F

Multiple Entries:
  F    f    Fahrenheit    farad    fluorine  

Concise Oxford English Dictionary © 2008 Oxford University Press:
F1 (also f)

▶noun (pl. Fs or F's)

• 1 the sixth letter of the alphabet.

• 2 denoting the next after E in a set of items, categories, etc.

• 3 Music the fourth note of the diatonic scale of C major.

Concise Oxford English Dictionary © 2008 Oxford University Press:
F2

▶abbreviation

• 1 Fahrenheit.

• 2 farad(s).

• 3 Chemistry faraday(s).

• 4 (in racing results) favourite.

• 5 female.

• 6 fighter (in designations of US aircraft types).

• 7 Biology filial generation.

• 8 Brit. fine (used in describing grades of pencil lead).

• 9 (in motor racing) formula.

• 10 Franc(s).

• 11 France (international vehicle registration).

• 12 (in tables of sports results) goals or points for.

▶symbol

• 1 the chemical element fluorine.

• 2 Physics force.

Concise Oxford English Dictionary © 2008 Oxford University Press:
f

▶abbreviation

• 1 Grammar feminine.

• 2 femto- (10⁻¹⁵).

• 3 (in textual references) folio.

• 4 Music forte.

• 5 (in racing results) furlong(s).

• 6 Chemistry denoting electrons and orbitals possessing three units of angular momentum. [f from fundamental, orig. applied to lines in atomic spectra.]

▶symbol

• 1 focal length.

• 2 Mathematics a function of a specified variable.

• 3 Electronics frequency.

Concise Oxford English Dictionary © 2008 Oxford University Press:
Fahrenheit /ˈfar(ə)nhʌɪt, ˈfɑː-/ (abbrev.: F)

▶adjective [postpos. when used with a numeral] of or denoting a scale of temperature on which water freezes at 32° and boils at 212°. ▶noun (also Fahrenheit scale) this scale of temperature.

– origin C18: named after the German physicist Gabriel Daniel Fahrenheit.

Concise Oxford English Dictionary © 2008 Oxford University Press:
farad /ˈfarad/ (abbrev.: F)

▶noun the SI unit of electrical capacitance, equal to a capacitance in which one coulomb of charge causes a potential difference of one volt.

– origin C19: shortening of faraday.

Concise Oxford English Dictionary © 2008 Oxford University Press:
fluorine /ˈflʊəriːn, ˈflɔː-/

▶noun the chemical element of atomic number 9, a poisonous pale yellow gas of the halogen series. (Symbol: F)

– origin C19: from fluor (see fluorspar) + -ine4.