FOOTING n.
The thickened or sloping portion of a wall, or of an embankment at its foot. Footing course (Arch.), one of the courses of masonry at the foot of a wall, broader than the courses above. -- To pay one's footing, to pay a fee on first doing anything, as working at a trade or in a shop. Wright. -- Footing beam, the tie…
FORCE n.
he influence exerted by living structures on adjoining cells, by which the latter are developed in harmony with the primary structures. -- Centrifugal force, Centripetal force, Coercive force, etc. See under Centrifugal, Centripetal, etc. -- Composition of forces, Correlation of forces, etc. See under Composition, Co…
FORMED a.
Having structure; capable of growth and development; organized; as, the formed or organized ferments. See Ferment, n. Formed material (Biol.), a term employed by Beale to denote the lifeless matter of a cell, that which is physiologically dead, in distinction from the truly germinal or living matter.…
FORTH v.
Out, as from a state of concealment, retirement, confinement, nondevelopment, or the like; out into notice or view; as, the plants in spring put forth leaves. When winter past, and summer scarce begun, Invites them forth to labor in the sun. Dryden.
FOX n.
x brush (Zoöl.), the tail of a fox. -- Fox evil, a disease in which the hair falls off; alopecy. -- Fox grape (Bot.), the name of two species of American grapes. The northern fox grape (Vitis Labrusca) is the origin of the varieties called Isabella, Concord, Hartford, etc., and the southern fox grape (Vitis vulpina)…
FUGUE n.
A polyphonic composition, developed from a given theme or themes, according to strict contrapuntal rules. The theme is first given out by one voice or part, and then, while that pursues its way, it is repeated by another at the interval of a fifth or fourth, and so on, until all the parts have answered one by one, cont…
FUNGUS n.
Any one of the Fungi, a large and very complex group of thallophytes of low organization, -- the molds, mildews, rusts, smuts, mushrooms, toadstools, puff balls, and the allies of each.
GAMETE n.
a new individual. In Bot., gamete designates esp. the similar sex cells of the lower thallophytes which unite by conjugation, forming a zygospore. The gametes of higher plants are of two sorts, sperm (male) and egg (female); their union is called fertilization, and the resulting zygote an oöspore. In Zoöl., gamete is…