. The name is also given to a raincoat made from the material.

Gabelle
Gabelle was a tax on salt imposed in France from 1286 until 1790. It was levied unequally and caused a lot of discontent.

Gabilla
Gabilla is a Cuban measurement of tobacco. One gabilla is comprised of 36 or 40 leaves, 4 gabillas comprise 1 hand and 80 hands comprise 1 bale.

Gadolinium
Gadolinium is a silvery white metal element with the symbol Gd of the group of rare earth metals. It is found in the mineral gadolinite. It is ferromagnetic (strongly attracted by a magnet). The metal is relatively stable in dry air, but in moist air it tarnishes with the formation of a loosely adhering oxide film which "spalls" off and exposes more surface to oxidation. The metal reacts slowly with water and is soluble in dilute acid. Gadolinium has the highest thermal neutron capture cross-section of any known element. Gadolinium is used for making gadolinium yttrium garnets which have microwave applications. Gadolinium compounds are used for making phosphors for colour TV tubes. Gadolinium is also used in alloys and CD disks and has superconductive properties. Solutions of gadolinium compounds are used as intravenous contrasts to enhance images in patients undergoing MRI (magnetic resonance imaging).

Gaff
A gaff is a spar used in ships to extend the upper edge of fore-and-aft sails which are not set on stays.

Galactose
Galactose (lactoglucose) is a sugar formed together with glucose when lactose is boiled in dilute acids. It occurs naturally in ivy.

Galalith
Galalith (erinoid) is a synthetic plastic material manufactured by the interaction of casein and formaldehyde. It is odourless, insoluble in water, and only with difficulty inflammable.

Galaxy
A galaxy is a congregation of stars held together by gravity.
Galaxy is a shareware, wordstar compatible word processor for the IBM PC.

Gall
A gall is a growth caused on plants of various kinds by parasitic mites (Phytoptidae).

Galley-slave
A galley-slave was a convict forced to work at the oar on board a galley, being chained to the deck. It was a punishment common in France until 1748.

Gallic Acid
Gallic Acid (Trihydroxy-benzoic Acid) is an acid which was first procured from the gall-nut by Scheele in 1786. It occurs in the seeds of the mango, acorn, tea, walnut and many other plants and is a decomposition product of tannic acid. It is used as an important black dye and is an ingredient in ink.

Galliot
A galliot was a Dutch or Flemish ship used for transporting cargo in the late 19th and early 20th century. It had very rounded ribs and a flatish bottom, with a mizzen-mast placed near the stern, carrying a square main-sail and main-top-sail.

Gallium
Gallium is a rare metal element with the symbol Ga.

Gallon
The gallon is a unit of capacity measurement equivalent to 4 quarts or 4.546 litres, 8 pints.

Galvanized Iron
Galvanized iron is corrugated iron which has been dipped in melted zinc to give it a thin coating.

Galvanometer
A galvanometer is an instrument for measuring an electric current by the deflection of a magnetic needle. Basically, it is comprised of a coil beneath a suspended magnetic needle. When electric current passes through the coil it sets up a magnetic field and attracts the needle, the stronger the current the more powerful the magnetic field and the more pronounced the needle's deflection from the earth's magnetic field.

Gamboge
Gamboge is a gum-resin obtained from a tree growing in the Far East. It is used as a paint-pigment, in the manufacture of varnish, in tanning and as a purgative.

Gamma ray
In chemistry, gamma rays are similar to X-rays, forming part of the radiation of a radioactive substance.

Gamma Rays
Gamma Rays are a short, intense burst of electromagnetic radiation emitted by an unstable nucleus of radioactive material. Gamma rays have no electrical charge and can penetrate even thick lead and concrete.

Gamma-linolenic-acid
Gamma-linolenic-acid is a fatty acid found in evening primrose oil, black currant seeds, borage oil and mother's milk.

Ganja
Ganja was originally the Indian name for the dried shoots of the female hemp plant which have hashish resin on them. Today it is a Jamaican slang expression for cannabis and hashish.

Garmisch
Garmisch is a bobsleigh course at Garmisch-Partenkirchen in the Bavarian Alps. It was built for the 1936 winter Olympic games but opened in time to stage the world championships in 1934.

Gas
Gas is a form of matter where the molecules move randomly.

Gas gangrene
see "Gangrene"

Gas Oil
Gas Oil is a liquid petroleum distillate with a viscosity somewhat below that of lubricating oils. It is used in the manufacture of coal gas and as the charging stock in cracking plants where it is broken down for use as motor spirit.

Gaseous
see "gas"

Gauge
A gauge is any scientific measuring instrument - for example, a wire gauge or a pressure gauge. The term is also applied to the width of a railroad or tramway track.

Gauss
Gauss is the c.g.s. unit (symbol Gs) of magnetic induction or magnetic flux density, replaced by the SI unit, the tesla, but still commonly used. It is equal to one line of magnetic flux per square centimetre. The Earth's magnetic field is about 0.5 Gs, and changes to it over time are measured in gammas (one gamma equals 10-5 gauss).

Gavotte
The gavotte was a stately and ceremonious dance, like the minuet, which developed into a stage dance too elaborate for performance in the ball-room.

GCHQ
GCHQ (Government Communications Headquarters) is the centre of the British government's electronic surveillance operations, in Cheltenham, Gloucestershire. It monitors broadcasts of various kinds from all over the world. It was established during the Great War, and was successful in breaking the German Enigma code in 1940. Controversy arose in the 1980s when the Thatcher government banned employees at GCHQ from being members of a Trade Union, thereby implying that Union members were a threat to national security.

GCOS
GCOS is a quick-and-dirty clone of System/360 DOS that emerged from GE around 1970. Originally it was called GECOS (the General Electric Comprehensive Operating System). Later it was changed to support primitive timesharing and transaction processing. After the buyout of GE's computer division by Honeywell, the name was changed to General Comprehensive Operating System (GCOS). Other OS groups at Honeywell began referring to it as `God's Chosen Operating System', allegedly in reaction to the GCOS crowd's uninformed and snotty attitude about the superiority of their product.

Gear
A gear is a toothed wheel that transmits the turning movement of one shaft to another shaft. Gear wheels may be used in pairs, or in threes if both shafts are to turn in the same direction. The gear ratio - the ratio of the number of teeth on the two wheels - determines the torque ratio, the turning force on the output shaft compared with the turning force on the input shaft. The ratio of the angular velocities of the shafts is the inverse of the gear ratio.
The common type of gear for parallel shafts is the spur gear, with straight teeth parallel to the shaft axis. The helical gear has teeth cut along sections of a helix or corkscrew shape; the double form of the helix gear is the most efficient for energy transfer. Bevil gears, with tapering teeth set on the base of a cone, are used to connect intersecting shafts.

Geiger counter
A Geiger counter is any of a number of devices named after Hans Geiger, and used for detecting nuclear radiation and/or measuring its intensity by counting the number of ionising particles produced. It detects the momentary current that passes between electrodes in a suitable gas when a nuclear particle or a radiation pulse causes the ionisation of that gas. The electrodes are connected to electronic devices that enable the number of particles passing to be measured. The increased frequency of measured particles indicates the intensity of radiation.
Geiger-Muller, Geiger-Klemperer, and Rutherford-Geiger counters are all devices often referred to loosely as Geiger counters.

Geiger-Muller Tube
The Geiger-Muller Tube is an electron tube forming an ionisation chamber and used as a radiation counter or meter.

Geissler Tube
The Geissler Tube is a discharge tube, often of ornamental shape, and exhausted to a pressure of a few millimeters of mercury. They are used for demonstrating the luminous effects accompanying electric discharges through rarefied gases.

Gel
In chemistry, a gel is a semi-rigid colloid.

Gelatine
Gelatine (glutin) is a compound of animal origin obtained by the hydrolysis of an albuminoid protein, collagen, found in the bones, catrilages and connective tissues. It is used in the manufacture of soups, jellies and pharmaceutical capsules for drugs.

GEM Artline
Artline by Digital Research, is a program for creating illustrations, mastheads and logos for desktop publishing. With the ability to trace scanned images and seven different zoom levels ranging from 6% to 4000%, its magnifier tool in 100% view shows a screen picture dot for dot as the printed picture would appear on a 300 dots per inch laser printer. The drawing tools include rectangle, ellipse, text and symbol. The symbol selector allows a library of symbols to be loaded and viewed interactively. A sophisticated drawing tool called "The Quill" can be used to draw straight lines and curves, whether simple, compound or joined. Points on a curve can be selected and moved. Anchor points and direction points can also be shown and curve segments copied. The Quill works with Bezier or spline curves. Text can be edited as graphic elements to produce, for example, trailing shadow effects and can also be arranged around circles and curves. File formats supported include .IMG, .PCX and TIFF. Artline generates GEM or EPS formats which can be loaded directly into Ventura Publisher or PageMaker. A Bitstream Fontware installation kit is provided and a serif and sans serif typeface are included with Artline.

GEM Draw Plus
GEM Draw Plus by Digital Research, is a freehand-drawing program that runs under the GEM/3 desktop. As with other drawing programs, GEM Draw Plus provides a desktop of tools, similar to the way the Macintosh works. You can choose elements such as lines, boxes, circles, and other polygons and text in multiple fonts, sizes, and styles when creating an image. The product can be used to create organisation charts, page borders, floor plans, logos, and other types of diagrams. GEM Draw Plus has a library of over 100 pre-drawn icons and symbols which can be incorporated. Any picture you draw can be stored in your personal picture library and used in other drawings. Because GEM offers a windowing environment, graphics can be cut and pasted between windows. GEM Draw Plus offers a choice of colours, patterns, line widths, and type styles. The zoom feature uses arrows and scroll bars to display areas of your picture for close detailed work. A Snap command automatically returns you to the spot on the grid where you were last working.

Gemini
Gemini is a sign of the zodiac.

Genifer
Genifer was an advanced dBase applications generator for experienced dBase users. It simplified the process of creating sophisticated applications and was an efficient tool for decreasing application development time. The product generated structured and noted application code that could be modified. Database design features included the ability to set default field values, define table, file, or range validation (including displaying an error message if entry is not valid), and defining dBase picture formatting. Genifer wrote dBase programs by scanning menus, report formats, and data entry screens that were developed with its own text editor or with a word processor. A field-painting character of your choice told Genifer where to place fields. When exiting the text editor or word processor, users could instruct the product where fields were to be created. Genifer was an excellent tool for prototyping applications. It also helped document an application by maintaining a data dictionary that stored information about the databases and the fields, and a layout file that stored all menus, screens, and report layouts. The data dictionary and layout file could be modified and printed. Custom features let you configure Genifer for your own word processor. You could configure the report-page definition and include comments in the dBase program code or help screens in the application. Genifer supported a full template language that supports all dialects of dBase such as Clipper and FoxBASE+.

Genus
In scientific classification, a genus is an assemblage of species possessing certain characteristics in common by which they are distinguished from others.

Geode
A geode is a round hollow nodule containing earthy matters, sometimes quartz, sometimes agate. Geodes are found in most volcanic rocks and are formed by water depositing materials in the hollows of these rocks.

Geophagism
Geophagism is the practice of eating some kind of earthy matter, such as rock or chalk. It is most common amongst non-industrialised races, and was once thought to allay hunger. However, new evidence suggests that some peoples obtain valuable minerals in their diet from geophagism, as those minerals are not available in their normal food.

Georgian
Georgian is a period of English architecture, furniture making, and decorative art between 1714 and 1830. The architecture is mainly Classical in style, although external details and interiors were often rich in Rococo carving. Furniture at this time was often made of mahogany and satinwood, and mass production became increasingly common; designers included Thomas Chippendale, George Hepplewhite, and Thomas Sheraton. The silver of this period is particularly fine, and ranges from the earlier, simple forms to the ornate, and from the Neo-Classical style of Robert Adam to the later, more decorated pre-Victorian taste.

Geostationary orbit
A geostationary orbit is a circular path 35,900 km above the Earth's equator on which a satellite takes 24 hours, moving from west to east, to complete an orbit, thus appearing to hang stationary over one place on the Earth's surface. Geostationary orbits are used particularly for communications satellites and weather satellites and were first thought of by the author Arthur C Clarke.

Geosynchronous Orbit
Geosynchronous Orbit is a position at an approximate altitude of 37 km above the Equator, where a velocity of about 2 km per hour in the same direction as Earth's rotation makes a satellite appear stationary over the Earth's surface. At such a point, ground-based microwave antennae can remain fixed and achieve linkage with transponders on board the satellite to produce a microwave relay between points as much as one-third of the way around the globe, or about 13 km; this concept first proposed by British physicist and science fiction writer Arthur C. Clarke in a 1947 publication.

Geothermal energy
Geothermal energy is energy extracted for heating and electricity generation from natural steam, hot water, or hot dry rocks in the Earth's crust. Water is pumped down through an injection well where it passes through joints in the hot rocks. It rises to the surface through a recovery well and may be converted to steam or run through a heat exchanger. Dry steam may be directed through turbines to produce electricity. It is an important source of energy in volcanically active areas such as Iceland and New Zealand.

Geotropic
Geotropic is a biological term describing plants whose roots grow downwards into the soil in response to gravity.

Geotropism
In botany, the term geotropism refers to a disposition or tendency to turn towards the earth.

Geranial
Geranial (citral) is a pleasant-smelling aldehyde which occurs in various essential oils. It can be obtained from lemon-grass oil and is used in the manufacture of perfumes.

German
German is a term used to denote someone or something from Germany.

German Silver
see "Nickel Silver"

Germanium
Germanium is a metal element with the symbol Ge used in the manufacture of electronic semiconductors. It has low conductivity at room temperature, but increasing conductivity with increases of temperature.

Germination
Germination is the sprouting of seeds into plants. It takes place after the seeds have been shed, when ripening changes continue. The process begins with the uptake of water by the seed. The embryonic root, or radicle, is normally the first organ to emerge, followed by the embryonic shoot, or plumule. Food reserves, either within the endosperm or from the cotyledons, are broken down to nourish the rapidly growing seedling. Germination is considered to have ended with the production of the first true leaves.

Gerontology
Gerontology is the study of the physiological, social, and psychological processes of ageing.

Gestation
Gestation is the period which elapses between the impregnation of any mammal and the birth of the offspring. Gestation varies from 25 days in the case of the mouse to 620 days for an elephant, with the normal human gestation lasting 270 days (9 months).

GetBack
GetBack by MicroTools Inc. is a full featured GUI backup and restore utility (a text based interface is also present for slower machines). It can backup up to four megabytes per minute. It includes many outstanding features including extensive online help, mouse support, file compression, batch mode operation, point and click directory tree selection, full, incremental and differential backups, and multiple drive support. It formats floppy disks as needed or on demand. Supports all DOS based networks.

Geyser
In geography, a geyser is a volcanic boiling spring. They are common in Iceland and New Zealand.

Gezira Club
The Gezira Club is the main sporting club in Egypt and is situated close to the centre of Cairo.

Gharri
see "Gharry"

Gharry
A gharry (gharri) was a 19th century horse-drawn hire vehicle.

Ghetto
A ghetto was a part of a city in which Jews were compelled to live, shut off from the rest of the city and forced to pay a tax for the dubious privilege of living there.

Gibus
The gibus is a type of opera hat named after its maker.

Gilchrist Trust
The Gilchrist Trust was a fund of money left by Dr John Gilchrist in 1841 to promote education. The interest was applied to the support of scholarships for young men and women after a competitive examination. Scientific lectures were also delivered under the auspices of the trust.

Gill
The gill was an English unit of liquid measurement equivalent to 0.25 pints.

Gilli Danda
Gilli Danda is an indigenous outdoor team or individual game played in India, Sri Lanka and Pakistan with slight variations. Basically the game involves two sticks, one of which is propelled into the air by the other and the opposing team try to catch it.

Gimbal
Gimbals (Cardan Suspension) are devices used chiefly on board ship for suspending objects so that they remain vertical in spite of any inclination of the support to which they are attached.

Gimp
Gimp was a thick, silk-covered cord used to line crinoline dresses. The term also describes a part of a nun's head-gear.

Gin Act
The gin act of 1735 laid an excise of 5 shillings per gallon of gin and was passed in July 1736 to combat the mania for cheap gin in Britain, resulting in a 75% drop in Gin consumption.

Ginal
Ginal is a Jamaican term for a person who misleads other people in order to gain tangible benefit. For example, a woman who deceives a man into supporting her or providing her with goods by telling him that she likes him when she really has no interest other than in material gain.

Glacier
In geography, a glacier is a massive crystalline block of ice or snow. They are found in regions of perpetual snow.

Glass
Glass is a brittle substance made by fusing silica, an alkali and a base.

Gleek
Gleek is a three player card game that was popular in England in the 16th and 17th centuries. The name must be related to the German gleich (equal); a gleek in this game is a set of three equal cards, and four of a kind is called a mournival.

Glucic Acid
Glucic Acid is an acid produced by the action of alkalis on glucose or of acids on cane-sugar.

Glucinum
Glucinum is an old name for Beryllium.

Glucose
Glucose is a simple form of sugar with the formulae c6h12o6.

Glucoside
The glucosides are a group of carbon compounds occurring in plants, and characterised by the fact that on hydrolysis or saponification with dilute acids a sugar, usually glucose, is formed along with other products.

Glutathione
Glutathione (GSH) is a tripeptide and accounts for over 90% of the intracellular non-protein thiols where it functions as an antioxidant and in the activation of T cells. It is especially important in the intracellular removal of the free radical gydrogen peroxide because it provides a substrate for glutathione peroxidase, the major hydrogen peroxide removing enzyme in humans. GSH is present in foods in very small amounts, and is synthesised in the body from other peptides - cysteine, glycine and glutamine. Cysteine and overall protein intake are very important for the synthesis of GSH.

Gluten
Gluten is a tough elastic substance of a greyish colour which becomes brown and brittle by drying, found in the flour of wheat and other grain. It contributes much to the nutritive quality of flour, and gives tenacity to its paste.

Glutin
see "Gelatine"

Glycerol tri-stearate
see "Stearin"

Glycine
Glycine is a simple amino acid.

Glycogen
Glycogen is a polysaccharide retained in the liver as a carbohydrate store.

Glycol dichloride
see "Dichloroethane"

Glycol ether
Glycol ethers are general solvents, also known as cellosolves, which are used in the semiconductor industry. They are also used in surface coatings, such as lacquers, paints, and varnishes; fingernail polishes and removers; dyes; writing inks; cleaners; and degreasers. Three important glycol ethers are ethylene glycol monoethyl ether, ethylene glycol monobutyl ether, and propylene glycol monomethyl ether. All glycol ethers have a low vapor pressure and a high potential for dermal absorption. They are nonflammable.

GNU
GNU (GNU's Not Unix) is a free replacement for the Berkeley UNIX computer operating system. GNU is designed to be freely copyable, and users are encouraged to improve it and submit their changes to the GNU library.

Go Fish
Go Fish is a card game the object of which is to collect books, which are sets of four cards of the same rank, by asking other players for cards you think they may have. Whoever collects most sets wins. The basic idea is very simple and it is often thought of as a children's game.

Golden Gloves
The Golden Gloves is a famous American amateur boxing match. It was started in 1928 as an inter-cities competition between Chicago and New York, sponsored by the Chicago Tribune and the New York Daily News. Winners received a gold medal and a pair of miniature golden gloves.

Golden Ten
Golden Ten is a card game for 3 to 7 players, related to Hearts, played with a Rook deck of 56 cards. The cards are of four colors: red, yellow, blue and black. In each color there are cards numbered from 14 (high) to 1 (low). The aim is to avoid wnning tricks containing red cards (especially the 5 and 10), while trying to win the trick containing the yellow 10 if you can.

Goldschmidt Alternator
A Goldschmidt Alternator is a dynamo-electric ac generator for producing currents of high frequency. A number of windings arranged alternatively on the rotor and the stator are tuned to successively high frequencies. Currents of one frequency in one of the coils, say on the rotor, produce currents of higher frequency in one of the stator coils, and these in turn produce currents of still higher frequencies in the next rotor coil. The process continues for the complete series of coils, and frequencies up to some 100 khz can be produced.

Goldschmidt Process
see "Thermite Process"

Gong Zhu
Gong Zhu is a Chinese version of the card game hearts, in which the queen of spades is the penalty card known as the pig.

Gonidia
Gonidia are the secondary, green, spherical cells in the thallus of lichens which distinguish lichens from fungi.

Goniometer
A goniometer is an instrument for measuring solid angles, and is used in crystallography.

Good Friday
Good Friday is a Christian festival held on the last Friday before Easter, and remembering the crucifixion.

Gorget
A gorget was a piece of body armour for the protection of the throat.

Grain
The grain is a unit of measurement of the avoirdupois scale equivalent to 0.0648 grams. It was invented by Henry III who ordered that a grain of wheat gathered from the middle of the ear to be the standard of weight. 12 grains to be a pennyweight, 12 pennyweights to be an ounce and 12 ounces to be a pound Troy.

Grains
see "grain"

Gram
Gram is the metric unit of mass; one-thousandth of a kilogram.

Gram-atomic weight
In chemistry, gram-atomic weight is one atomic weight of an element expressed in grams.

Gram-molecular weight
In chemistry, gram-molecular weight is one molecular weight of a compound expressed in grams.

Gramaphone
A gramaphone is a now almost obsolete device for replaying sound recordings made on plastic disks. A disk was engraved with a spiral pattern of grooves, and the recording reproduced by a blunt stylus of saphire or diamond which transmitted the bumps of travelling over the grooves to a sensitive material, originally glass or mica which then vibrated reproducing the original sound waves. The sound was then passed to an amplifier, originally a horn and later an electronic amplifier. The recordings for a gramaphone were made by a phonograph, the original invented in 1877 by Edison which recorded the sound on tinfoil, and later improved by Tainter to engrave wax disks instead.

Gramevin
see "Dalapon"

Graph Plus
Micrografx Graph Plus is a Windows-based business-presentation program designed for creating area, bar, column, line, pie, scatter, and table charts. Charts can be enhanced to produce three-dimensional, ranked, shadowed, logarithmic, and log-log charts. Graph Plus lets you create and rotate chart titles (single or multiline) and labels. The program is a good data-analysis tool. Graph Plus runs under Microsoft Windows 2.0 or above and takes advantage of Window's Dynamic Data Exchange (DDE), and links applications to allow the transparent sharing of data between two Windows applications. This provides automatic updating of charts as data changes. Graph Plus uses a worksheet to enter or import labels and data values. The worksheet offers basic spreadsheet functions such as sorting, totalling, and addition and subtraction of rows and columns.

Graphology
Graphology is the study of a person's handwriting to obtain information about his or her personality. Its practice is widespread in Continental Europe, and in particular in Belgium, France, Germany, the Netherlands, and Switzerland with many firms consulting graphologists for advice about which people to hire.

Graphoscope
The graphoscope is an optical apparatus used for magnifying and giving fine effects to engravings, photographs etc. It was invented by Riswell and first exhibited in 1871.

Graphotype
Graphotype was a process for obtaining blocks for surface-printing invented by Witt Hitchcock in 1860. Drawings were made on blocks of chalk with a silicious ink. When the ink dried, the soft parts were brushed away leaving the drawing in relief and stereotypes could then be taken from the block.

Gravel
Gravel is a mixture of coarse sand and small water-worn stones. The term may also be applied to small water-worn stones on their own.

Gravity
Gravity is the force of attraction between two objects resulting from their mass.

Great Eastern
The Great Eastern was a British steamship built in 1858 from the designs of Isambard Brunel. She was the largest steamship built to that date, was 692 feet long and had a displacement of 18,915 tons. She was employed in cable laying, and lay the first Atlantic cable and the Bombay-Suez cable.

Greaves
Greaves was body armour worn at the front of the lower part of the legs and buckled behind the leg.

Greeks
see "Greek"

Green-Bag Inquiry
The Green-Bag Inquiry, so called from a green bag full of documents of alleged seditions laid before parliament by Lord Sidmouth, was an inquiry held in 1817 by secret committees to suspend the Habeas Corpus Act and prohibit seditious meetings which were frequent at the time.

Grey Coat Hospital
The Grey Coat Hospital was a hospital for girls founded in 1698 at Westminster and reconstituted in 1873.

Grog
Grog is a nautical term for rum and water. It derived its name from admiral Edward Vernon who wore grogram breeches and was hence called ''Old Grog''. In 1745 he ordered his sailors to dilute their rum with water, and hence the mixture became known as grog.

GSH
see "Glutathione"

Guardian
The Guardian is a British broadsheet newspaper tending towards a political bias slightly left of centre and popular among school teachers and those involved in social work.

Guignet's Green
see "Viridian"

Guitar
A guitar is a stringed musical instrument played with the fingers or a plectrum.

Gules
Gules is the heraldic name for the colour red. It ranks highest among the colours.

Gulf-stream
The Gulf-stream is the warm north-east drift current of the north Atlantic originating from the equatorial drift.

Gum Arabic
Gum Arabic is obtained from the acacia.

Gun Metal
Gun metal is an alloy of 90 copper to 10 tin (or sometimes zinc rather than tin). It is a typical bronze.

Gun-wale
see "Gunwale"

Gunnal
see "Gunwale"

Gunnel
see "Gunwale"

Gunpowder Plot
The Gunpowder Plot was a plan for springing a mine under the houses of parliament and destroying the king, lords and commons there assembled. It was conceived by Robert Catesby in 1604 and he assembled several Roman Catholics of rank for the plot. Guy Faux was discovered laying gunpowder in the vaults on November 4th 1605 ready for firing the next day and the plot was foiled.

Gunwale
Gunwale (gun-wale, gunnal or gunnel) is a term employed in shipbuilding for the upper-planking covering the timber-heads round the ship, and also for the timber around the top of a rowing boat which has rowlocks for the oars.

Gutta-percha
Gutta-percha is a tough plastic like substance. It is a resin obtained from the Isonandra gutta tree and used in the nineteenth century for making waterproof boot soles, ear-trumpets, door handles, and to insulate submarine cables from salt-water.

Guys Hospital
Guys Hospital is a famous hospital in London which was founded by Thomas Guy, a wealthy bookseller in 1721.

Gymnosperm
A gymnosperm is a plant with a naked seed, there being no proper ovary the seeds being fertilised by the pollen coming into direct contact with the foramen of the ovule without the intervention of a stigma.

Gyroscope
A gyroscope is any rotating body that exhibits two fundamental properties: gyroscopic inertia, or rigidity in space, and precession, the tilting of the axis at right angles to any force tending to alter the plane of rotation. These properties are inherent in all rotating bodies, including the earth itself. The term gyroscope is commonly applied to spherical, wheel-shaped, or disk-shaped bodies that are universally mounted to be free to rotate in any direction; they are used to demonstrate these properties or to indicate movements in space. A gyroscope that is constrained from moving around one axis other than the axis of rotation is sometimes called a gyrostat. In nearly all its practical applications, the gyroscope is constrained or controlled this way, and the prefix gyro is customarily added to the name of the application, as, for instance, gyrocompass, gyrostabilizer, and gyropilot.

Gyroscopic Inertia
Gyroscopic inertia is the rigidity in space of a gyroscope. It is a consequence of Newton's first law of motion which states that a body tends to continue in its state of rest or uniform motion unless subject to outside forces. Thus, the wheel of a gyroscope, when started spinning, tends to continue to rotate in the same plane about the same axis in space. An example of this tendency is a spinning top, which has freedom about two axes in addition to the spinning axis. Another example is a rifle bullet that, because it spins or revolves in flight, exhibits gyroscopic inertia, tending to maintain a straighter line of flight than it would if not rotating. Rigidity in space can best be demonstrated, however, by a model gyroscope consisting of a flywheel supported in rings in such a way that the axle of the flywheel can assume any angle in space. When the flywheel is spinning, the model can be moved about, tipped, or turned at the will of the demonstrator, but the flywheel will maintain its original plane of rotation as long as it continues to spin with sufficient velocity to overcome the friction with its supporting bearings. Gyroscopes constitute an important part of automatic-navigation or inertial-guidance systems in aircraft, spacecraft, guided missiles, rockets, and ships and submarines. In these systems, inertial-guidance instruments comprise gyroscopes and accelerometers that continuously calculate exact speed and direction of the craft in motion. These signals are fed into a computer, which records and compensates for course aberrations. The most advanced research craft and missiles also obtain guidance from so-called laser gyros, which are not really inertial devices but instead measure changes in counterrotating beams of laser light caused by changes in craft direction. Another advanced system, called the electrically suspended gyro, uses a hollow beryllium sphere suspended in a magnetic cradle; fiber-optic systems are also being developed.

H Aerial
An H aerial is an aerial array comprising a dipole and one reflector.

Habanera
The habanera is a slow Cuban dance.

Haber process
The Haber process (named after Fritz Haber) is an industrial process in which ammonia is manufactured by direct combination of its elements, nitrogen and hydrogen. The reaction is carried out at 400-500 degrees centigrade and at 200 atmospheric pressure. The two gases, in the proportions of 1:3 by volume, are passed over a catalyst of finely divided iron.
Around 10% of the reactants combine, and the unused gases are recycled. The ammonia is separated by either dissolving in water or cooling to liquid form.

Habitual Criminals Act
The Habitual Criminals Act was passed in 1869 granting powers to the police to apprehend habitual criminals on suspicion. The objective being to be more effective in the prevention of crime.

Hackle
A hackle is a board set with sharp steel spikes for combing or pulling out hemp or flax.

Hackney Carriage
see "Hackney Coach"

Hackney Coach
Hackney Coach is the old name for a Hackney Carriage. They originated in London in 1625 when there were twenty of them available for hire. During the 19th century Hackney Coaches gave way to Hackney Cabs, which in turn have evolved into Hackney Carriages, now commonly called taxis.

Hadley cell
In the atmosphere, a Hadley cell is a vertical circulation of air caused by convection. The typical Hadley cells occur in the tropics, where hot air over the equator in the intertropical convergence zone rises, giving the heavy rain associated with tropical rainforests. In the upper atmosphere this now dry air then spreads north and south and, cooling, descends in the latitudes of the tropics, producing the North and South tropical desert belts. After that, the air is drawn back towards the equator, forming the North-East and South-East trade winds.

Hadron
In physics, a hadron is a subatomic particle that experiences the strong nuclear force. Each is made up of two or three indivisible particles called quarks. The hadrons are grouped into the baryons (protons, neutrons, and hyperons) and the mesons (particles with masses between those of electrons and protons).

Hafnium
Hafnium is a silvery metal element with the symbol Hf occurring in zircon and used in nuclear reactors in the control rods and also used for light-bulb filaments. It was named in 1923 by the Dutch physicist Dirk Coster and Hungarian chemist Georg von Hevesy after the city of Copenhagen, where the element was discovered (Hafnia is Latin for Copenhagen).

Hail
Hail is a precipitation in the form of pellets of ice, known as hailstones. It is caused by the circulation of moisture in strong convection currents, usually within cumulonimbus clouds. Water droplets freeze as they are carried upwards. As the circulation continues, layers of ice are deposited around the droplets until they become too heavy to be supported by the currents and they fall as a hailstorm.

Hajj
Hajj is the Muslim pilgrimage to Mecca.

Hakama
A hakama is a Japanese garment like flowing trousers, worn by kendoka, and dating to the Samurai period.

Half-hitch
The half-hitch is a type of knot.

Half-life
In chemistry, half-life is the length of time required for one-half of a radioactive substance to disintegrate.

Halide
In chemistry, a halide is a compound composed of two elements, one of which is a halogen.

Hall Effect
The Hall effect is when a piece of semiconductor material with a current flowing through it is subjected to a magnetic field a voltage is set up between the faces of the material which are perpendicular to both the current and the field. It is caused by the charge carriers present in the semiconductor being deflected in the magnetic field.

Hallein SBC
Hallein SBC is the leading skibob club of Austria.

Hallmark
A hallmark is an official mark stamped on British gold, silver, and (from 1913) platinum. Hallmarking was instituted in 1327 by the royal charter of London Goldsmiths in order to prevent fraud. After 1363, personal marks of identification were added. Today, tests of metal content are carried out at authorised assay offices in London, Birmingham, Sheffield, and Edinburgh; each assay office has its distinguishing mark, to which is added a maker's mark, date letter, and mark guaranteeing standard.

Halogen
Halogen is a particular group of elements with similar bonding properties.

Halogens
In chemistry, the halogens are a family of elements consisting of flourine, chlorine, bromine and iodine.

Halon
Halons are organic chemical compounds containing one or two carbon atoms, together with bromine and other halogens. The most commonly used are halon 1211 (bromochlorodifluoromethane) and halon 1301 (bromotrifluoromethane). The halons are gases and were widely used in fire extinguishers until they're use was banned in 1994 because of the damage they cause the ozone layer.

HAM-RPM
HAM-RPM is a knowledge-based conversationalist that reasons with fuzzy information. It was developed at the University of Hamburg.

Hand
The hand was an English unit of measurement applied to horses and silk. One hand being four inches applied to horses or 840 yards of silk.

Hand and Foot
Hand and Foot is a North American card game related to Canasta, in which each player is dealt two sets of cards - the hand, which is played first, and the foot, which is played when the hand has been used up. There are numerous variations of this game and no standard rules. The most usual version is for four players in partnership.

Handshaking
In computing, handshaking refers to hardware or software activity designed to start or keep two machines or programs in synchronisation as they do protocol.

Hansom Cab
see "Cabriolet"

Harmaline
see "Magenta"

Harmonica
The harmonica was originally a musical instrument consisting of glasses tuned by regulating the amount of water in them, and played by running a wet finger around the rim (see copophone). The harmonica was first played by Gluck in 1746. Today the term harmonica refers to a mouth organ played by blowing.

Harmonichord
The harmonichord is a keyed instrument, in which sounds are produced by friction. It was invented by Thomas Kauffmann in 1810.

Harmonium
The harmonium is a keyed instrument, resembling the accordion, the sounds being generated by the action of wind upon metallic reeds.

Harmsworth Encyclopaedia
The Harmsworth Encyclopaedia ("Everybody's book of reference") was published c1910 by The Amalgamated Press Limited and Thomas Nelson and Sons, London in forty fortnightly parts which could then be bound into eight volumes. It was contributed to by over 500 contributors including; John Adams, Professor of Education in the University of London, Professor Bastable of Dublin University and Alfred William Pollard, Assistant Librarian at the British Museum.

Hartley Oscillator
A Hartley oscillator is a thermionic oscillator comprising a triode with an oscillatory circuit connected between anode and grid, and inductive coupling between the anode and grid circuits, via a tapping on the inductive element of the tuned circuit.

Harvard College
Harvard College is a famous University in Cambridge, Massachusetts. It was founded by the general court at Boston on the 28th October 1636 and derived its name from John Harvard of Emmanuel College, Cambridge who bequeathed to it his library and a sum of money in 1638.

Harvard Graphics
Harvard Graphics by Software Publishing Corporation, is an easy-to-use, integrated business-presentation program that produces text charts, organisation charts, and graphs including pie, bar/line, clustered, area, high-low-close, three-dimensional, stacked bar three dimensional, and scatter charts. Charts are generated from imported data or data keyed into the program. Harvard Graphics provides many tools to save time. Speed keys speed up common functions such as printing and saving a chart. Templates allow you to select your chart attributes once and use them repeatedly. Chartbooks hold related templates. An automatic datalink links a Lotus 1-2-3 or compatible spreadsheet to a chart template. Data in 1-2-3 or Excel spreadsheets can be selected using range names for speed and convenience. Macros automate data entry or any repetitive task. A DOS Shell allows access to up to seven other applications without exiting from Harvard Graphics. Harvard Graphics lets you incorporate text into charts and annotate them with freeform symbol drawings. A link to Harvard Graphics Draw Partner gives direct access to drawing tools for modifying charts. You can edit individual elements of your drawing as well as pieces of a chart. The program includes hundreds of pre-drawn symbols and icons to add to your graphics. A built-in spell checker is very useful before finalising a presentation.

Hashish
Hashish is the resinous form of cannabis.

Hearts
Hearts (Black Maria) is a trick taking card game in which the object is to avoid winning tricks containing hearts; the queen of spades is even more to be avoided. The game first appeared at the end of the nineteenth century and is now popular in various forms in many countries.

Heat-stroke
see "Sunstroke"

Hecatomb
Hecatomb was an ancient sacrifice of a hundred oxen, particularly observed by the Lacedaemonians when they possessed a hundred cities. The sacrifice was subsequently reduced to twenty-three oxen and goats and lambs were substituted.

Hectare
The hectare is the metric unit of area equal to 10,000 square meters (2.47 acres), symbol ha.

Helical Aerial
A helical aerial is an aerial array composed of a conductor wound in the form of a helix, the circumference of each turn being equal to a whole number of wavelengths.

Heliotropic
Heliotropic is a biological term for plants which turn their stems so as to expose as much leaf surface to the sunlight as possible.

Helium
Helium is a gaseous element with the symbol He.

Helix
A helix is a circular spiral with all the turns the same diameter.

Helmet
A helmet is an item of clothing designed to protect the head.

Helminthology
Helminthology is the study of worms, or helminths.

Hennin
The hennin was a cornet head-dress in the form of an elongated cone hung with elaborately arranged veils and worn by women in 15th century England.

Henry
Henry is the unit of inductance. An inductor has an inductance of one henry if an electro-motive force of one volt is induced when the current changes at the rate of one ampere per second.

Hepatoscopy
Hepatoscopy is divination by reading the marks on the liver of a slaughtered animal.

Heptachlor
Heptachlor is a man-made compound that was commonly used by American exterminators and home owners to control and kill termites, and by farmers to kill insects in seed grains and on crops. Heptachlor epoxide is an oxidation product of heptachlor formed by many plants and animals, including people, after exposure to heptachlor. Heptachlor is present as an impurity in the pesticide chlordane. However, since late 1978, most uses of heptachlor have been phased out; the chemical is no longer available to the American general public, and as of April 1988, heptachlor can no longer be used for the underground control of termites. Heptachlor is a crystalline solid when it is pure, and a waxy solid as a technical-grade product. Heptachlor epoxide is a solid. Heptachlor is soluble in water; heptachlor epoxide is insoluble. As a pure compound, heptachlor is a light tan solid that smells some-thing like camphor. Heptachlor is also known as: 1,4,5,6,7,8,8-heptachloro-3a,4,7,7a-tetrahydro-4,7-methanoindene; heptachlorodi-cyclopentadiene. Heptachlor epoxide is also known as 1,4,5,6,7,8,8-heptachloro- 2,3-epoxy-2,3,3a,7,7a-hexahydro-4,7-methanoindene; epoxyheptachlor.

Heptode
A heptode is a high-vacuum thermionic valve having seven electrodes, namely an anode, a cathode and five grids.

Heraldry
Heraldry is the subject of armorial bearings.

Herb
A herb is a plant whose aerial parts do not remain above ground following the growing season.

Heroin
Heroin is a powerful opiate analgesic.

Heterocyclic compounds
In chemistry, heterocyclic compounds are cyclic compounds in which the ring system of the molecule contains other elements than carbon.

Heterodyne
Heterodyne is the process whereby two oscillations of different frequencies are combined to produce other oscillations, and particularly oscillations having a frequency equal to the difference between the frequencies of the two original oscillations.

Heuristic Dendral
Heuristic Dendral is an expert system, developed at Stanford University, that establishes the structure of a molecule given the molecule's atomic formula and mass spectrogram.

Hexoic Acid
see "Caproic Acid"

Hexyl hydride
see "N-hexane"

Hieroglyphics
Hieroglyphics are signs comprising the picture writing of the ancient Egyptians.

High Tension
High Tension is a comparative term used in electronics to denote high voltages.

Highgate Diving Club
Highgate Diving Club is a diving club in London which was founded in 1928. Members of the club have represented Great Britain in many Olympic, European and Commonwealth games. The club fought for the advancement of diving.

HiJaak
Hijaak is a graphics accessory program that lets you convert graphic files from one format to another. The program captures screen images and graphics data (both text and data) in CGA, EGA, VGA, ATT, DEB, and Hercules graphics resolutions, and converts graphic files from one format to another on a variety of machines including the IBM PC, Macintosh, and Amiga. HiJaak is ideal for desktop publishing or presentation graphics users who want to move a graphic image into a document where the formats are incompatible. For example, bringing a vector-based drawing or CAD picture into a painting package or bringing a Mac paint image into an IBM paint package.

Himation
An himation was a woollen cloak worn by the ancient Greeks.

Hinterland
Hinterland is a country lying immediately behind a coast, river or frontier.

Hitch and Kick
Hitch and Kick was a form of High Jump popular in the Border Games. The competitor had to kick an inflated bladder hung from a pulley above him.

Hitless Wonders
see "Chicago White Sox"

Hodometer
A hodometer was an early device for measuring the distance travelled by a vehicle.

Hoe
A hoe is an instrument for cutting up weeds and loosening the earth in fields and gardens.

Hog Cholera
see "Swine Fever"

Hogshead
The hogshead was a British measure of tobacco ranging from 12 to 18 cwt and of liquid, applied to beer being equal to six firkins and to wine 63 gallons.

Hola
Hola is a sort of trick taking game for two or four players, but it is unusual in that a card can only be beaten by a card of equal value, or by a wild card, sevens and twos being wild. The object is to capture aces, tens and the last trick. Hola is a Slavic word meaning "nakedness". Hola may be of Polish origin. It is closely related to the Czech game Sedma (seven). Hola is for two players, or four players in fixed partnerships, partners sitting opposite. A standard 52 card pack is used. Aces and tens are worth 10 points each - the other cards have no value. There are also 10 points for winning the last trick. The object is to take as many of the available 90 points as possible by winning tricks containing aces and tens, and winning the last trick. Sevens and twos are wild, and can be used to capture cards of any rank.

Hole in One
Hole in One is a strong golden ale from the Ash Vine brewery at Frome in Somerset.

Holophote
The holophote was a form of lamp in which the light was converged and directed to a particular spot to prevent collisions at sea etc.

Honey
Honey is a sweet syrup made by bees from nectar.

Hooliganism
The term hooliganism derives from Hooley Gang, and has been used since 1900 to describe street ruffians and rowdiness. It was originally applied chiefly to the East-end of London, and conferences were held between 1900 and 1902 in London to try to combat the problem by encouraging clubs and brigades for the boys.

Horn Books
Horn Books were used in education in England from early times to the 18th century, and were tablets on which were inscribed the alphabet, the nine digits and other basic information, and protected by a thin film of transparent horn.

Horse Trials
see "Three-Day Event"

Horsepower
Horsepower is an imperial unit of power, now replaced by the watt. It was first used by the engineer James Watt, who employed it to compare the power of steam engines with that of horses. In the UK, one horsepower is equal to 550 foot-pounds per second or 745.7 watts. In the USA this figure has been rounded to 746 watts, and in the metric system it is 735.5 watts.

Horseshoe Pitching
Horseshoe Pitching is an old English game now popular in the USA in which people toss horse shoes at a near vertical spike, aiming to encircle the spike with the shoe, or get it as close as possible.

House
A house is a building for human habitation.

House of Tudor
The House of Tudor was an English dynasty descended on the male side from Owen Tudor, a Welsh knight who married Catherine, widow of Henry V, and was the grandfather of Henry VII; and on the female side from Edward III through the Beauforts and John of Gaunt. The Tudor monarchs were Henry VII, Henry VII, Edward VI, Mary, and Elizabeth I.

Hoy
A hoy was a small vessel, usually rigged as a sloop, and employed in carrying goods and passengers short distances coastwise, and sometimes in conveying goods and people to and from larger vessels and the shore.

Huff
In the game of draughts, if a player in a position to capture an opposing piece neglects to do so, his opponent may "huff" (remove from the board) the piece which should have made the capture, if he so wishes to do so.

Humus
Humus is partly decomposed organic matter. Found in soil.

Hundredweight
The hundredweight (cwt) is a unit of measurement of the avoirdupois scale equivalent to 4 quarters, 112 pounds or 50.8 kilograms.

Hydrate
In chemistry, a hydrate is a compound containing water of crystallisation.

Hydration
In chemistry, hydration is the combination of water and another substance to produce a single product. It is the opposite of dehydration.

Hydride
In chemistry, a hydride is a compound containing a negatively charged hydrogen, as in sodium hydride(Na-H).

Hydrocarbon
A hydrocarbon is a chemical containing only hydrogen and carbon.

Hydrocarbons
see "hydrocarbon"

Hydrocyanic Acid
Hydrocyanic Acid (Prussic Acid) was discovered by Scheele in 1782, and first prepared in a pure state by Gay-Lussac in 1811. It is found in the kernels of bitter almonds, peaches, apricots, plums, cherries and quinces and various plants leaves including beech, cherry and laurel. It is one of the most toxic substances known and is used to prepare cyanide.

Hydrogen
Hydrogen is a non-metallic gaseous element with the symbol H. In its free gaseous state it is only found in nature in small quantities issuing from crevices in volcanic districts or near petroleum wells. It exists in combination everywhere; as a constituent of water, of all plants and animals, and in numerous minerals, abundantly in coal, petroleum, bitumen, etc., and to a lesser degree in rocks. The element may be separated from any of its compounds, but it is usually obtained from water or dilute acids.

Hydrogenation
In chemistry, hydrogenation is a chemical reaction in which hydrogen is added to a compound.

Hydrolysis
In chemistry, hydrolysis is chemical decomposition by which a compound is resolved into other compounds by taking up the elements of hydrogen.

Hydroxide
A hydroxide is an inorganic compound containing one or more hydroxyl groups.

Hydroxy-toluene
see "Cresol"

Hydroxybenzene
see "Carbolic Acid"

Hyosophen
see "Phenobarbital"

Hypertonic solution
In chemistry, a hypertonic solution is a solution of higher osmotic pressure than another with which it is compared.

Hypnosis
Hypnosis was developed in 1843 by Braid, a surgeon of Manchester, from the study of mesmerism.

Hypo
see "Sodium thiosulphate"

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