F Fahrenheit, copyright 2002 Robbin D. KnappFahrenheit, F., Fah., Fahr. n.
a scale of temperature, named for Gabriel Daniel Fahrenheit (1686-1736), the German physicist who devised it (in German-speaking countries Celsius is now used exclusively).
  • "Engine parts operated at a temperature of 2500 degrees Fahrenheit, well above the melt temperature of most alloys, which turned to soup at 2200 degrees." Michael Crichton, Airframe, 1996, p. 127.
  • "A Fahrenheit's thermometer, in a mahogany case, and with a barometer annexed, was hung against the wall, at some little distance from the stove, which Benjamin consulted, every half-hour, with prodigious veneration." James Fenimore Cooper, The Pioneers, p. 66.
  • "This man bathed for the space of five minutes, and without any injury to his sensibility or the surface of the skin, his legs in oil, heated at 97° of Réaumur (250 degrees of Fahrenheit) and with the same oil, at the same degree of heat, he washed his face and superior extremities." Harry Houdini, Miracle Mongers and Their Methods: A Complete Expose, 1920, p. 39.
  • "On this very 2nd of October he had dismissed James Forster, because that luckless youth had brought him shaving-water at eighty-four degrees Fahrenheit instead of eighty-six; and he was awaiting his successor, who was due at the house between eleven and half-past." Jules Verne, Around the World in Eighty Days, 1873, p. 5.
  • "I'm burning through the sky, 200 degrees, that's why they call me Mr. Fahrenheit." Queen, "Don't Stop Me Now", Jazz, audio CD.
  • "He recently lost fifty-two pounds by refusing to eat anything that says 'nonfat' on it, and is working on his next film, titled Fahrenheit 9/11." Michael Moore, Dude, Where's My Country?, 2003, p. 251.
  • Fahrenheit 451, by Ray Bradbury.
  • Fahrenheit 9/11, directed by Michael Moore.
  • More books and products related to Fahrenheit
Fahrvergnügen, Fahrvergnugen n.
from Fahrvergnügen "driving pleasure": used by Volkswagen in an advertising campaign in the US, no doubt in order to emphasize European quality [< German fahren "to drive" + Vergnügen "pleasure"]. This entry suggested by Bernhard Heger. See also Vorsprung durch Technik.
  • "THE OTHER DAY, I LEARNED that Fahrvergnügen—the clever-sounding German slogan that Volkswagen has been using for years—is a real word, not just a creation of the folks who brought us the New Beetle." Andrew Gore, "Experience iBookgruven" Macworld, Jul. 2001.
  • "The majority were attracted by a difficult-to-define driveability—perhaps the quality that, back in the dark days, VW sold as 'Fahrvergnugen.'", "Volkswagen Jetta: Close to groovin'" AutoWeek, Jun. 28, 1999.
  • "Already television viewers in the U.S. have seen signs of a heightened linguistic confidence on the part of the Germans. One example: a Volkswagen ad campaign that centers on the word Fahrvergnugen, or joy in driving--however mispronounced it may be in the commercials. Only a few years ago, the use of a German word in an advertisement in English would have been avoided, if only because the sound of German was associated with the bad guys in World War II movies. Today Fahr--and other Vergnugen--may be here to stay." Daniel Benjamin, "And Now for Sprachvergnugen" Time, Jan. 9, 1990, p. 79.
faltboat n.
from Faltboot "folding boat": a light, collapsible boat made like a kayak, foldboat.
feldspar, felspar n. feldspathic, feldspathose, felspathic adj.
from Feldspath, Feldspat "field spar": any of several crystalline minerals made up mainly of aluminum silicates, usually glassy and moderately hard, found in igneous rocks.
Felsenmeer n.
"sea of rocks": chaotic, block-like assemblage of fractured rocks or rock surfaces.
  • "The result is mile upon mile of jagged, oddly angled slabs of stone strewn about in wobbly piles known to science as Felsenmeer (literally, 'sea of rocks')." Bill Bryson, A Walk in the Woods, 1997.
felspar n.
See feldspar.
-fest, fest n.
from Fest "festival celebration": festive occasion, as in songfest; (slang) bout, session as in gabfest; (slang) an occasion with much, as in slugfest [< Middle High German fest, vest < Latin festum "festival", related to English feast and French fête]. This entry suggested by Alexandra Schepelmann. See also festschrift.
  • fest, Autofest, copyright 2005 Robbin D. Knapp - click to enlargeAnnual Autofest at Spindles Auto Club
  • "The menopause one [documentary] was a lulu, a marathon gripefest, an orgy of self-pity, women moaning and grousing about their sad lives and the uncomprehending world around them, and then some of those women showed up on the mercury-poisoning one too—the symptoms of that (forgetfulness, fatigue, depression, achiness) being symptoms of menopause as well." p. 14, "They talked about what a shoozefest the conference was, compared to other years, and my face burned." p. 122, "WSJO was in the midst of a major screamfest, Wagner or the Berlioz Requiem or something, Amazons with their heads thrown back and their mouths open wide as grapefruit, their harpy hair stuck out, their spears in hand." p. 125, "She went every morning to her exercise group and enjoyed a long lunch and a bridge game and a gabfest with her cronies and then a nap." p. 218, Garrison Keillor, Wobegon Boy, 1997.
  • "Far from the integrated love fest of the 1960s, the Gombe chimpanzees were now more like the Carrington family of television's Dynasty." Jonathan Marks, What It Means to Be 98% Chimpanzee, 2003, p. 164.
  • Jazz Fest, Simpsons"JAZZ FEST", Poster in Lisa Simpson's room, "Summer of 4 Ft. 2" and several other episodes, The Simpsons, 1996.
  • "Time for some serious flamefesting!", "eoff (end of flame fest :-)" Chris DiBona et al., Open Sources: Voices from the Open Source Revolution, 1999.
  • "They even allowed BATF spokesperson David Troy get in on the slugfest; Troy declared that Koresh was just a 'cheap thug who interprets the Bible through the barrel of a gun.'" Carol Moore, Davidian Massacre: Disturbing Questions About Waco Which Must Be Answered, 1996.
  • "'All's quiet along the Potomac. Those Beecher natives are having some sort of a songfest, though.'" Victor Appleton, Tom Swift in the Land of Wonders, 1917.
  • "Fiddle-Fest", composed by James E. Clemens, 2003
  • "Winterfest", composed by Stephen Bulla, 2002
festschrift, Festschrift n. [pl. Festschriften, festschrifts]
from Festschrift "celebration writing": commemorative volume, collection of writings usually by different authors especially in honor of a scholar. See also fest.
  • "I was in the Library today, looking through the files of The Times Literary Supplement for something, when quite by chance I turned up a long review of that Festschrift for Jackson Milestone that I contributed to in '64, remember?" David Lodge, Changing Places, 1975, p. 126.
  • "In a multiauthor book, such as a festschrift or the proceedings of a symposium, it is often desirable to list the contributors separately, with only the editor or editors appearing on the title page (see 1.7)." The Chicago Manual of Style, 1993, p. 27.
  • "This was a few days earlier, when I received a Festschrift, a publication in which grateful pupils had commemorated the jubilee of their teacher and laboratory director." Sigmund Freud, The Interpretation of Dreams, 1911.
  • "This book is presented as a sort of Festschrift - a tribute to Cornell University as it enters the second quarter-century of its existence, and probably my last tribute." Andrew D. White, A History of the Warfare of Science With Theology in Christendom, 1896.
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flak
flak, flack n.
from Flak "antiaircraft gun": antiaircraft gun; the shells fired from a flak bursting in air; criticism, opposition [German Fliegerabwehrkanone, Flugabwehrkanone < Flieger "flyer, airplane" or Flug "flight" + Abwehr "defense" + Kanone "canon, gun"]. This entry suggested by M. Larson. Thanks also to Volker Schindler.
flehmen, flehming n., to flehm, to flehmen v.i., v.t.
from flehmen "to flehm": a behavioral response of many male mammals, for example deer, antelope and cats, consisting of lip curling and head raising after sniffing a female's urine, also called lip curl. This word is often capitalized, perhaps due to a mistaken notion that it is named for someone [German flehmen "to twist one's mouth"]. This entry suggested by Ekkehard Dengler.
flugelhorn, Flügelhorn, fluglephone, flugel n.
from Flügelhorn "wing horn": a brass-wind instrument like the cornet in design but with a tone like that of the French horn, sometimes considered to be a type of trumpet.
foehn, föhn n.
from Föhn: a warm, dry wind blowing down the side of a mountain, especially in the Alps [Middle High German phönne; Old High German fonno; Late Latin faunjo < Latin Favonius, "west wind"]. In German Föhn, Fön also means a hot-air dryer (for hair).
  • "Then why not turn your back to the Foehn and go to Lucerene or-- ?" Elizabeth Robins, The Mills of the Gods, 1898.
  • "It seems to us that at certain times the easterly winds in Greenland show a similar character to the 'Foehn' in Switzerland; and since the second German Polar Expedition discovered very high mountain-ranges in the eastern part of this arctic continent, we do not hesitate to pronounce such winds as described hereafter to be true Foehns." United States Navy Department, Scientific results of the U.S. Arctic expedition..., 1876, p. 55.
  • "Ashbery has explicitly addressed closure as a site of authorial strategy in an interview when he was asked whether he ever played a joke on his readers. Ashbery replied:
    A gag that has probably gone unnoticed turns up in the last sentence of the novel I wrote with James Schuyler [A Nest of Ninnies]. Actually, it's my sentence. It reads: 'So it was that the cliff dwellers, after bidding their cousins good night, moved off towards the parking area, while the latter bent their steps toward the partially rebuilt shopping plaza in the teeth of the freshening foehn.' Foehn is a kind of warm wind that blows in Bavaria that produces a fog. I would doubt that many people know that. I liked the idea that people, if they bothered to, would have to open up the dictionary to find out what the last word in the novel meant." John Vincent, "Reports of looting and insane buggery behind altars: John Ashbery's queer politics", Twentieth Century Literature, Summer 1998.
  • "If on a certain day you find that many people scowl at you and are unusually edgy, the phenomenon would probably be better explained in meteorological rather than in psychological terms. It is Föhnwetter, caused by the warm southern wind, föhn (a term used in German and French-speaking Switzerland; 'foehn' in English)." Marcel Bucher, "Headache Wind", Swiss News, Jan. 2, 2001.
  • CDs and products related to foehn
foosball - click herefoosball n.
probably from (Tisch-) Fußball "(table) football": a table soccer game in which the ball is moved by manipulating small figures attached to rods, also called table soccer, table football, babyfoot (the French term), and gettone. This word is often capitalized, perhaps due to a mistaken notion that it is a trademark [German Fußball (transliterated Fussball) "football, soccer" < Fuß "foot" + Ball "ball"]. This entry suggested by Christian Heldt.
  • "Sometimes Demo Karafilis took us downstairs to play Foosball, and, moving among the heating ducts, spare cots, battered luggage, we would tunnel through to the small room Old Mrs. Karafilis had decorated to resemble Asia Minor." Jeffrey Eugenides, The Virgin Suicides, 1994, p. 171.
  • "Apart from the restaurant, which has decent food (though the pizza is a cheesy bomb), it has a bar with a pool table, darts and foosball." Carolina Miranda & Paige Penland, Lonely Planet Costa Rica, 2004, p. 365.
  • "She'd use the same self-discipline she used for studying in college, marching off to the library while the rest of us procrastinated over foosball and beer." Lolly Winston, Good Grief, 2004, p. 150.
  • "'You want to come back to the house for a game of foosball?' Foosball, for those of you who lack a basic education, is that tabletop bar game with the soccer-type men skewered on sticks." Harlan Coben, No Second Chance, 2004, p. 89.
  • "The judge was in his customary booth near the Foosball machines." Carl Hiaasen, Strip Tease, 2004, p. 66.
  • "Have your BOSS run tournaments out of your day room (pool, foosball, ping-pong, darts, etc)." Nate Allen & Tony Burgess, Taking the Guidon: Exceptional Leadership at the Company Level, 2001, p. 152.
  • "On dates, I'd feigned interest in all sorts of nonsense—trout fishing, Civil War reenactments, foosball." Susan Jane Gilman, Hypocrite in a Pouffy White Dress, 2005, p. 239.
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to fotz around v.i.
probably from Fotz, Fotze "(vulgar) vagina": to mess around, fool around, (vulgar) fart around. Due to this last meaning and the similar spelling some think to fotz means "to fart". [< Middle High German vut "vagina". (In Austria and Bavaria Fotze, Fotzen is dialectal slang for "mouth, face" and by extension "a slap in the face, box on the ear". Fotzhobel is a humorous term for "mouth organ", literally "a carpenter's plane for the mouth". In Austria Fotze does not have the vulgar meaning it does in Germany)]. This entry suggested by Volker Knopp.
  • "I don't want to have to fotz around with all this nonsense and still not end up with real system synergy." Chip Stern, Equipment Report, Stereophile, Jan. 2001, p. 108.
frank n.
See frankfurter.
Frankenstein, Frankenstein's monster, Dr. Frankenstein, Franken- n.
from Frankenstein "stone of the Franks": pertaining to the monster in the 1818 novel Frankenstein by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley or to the doctor who created it; figuratively, any horrific creation that gets out of control and becomes evil and/or destroys its creator. Frankenstein was inspired by a dream Shelley had while visiting the poet Lord Byron's villa in Switzerland on a dark and stormy night where ghost stories were read. She may have gotten the name itself from Frankenstein Castle in Germany [Frankenstein < German Franken "the Germanic tribe of the Franks" + Stein "stone, mountain"].
  • "I'll admit that this Frankenstein Complex you're exhibiting has a certain justification—hence the First Law [of Robotics] in the first place." Isaac Asimov, I, Robot, 1950, p. 145.
  • "Then there is the Frankenstein of [trom-] bones, the double-bass bone." Brad Bilsland, What It Means to Be in a Marching Band: A Band Geek Perspective for the Musically Challenged, 2004, p. 18.
  • "Apparently he was to be the recipient of one of her laboratory failures, in the way of Dr Frankenstein bestowing upon him a poorly functioning hand." Martha Grimes, The Stargazey: A Richard Jury Mystery, 1998, p. 75.
  • "He had also a superabundance of the discordant, ear-splitting, metallic laugh common to his breed -- a machine-made laugh, a Frankenstein laugh, with the soul left out of it." Mark Twain, Life on the Mississippi, 1906.
  • "When it was my turn to watch over Billy or to comfort him at night I would think – I am some Frankenstein's monster with a defective brain which sometimes wants to cast what it might love into a river like the petals of a flower: but since I know this, then might not this be some new growth in a not totally defective brain – do you hear me, Billy!" Nicholas Mosley, Children of Darkness and Light, 1997.
  • "In 1998, incensed by regulatory failures that allowed mad cow disease to become a multibillion-dollar catastrophe, Europeans protested the 'Frankenfoods' entering their markets." Jennifer Ackerman, "Food: How Altered?", National Geographic, May 2002, p.49.
  • Frankenstein or the Modern Prometheus, by Mary Shelley, 1818.
  • More books and products related to Frankenstein
frankfurter, Copyright 2001 by Robbin D. Knapp
frankfurter, frank, frankfurt, frankforter, frankfort n.
from Frankfurter (Wurst) "Frankfurt (sausage)": a kind of sausage used in hotdogs, wiener. Residents of the German city of Frankfurt call them Wiener, while residents of the Austrian city of Vienna (Wien) call them Frankfurter.
Frau, frau, Fr. n. [pl. Frauen, Fraus]
from Frau "woman, wife, Mrs.": a married (German or German-speaking) woman, Mrs., Ms., Madam, a wife [< Middle High German vrowe < Old High German frouwa "mistress, lady"]. See also Fräulein, hausfrau, Liebfraumilch.
Fräulein, fräulein, Fraulein, fraulein, Frl. n. [pl. Fräulein, Fräuleins]
from Fräulein "young or unmarried woman, miss, Miss, waitress": an unmarried or young German (-speaking) woman, Miss, [chiefly Br.] a German governess [< German Frau + -lein diminutive form]. See also Frau. This entry suggested by Hans-Michael Stahl and Bastian Sick.
  • "She is not my maid. She is Fraulein Arpent." Rebecca Harding Davis, Frances Waldeaux, 1897, p. 21.
  • "Shortly after, with a good deal of rustling and bustling Fräulein Rottenmeier appeared, who again seemed very much put out and called to Heidi, 'What is the matter with you, Adelheid? Don't you understand what breakfast is? Come along at once!'" Johanna Spyri, Heidi, before 1891, p. 105.
  • "Toward the end of last year, I spent a few months in Munich, Bavaria. In November I was living in Fraulein Dahlweiner's PENSION, 1a, Karlstrasse; but my working quarters were a mile from there, in the house of a widow who supported herself by taking lodgers." Mark Twain, Life on the Mississippi, 1870.
  • "No wonder, then, that the good Frau Professorin gathered her Fraulein under her wing, and resented the attentions of such a mauvais sujet." Arthur Conan Doyle, The Captain of the Polestar and other Tales, 1894, p. 86.
  • "Me, I could never have warred with that Fraulein who served us -- so haughty she was, nicht?" Edna Ferber, Dawn O'Hara, the Girl who Laughed, p. 144.
  • "After having been engaged to an American actor, a Welsh socialist agitator, and a German army officer, Fraulein Furst at last placed herself and her great brewery interests into the trustworthy hands of Otto Ottenburg, who had been her suitor ever since he was a clerk, learning his business in her father's office." Willa Sibert Cather, The Song of the Lark, 1915, p. 144.
  • "She had not believed in Him at the time, but because she was frightened after she had stuck the scissors into Fraulein she had tried the appeal as an experiment." Frances Hodgson Burnett, T. Tembarom, 1913, p. 274.
  • More books and products related to Fräulein
Frauleinwunder n.
from Fräuleinwunder "young woman wonder": a spectacular young German woman [< German Fräulein + Wunder "wonder, miracle"]. See also Fräulein, Wirtschaftswunder and wunderkind. This entry suggested by Hans-Michael Stahl.
Der Freischütz, Der Freischutz n.
from Der Freischütz "The Free Shooter": a German romantic opera written by Carl Maria von Weber in 1821.
New!to fress v.i., v.t.
from fressen "(slang) eat without restraint": to eat or snack especially often or in large quantities, gluttonize, eat like a pig [< German fressen "(of animals) to eat" perhaps via Yiddish fres, fresn]. This entry suggested by Jan Neidhardt.
Freudian adj., n., Freudianism n.
from Freudsche, freudsche, Freud'sche, Freudianer "Freudian": of or according to Freud or his theories and practice; a person who believes in Freud's theories or uses his methods in psychoanalysis; after Sigmund Freud, 1856-1939, Austrian physician and psychiatrist [< German Freude "joy, happiness" < Middle High German vröude < Old High German frewida, frouwida]. This entry suggested by Wilton Woods.
fritz, fritz out, be on the fritz, go on the fritz v.i.
perhaps from Fritz, diminutive of Friedrich "Frederick": to be or become broken or inoperable
  • "The captain's pocket watch was on the fritz, and John said, 'I can fix watches,' so he went to work on it." Garrison Keillor, Wobegon Boy, 1997, p. 96.
  • "Simply put, this is the theory that sooner or later all our entertainment and communication appliances (computer, TV, radio, home stereo, VCR, telephone, answering machine, toaster, etc.) will slowly coalesce into one big digital doohickey, a stunning technological advance which will present consumers with the unprecedented opportunity to have absolutely every gadget we own go on the fritz simultaneously." Evan Morris, The Book Lover's Guide to the Internet, 1998, p. 31.
Fritz n.
from Fritz "Fred", diminutive of Friedrich "Frederick": [Slang] a German (soldier): sometimes offensive [< German Friedrich "peaceful ruler" < German Friede "peace" < Middle High German vride < Old High German fridu + Middle High German rich, riche < Old High German rihhi "ruler"]. See also Heinie.
  • A French Gun Much Respected by Fritz"A French Gun Much Respected by Fritz" caption of a picture of a cannon in Edward R. Coyle, Ambulancing on the French Front, 1918.
  • "In other places a large party would be seated on the ground-I do not say because they could not get up, though one of the Fritzes slyly insinuated something of the kind, but because they could not get a big barrel around which they were seated up with them; they therefore preferred to be near the faucet; and it made one thirsty on that warm day to see how eagerly they held the long glasses under the steady flow of the golden-colored liquid, and how, with sparkling eyes, they put it to their lips, as if Paradise lay in the bottom of the mug." W.W. Wright, Doré. By a stroller in Europe, 1857, p. 248.
Führer, Führer, Fuehrer, der Führer, führer, fuehrer n.
from (der) Führer "(the) leader, guide": (the) leader, applied to Adolf Hitler [< Middle High German vüerer < vüeren "to lead, bear" < Old High German fuoren "to lead"; related to Old English faran "to go"]. Since der Führer is often connected with Hitler in German too, one sometimes uses Leiter to mean "leader" instead. See further examples under Reich and Schutzstaffel.
  • Jazz Fest, Simpsons"HAIR FÜHRER", Newspaper headline, "Home Away from Homer", season 16, episode 20, The Simpsons, May 15, 2005.
  • "Herr Gröpenfuhrer! Herr Gröpenfuhrer!" reporters clamoring for Arnold Schwarzenegger's attention, alluding to his alleged groping and Hitler statements, Garry Trudeau, Doonesbury, Oct. 22, 2003.
  • "While the formal charge against Wasner was 'maliciously slandering the Führer,' the actual crime for which he faced beheading was his embarrassing explanation of Hitler." Ron Rosenbaum, "Explaining Hitler", The New Yorker, May 1995.
  • "'I'm not opposed to the fact that he [John William King] killed a black guy,' says Davis Wolfgang Hawke, a college student who says his ambition is to be the first führer of the United States.", "At school he's [Davis Wolfgang Hawke] a pariah, but on the Web he's the führer reincarnate.", Matt Bai & Vern E. Smith, "Evil to the End", Newsweek, Mar. 8, 1999.
  • American Fuehrer: George Lincoln Rockwell and the American Nazi Party, by Frederick James Simonelli, 1999.
  • Moers. Adolf, the Nazi Pig"Indeed, the despotic Führer, who prohibited any kind of satirically disrespectful treatment of himself and his policies, would be extremely annoyed if he read the contentious comic book, Adolf, the Nazi Pig, which is currently raising laughter, eyebrows and hackles in Germany." Ursula Sautter, "Can Der Führer Be Funny?", Time, Aug. 17, 1998.
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Knapp, Robbin D. 2009. "GermanEnglishWords.com: F". In Robb: GermanEnglishWords.com. Jan. 4, 2009.

 

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