Thomas Pynchon Wiki - User contributions [en]

Chapter 3: 14-29

2007-11-19T17:26:36Z

Bbatche3:

==Page 14==

'''Spiritual Day-Book''' 
Day-Book = the daily written record of events

'''Day's Fatigue''' 
A kind of foreecho, so to speak, of a leitmotif of Against the Day. The working day against which, etc., etc. 
Extrapolating from a letter TRP wrote to his editor after V., in which he spoke of working on three books at the time, some people think he may have worked on his later works simultaneously---discretely simultaneously, of course, perhaps a little like another theme of ATD.

'''waking Traverse was done''' 
Traverse: Here are key definitions that might apply most to M & D: . 9. To survey by traverse 6. To look over carefully; examine.

NOUN: trav·erse ( trvrs, tr-vûrs) 8. A line established by sighting in surveying a tract of land.
1. A passing across, over, or through. 2. A route or path across or over. 3. Something that lies across, especially: a. An intersecting line; a transversal. 4. Something that obstructs and thwarts; an obstacle. American Heritage Dictionary.

-Not sure if the meaning has held constant, but modern day surveyors use the noun TRAverse (with the emphasis on the 1st syllable) to refer not to a line, but to a loop or geometric figure created by measuring the angle & distance from one point to another. By closing the loop and measuring the angle & distance back to the original point, the surveyor can determine the accuracy of the measurements (the loop should close completely, without any deviation from the measurements) and apply a correction, if necessary. Use of the word in this way describes each day as a forward progress (traVERSE) in addition to a circular return (TRAverse) --incredibly poignant.

Traverse is the main family name in ATD; Webb Traverse and his three generation family. There are a lot of associations, see any unabridged dictionary, AHD above is online; ATD and wikipedia.
All of the associations are worth looking up and reflecting on with Pynchon, especially as he seems to love the manifold associations, using it also in Vineland, where descendants of Webb live in America in the late 20th Century.

'''another Term in the Contract''' 
The social contract?--- with all attendant allusions to Rousseau, with whom the phrase might be most linked, and to many social/political philosophers? The rise of the contract. 
The major creators of the Constitution were reading many of these thinkers
during this period, of course.

Herein is the anti-city position stated, at least.
It shows that Mason only sees the danger and crowding of the city whilst Dixon is overcome by the marvel that is the result of the Contract.

==Page 15==

'''Wapping High Street''' 
The area was first settled by Saxons, from whom it takes its name (meaning literally "[the place of] Wæppa's people"). It developed along the embankment of the Thames, hemmed in by the river to the south and the now-drained Wapping Marsh to the north. This gave it a peculiarly narrow and constricted shape, consisting of little more than the axis of Wapping High Street and some north-south side streets. John Stow, the 16th century historian, described it as a "continual street, or a filthy strait passage, with alleys of small tenements or cottages, built, inhabited by sailors' victuallers."

'''Tyburn''' 
The village [of Tyburn] was notorious for centuries as the site of the Tyburn gallows, London's principal location for public executions by hanging. Executions took place at Tyburn from the 12th to the 18th century (with the prisoners processed from Newgate Prison in the City).
wikipedia, abridged.

'''Motrix''' 
Female motor. [http://books.google.com//books?q=motrix&btnG=Search+Books&as_brr=0&num=100 GoogleBooks]

==Page 16==

'''edging away''' 
Pynchonian cliche.

'''the forms of ''You''''' 
"You've" and "Your" from the preceding words.

==Page 17==

'''Ha-Ha''' 
Ha-ha (garden)
The ha-ha or sunken fence is a type of boundary to a garden, pleasure-ground, or park, designed not to interrupt the view and to be invisible until closely approached. The ha-ha consists of a trench, the inner side of which is perpendicular and faced with stone, with the outer slope face sloped and turfed - making it in effect a sunken fence. The ha-ha is a feature in the landscape gardens laid out by Charles Bridgeman, the originator of the ha-ha, according to Horace Walpole (Walpole 1780) and by William Kent and was an essential component of the "swept" views of Capability Brown.
"The contiguous ground of the park without the sunk fence was to be harmonized with the lawn within; and the garden in its turn was to be set free from its prim regularity, that it might assort with the wilder country without. " — Walpole, "Essay upon modern gardening" 
"The "ha ha" is a below-grade ditch, which acts as a fence. It is used in classical vista gardens where views are to be uninterrupted, and in zoos for direct viewing of large and potentially dangerous animals. It is also a defence for villagers again stock where the resources do not allow wire fences, but labour or a machine can be obtained. It is essentially a deep pit, dry or wet, with one steep wall faced by stone. it can be scaled to size for the species excluded." - Mollison, Bill. [http://www.amazon.com/PERMACULTURE-Designers-Manual-Bill-Mollison/dp/0908228015 Permaculture Designers Manual.]

'''Aristarchus''' 
Aristarchus (310 BC - c. 230 BC) was a Greek astronomer and mathematician, born on the island of Samos, in ancient Greece. He is considered the first person to propose a heliocentric model of the solar system, placing the Sun, not the Earth, at the center of the known universe (hence he is sometimes known as the "Greek Copernicus").

'''the other fellow''' 
Satan? No, not Satan.
isn't Dixon just rambling on a litst of Astronomers and can't remember some guy's name? I don't think he is referring to Satan here. 
Maybe Galileo? Copernicus? Tyco Brahe? I vote for one of the latter two--see wikipedia--or someone else, since Galileo seems harder to forget.

'''latest Eclipse''' 
[http://www.phys.uu.nl/~vgent/calendar/eclipsecycles.htm A Catalogue of Eclipse Cycles] 
Search 5,000 years of eclipses 
NASA eclipse home page 
International Astronomical Union's Working Group on Solar Eclipses 
Solar and Lunar Eclipse Image Gallery

==Page 18==

'''mirror'd Lanthorns''' 
'Lanthorn' is a mistaken variant of 'lantern'. [http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?search=lanthorn&searchmode=none etym]

Not mistaken, just a choice of spelling; Shakespeare and many others used this form. --[[User:Volver|Volver]] 08:56, 9 January 2007 (PST)

'''Norfolk Terrier''' 
[http://images.google.com/images?hl=en&lr=&q=Norfolk%20Terrier&btnG=Search&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&sa=N&tab=wi pix]

==Page 19==

'''''Ministerial''''' 
1. Of, relating to, or characteristic of a minister of religion or of the ministry. 2. Of or relating to administrative and executive duties and functions of government. 3. Law Of, relating to, or being a mandatory act or duty admitting of no personal discretion or judgment in its performance. 4. Acting or serving as an agent; instrumental. From the American Heritage Dictionary.

'''Where the Bee Sucks''' +
A song from Shakespeare's Tempest put to music by [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Johnson_(composer) Robert Johnson.] [http://www.cs.rice.edu/~ssiyer/minstrels/poems/312.html lyrics.][http://ise.uvic.ca/Library/SLT/media/mp3/beeV.html listen.]

'''Integral of One over (Book) d (Book)''' 
Freshman calculus gag. The antiderivative or integral of the function 1/x is the function logarithm of x. Written (integral sign) 1/x dx = log x. Substitute (Book) for x. Answer: log (Book) = logbook.

'''Pistoles''' 
Coins. [http://images.google.com/images?svnum=10&hl=en&lr=&q=pistole+coin pix]

'''Gate-Ways to Futurity''' 
Another foreshadowing of a major plotline in ATD. And the next line is Pynchon thematic, again esp. to ATD. It's also thematic to those days of the age of reason.

'''Metempsychosis''' 
Greek for "Reincarnation".

==Page 20==

'''upstart Chapels''' 
upstart: Suddenly raised to a position of consequence. 2. Self-important; presumptuous. Amer Her Dict.

'''singing Catches''' 
Catch: Noun, definition: Music-- A canonic, often rhythmically intricate composition for three or more voices, popular especially in the 17th and 18th centuries.

==Page 21==

'''Fender-Belly''' 
Fender: a cushion hung on the side of a ship to protect it if it bumps into a wharf or so. Old tires now serve this function. Fender-Belly has such a cushion in front.

'''Coconut-Ale''' 
A Beer with the taste of coconut; described as a "killer beer" online.

'''Macaronis''' 
A British and American subculture inspired by the fashion of continential Europe eps. that of Italy. The term comes from the Itallian "maccherone" which means "boorish fool" but was taken on by the British to mean over the top fashionable.
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Macaroni_%28fashion%29 Macaroni]
They would often speek in an affected manner and mix latin into their speech.
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Macaronic_verse Macaronic Verse]

'''Lunarians''' 
A Lunarian is an member of the movement of astronomers who felt that the solution to the Logitude prize lay in the development of lunar tables describing the moon of Jupiter. Famous Lunarians included Nevil Maskelyne.

'''Hostlers''' 
Singular...One who is employed to tend horses, especially at an inn. 2. One who services a large vehicle or engine, such as a locomotive. Middle English, from Anglo-Norman hostiler. American Heritage Dictionary

'''Glim-Jacks''' 
glim jack. Definition taken from The 1811 Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue, originally by Francis Grose. 
A link-boy. Cant. A link-boy (or link boy or linkboy) was a boy who carried a flaming torch to light the way for pedestrians at night. Linkboys were common in London in the days before street lighting.
The term derives from "link", a term for the cotton tow that formed the wick of the torch. Links are mentioned in William Shakespeare's Henry IV, part 1, as Falstaff teases Bardolph about the shining redness of his face: 
"Thou hast saved me a thousand marks in links and torches, walking with thee in the night betwixt tavern and tavern." (Act III, scene 3) 
Sir Joshua Reynolds painted Cupid as a Link Boy and another appears in the first plate of William Hogarth's The Four Stages of Cruelty. In thieves' cant, a linkboy was known as a "Glym Jack" ("glym" meant "light") or a "moon-curser" (as their services would not be required on a moonlit night). Employing a linkboy could be dangerous, as some would lead their clients to dark alleyways, where they could be beset by footpads[1] Wikipedia

==Page 22==

'''The L.E.D. blinks, shivers, nods in a resign'd way.'''

L.E.D., here the "Learned English Dog", is also shorthand for "light-emitting diode", which do blink on a regular basis. Perhaps a reference to the dog being like a computer?

'''praeternatural... supernatural''' 
Praeternatural: Beyond or different from what is natural, or according to the regular course of things, but not clearly supernatural or miraculous; strange; inexplicable; extraordinary; uncommon; irregular; abnormal

'''state of holy Insanity''' 
the second time an Eastern religious practice is linked to insanity. Rev.
Cherrycoke, page 10. Ecstasy or real madness or both?

''''Macaroni Italian Style'''' 
[http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&lr=&q=%22Macaroni+Italian+Style 454 hits] 

Macaroni, Italian Style
1 cup macaroni
11/2 cups scalded milk
2 tablespoons butter
2/3 cup grated cheese
2 tablespoons flour
Salt and paprika
1/4 cup finely chopped cold boiled ham

Break macaroni in one-inch pieces and cook in boiling salted water, drain, and reheat in sauce made of butter, flour, and milk, to which is added cheese. As soon as cheese is melted, season with salt and paprika, and turn on to a serving dish. Sprinkle with ham, and garnish with parsley.....From the earliest Fannie Farmer Cookbook, 1918. Still, many years later than the time of M & D, but the first cookbooks just collected
the most common recipes.

==Page 23==

'''circle of Absence''' 
???

'''fathom''' 
Six feet.

'''Bahf''' 
Bath.

'''"a British Dog, Sir. No one owns me"'''. 
Cf. Rev Cherrycoke, page 10.

'''Fabulous Jellows''' 
???

'''a-lop''' 
Lopsided. (One OED cite from 1865)

==Page 24==

'''the Point''' 
???

'''Welsh Main''' 
"...in which eight pairs were matched, the eight victors being again paired, then four, and finally the last surviving pair" [http://www.1911encyclopedia.org/Cock-fighting EB11-cockfighting]

==Page 25==

'''Fulhams''' 
"Loaded dice are called high and lowmen, or high and low fulhams, by Ben Jonson and other writers of his time; either because they were made at Fulham, or from that place being the resort of sharpers" ([http://www.fromoldbooks.org/Grose-VulgarTongue/f/fulhams.html ''Grose's Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue''], 1811)

'''Three-Threads''' 
* “half common Ale, and half Stout or double Beer” ([http://www.fromoldbooks.org/NathanBailey-CantingDictionary/T/THREE-Threads.html ''Canting Dictionary''] [thieving slang], 1737)
* “Half common ale, mixed with stale and double beer” ([http://www.fromoldbooks.org/Grose-VulgarTongue/t/three-threads.html ''Grose’s Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue''], 1811)

'''Euphroe''' 
“A nautical term for blocks of wood with holes in them” (Levy, Toby. [http://www.themodernword.com/pynchon/levy_mason_and_dixon.pdf ''MD3PAD'' PDF]. p. 8). The holes are used for running and securing line. The term usually refers specifically to the crowfeet dead-eyes. See photos 2-6 in this series of [http://forum.aceboard.net/15916-2168-6568-0-Photos-format-plus-eleve-photo-album-larger-format-photos.htm#id83555 pix].

'''Hepsie''' 
Diminutive of [http://www.cutebabyname.com/hepsie.html Hephzibah.]Mother of [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manasseh Manasseh] in the Old Testament(see [http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?book_id=12&chapter=21&version=9 2 Kings 21:1]).

'''smoaks''' 
understands..."gets"

==Page 26==

''''pert''' 
Shortened form of 'apert' (open, bold).

==Page 28==

'''share quarters''' 
Quite possible Mauve and Hepsie are the same girl.

'''Mauve''' 
The colour Mauve wasn't discovered until the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mauve 1830s.] However [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Malva "Malva"] (the source for the word)or "Mallow" was one of the oldest known plants.

'''H.M.S. [[I#Inconvenience|Inconvenience]]''' 
[[B#bodine|Fender-Belly Bodine's]] ship (to appear again in 2006 in [http://against-the-day.pynchonwiki.com/wiki/index.php?title=I#inconvenience ''Against the Day''])

==Annotation Index==

{{MD PbP}}

O

2007-03-02T16:47:09Z

Bbatche3:

'''Oafery, Ludowick''' 
228; [''O.E.D.'': Oaf. An elf's child; a changeling left by the
elves or fairies; hence a misbegotten, deformed or idiot child; a
half-wit, dolt or booby]; 232; transformation, 237; hit by lightning, 463; 603; 757

'''Oafery, Ma''' 
232; Lud's mother

'''Oakboys''' 
721; Insurgents in Ireland in 1763 who rose against forced labor on the roads and the exacting of tithes. Their badge was a sprig of oak worn in the hat.

'''Oast''' 
132; "from Bush to Oast unmediated"; this would refer to the brewing of beer, from the hops to the oast which is a conical kiln used for drying hops, malt or tobacco.

'''''Obra''', La''''' 
522; Spanish: "the work"

'''O'Brian, Pat''' 
54; this is a reference to Patrick O'Brian, the novelist of the Napoleonic Wars whose nautical tales of Captain Jack Aubrey and Dr. Stephen Maturin qualify him as "the best Yarn-Spinner in all the Fleets"

'''Octuple Gloucester''' 
167; big cheese; [http://www.cnn.com/WORLD/9705/27/fringe/cheese.rolling/index.html Check '''this''' out!]

'''Ogham''' 
497; an ancient Irish & British writing "invented by Hu Gadarn the Mighty"; 600; [http://www.ancientworlds.net/aw/Post/426341 MORE]

'''Ohio Company''' 
281

'''Oily Leon''' 
342

'''Old Clasher''' 
503

'''Old Q, the Star of Piccadilly''' 
260; Douglas, William, third Earl of March and fourth Duke of Queensberry 'Old Q' (1724 - 1810): Only son of William, second Earl of March, and his wife, Lady Anne Hamilton. He succeeded his father to the Earldom of March in 1731, and his cousin to the Dukedom in 1786. An inveterate speculator, he was notorious for his behaviour on the Turf. As an early mentor of Fox, he was blamed for teaching the future political his extravagant gambling habits. He lived in Picadilly, London, and was indeed known as "Old Q, the Star of Piccadilly" or "Old Q, the Rake of Piccadilly."

Thanks to [http://www.robertburns.org/encyclopedia/DouglasWilliamthirdEarlofMarchandfourthDukeofQueensberry151OldQ15117241511810.296.shtml The Robert Burns Encyclopedia]

'''Onandaga''' 
532; on of the five nations of North American Indians, near what is now Syracuse; the name is variously translated as "keepers of the flame," "people of the hills" and "people of the mountains"; Hiawatha was an Indian belonging to the Onandaga tribe and was recruited by a prophet who brought the people of the five nations to peace after extensive war.

'''O.O.''' 
138; '''O'''nce '''O'''ver

'''Oölite''' 
440; a rock consisting of small round grains, usually of calcium carbonate
cemented together. These small grains or "ooids" are formed in concentric layers. "see" [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oolite Wikipedia], or Tox's take on [[F#force-intensifier|Force Intensifiers]]

'''Oortman''' 
154; a gun

'''Ophelia''' 
351; in ''Hamlet''

'''Orchid Tavern''' 
292; by Dock Creek, in Philadelphia

'''Ordure''' 
668; shit, or something that is morally degrading

'''Orleanist''' 
377; any of the constitutional monarchists in 18th- and 19th-century France who favoured the Orléans branch of the house of Bourbon (the descendants of Philippe, duke d'Orléans, younger brother of Louis XIV). Its zenith of power occurred during the July Monarchy (1830-48) of Louis-Philippe (duke d'Orléans from 1793 to 1830). (From [http://www.britannica.com" target="_blank">Encyclopedia Britannica Online</a>)

'''Ormazd''' 
219; also Ormudz, Mithraic god of light and good, one of
two gods in the ancient Persian religion Zoroastrianism, the other being
Ahriman, god of darkness and evil. Zoroastrians were known as Fire and
Sun worshippers because their ritual identifies Ormudz with fire and
with the Sun. Fire was used in some of their religious ceremonies.

'''O'Rooty''' 
441; Crimp (An agent or contractor for unloading coal-ships; agent whose
business was to entrap men for service in the army, navy, etc, esp by
decoying or pressing them; a deceptive or coercive agent) on M-D Line crew

<div id="orpheus"></div>'''Orpheus''' 
147; In Greek myth, the Thracian poet who could move even inanimate things by
his music. When his wife Eurydice died, he journeyed to the underworld and so
charmed Pluto that Eurydice was released on the condition that Orpheus not look
back to see if she was following him when he led her out. He did and she
immediately vanished. Thracian women, enraged at Orpheus' prolonged grieving,
tore him to pieces; ''See also'' [[E#eurydice|Eurydice]]; [http://gravitys-rainbow.pynchonwiki.com/wiki/E#eurydice Orpheus myth in ''Gravity's Rainbow'']

'''Orpiment''' 
689; native orange to lemon yellow arsenic trisulfide

'''Orrery''' 
94; an apparatus showing the relative positions and motions of bodies in the
solar system by balls moved by wheelwork; 209; of Engagement, 536

'''Osnabrigs''' 
510; A course unbleached linen or hempen cloth first made in Osnabruck, Germany. It was commonly used for trousers, sacking, and bagging. Osnabrigs were used at Williamsburg to strengthen wallpaper. They are to have been made in brown, blue, and white although other colors were probably available. In the colonial period (1767) Osnabrig was woven in Germany, Lancashire, and Scotland.

'''Otick Catarrh''' 
420; "otick" is a noun-thing that currently escapes you; "catarrh" refers to any Inflammation of a mucous membrane, caused by one of many factors, including the common cold. The symptoms of catarrh are well known to most people - progressive nasal obstruction, inflammation of mucous passageways, polyps on mucous membranes, and coughing.

'''Oven''' 
86; 205

'''Owl''' 
210; "terrible massed beat of their wings [...] Snowy Owl Year [...] white
visitors from afar" 513; 597

'''Oxenstjerna, Axel (1583-1654)''' 
272; Swedish chancellor (1612-54) who, while head of the regency during the minority of Queen Christina, caused the founding of a trading and colonizing agency, the New South Company, giving it a land grant in the area of Delaware Bay. Fort Christina, at the present site of Wilmington, DE, was erected in 1638, and several other forts subsequently. However, Swedish influence in America was ended in 1655 when Peter Stuyvesant, the governor of New Netherland, captured the forts with ease.

'''Oxford''' 
557

{{MD Alpha Nav}}

O

2007-03-01T17:59:01Z

Bbatche3:

'''Oafery, Ludowick''' 
228; [''O.E.D.'': Oaf. An elf's child; a changeling left by the
elves or fairies; hence a misbegotten, deformed or idiot child; a
half-wit, dolt or booby]; 232; transformation, 237; hit by lightning, 463; 603; 757

'''Oafery, Ma''' 
232; Lud's mother

'''Oakboys''' 
721; Insurgents in Ireland in 1763 who rose against forced labor on the roads and the exacting of tithes. Their badge was a sprig of oak worn in the hat.

'''Oast''' 
132; "from Bush to Oast unmediated"; this would refer to the brewing of beer, from the hops to the oast which is a conical kiln used for drying hops, malt or tobacco.

'''''Obra''', La''''' 
522; Spanish: "the work"

'''O'Brian, Pat''' 
54; this is a reference to Patrick O'Brian, the novelist of the Napoleonic Wars whose nautical tales of Captain Jack Aubrey and Dr. Stephen Maturin qualify him as "the best Yarn-Spinner in all the Fleets"

'''Octuple Gloucester''' 
167; big cheese; [http://www.cnn.com/WORLD/9705/27/fringe/cheese.rolling/index.html Check '''this''' out!]

'''Ogham''' 
497; an ancient Irish & British writing "invented by Hu Gadarn the Mighty"; 600; [http://www.ancientworlds.net/aw/Post/426341 MORE]

'''Ohio Company''' 
281

'''Oily Leon''' 
342

'''Old Clasher''' 
503

'''Old Q, the Star of Piccadilly''' 
260; Douglas, William, third Earl of March and fourth Duke of Queensberry 'Old Q' (1724 - 1810): Only son of William, second Earl of March, and his wife, Lady Anne Hamilton. He succeeded his father to the Earldom of March in 1731, and his cousin to the Dukedom in 1786. An inveterate speculator, he was notorious for his behaviour on the Turf. As an early mentor of Fox, he was blamed for teaching the future political his extravagant gambling habits. He lived in Picadilly, London, and was indeed known as "Old Q, the Star of Piccadilly" or "Old Q, the Rake of Piccadilly."

Thanks to [http://www.robertburns.org/encyclopedia/DouglasWilliamthirdEarlofMarchandfourthDukeofQueensberry151OldQ15117241511810.296.shtml The Robert Burns Encyclopedia]

'''Onandaga''' 
532; on of the five nations of North American Indians, near what is now Syracuse; the name is variously translated as "keepers of the flame," "people of the hills" and "people of the mountains"; Hiawatha was an Indian belonging to the Onandaga tribe and was recruited by a prophet who brought the people of the five nations to peace after extensive war.

'''O.O.''' 
138; '''O'''nce '''O'''ver

'''Oölite''' 
440; a rock consisting of small round grains, usually of calcium carbonate
cemented together in concentric layers. "see" [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oolite Wikipedia], or Tox's take on [[F#force-intensifier|Force Intensifiers]]

'''Oortman''' 
154; a gun

'''Ophelia''' 
351; in ''Hamlet''

'''Orchid Tavern''' 
292; by Dock Creek, in Philadelphia

'''Ordure''' 
668; shit, or something that is morally degrading

'''Orleanist''' 
377; any of the constitutional monarchists in 18th- and 19th-century France who favoured the Orléans branch of the house of Bourbon (the descendants of Philippe, duke d'Orléans, younger brother of Louis XIV). Its zenith of power occurred during the July Monarchy (1830-48) of Louis-Philippe (duke d'Orléans from 1793 to 1830). (From [http://www.britannica.com" target="_blank">Encyclopedia Britannica Online</a>)

'''Ormazd''' 
219; also Ormudz, Mithraic god of light and good, one of
two gods in the ancient Persian religion Zoroastrianism, the other being
Ahriman, god of darkness and evil. Zoroastrians were known as Fire and
Sun worshippers because their ritual identifies Ormudz with fire and
with the Sun. Fire was used in some of their religious ceremonies.

'''O'Rooty''' 
441; Crimp (An agent or contractor for unloading coal-ships; agent whose
business was to entrap men for service in the army, navy, etc, esp by
decoying or pressing them; a deceptive or coercive agent) on M-D Line crew

<div id="orpheus"></div>'''Orpheus''' 
147; In Greek myth, the Thracian poet who could move even inanimate things by
his music. When his wife Eurydice died, he journeyed to the underworld and so
charmed Pluto that Eurydice was released on the condition that Orpheus not look
back to see if she was following him when he led her out. He did and she
immediately vanished. Thracian women, enraged at Orpheus' prolonged grieving,
tore him to pieces; ''See also'' [[E#eurydice|Eurydice]]; [http://gravitys-rainbow.pynchonwiki.com/wiki/E#eurydice Orpheus myth in ''Gravity's Rainbow'']

'''Orpiment''' 
689; native orange to lemon yellow arsenic trisulfide

'''Orrery''' 
94; an apparatus showing the relative positions and motions of bodies in the
solar system by balls moved by wheelwork; 209; of Engagement, 536

'''Osnabrigs''' 
510; A course unbleached linen or hempen cloth first made in Osnabruck, Germany. It was commonly used for trousers, sacking, and bagging. Osnabrigs were used at Williamsburg to strengthen wallpaper. They are to have been made in brown, blue, and white although other colors were probably available. In the colonial period (1767) Osnabrig was woven in Germany, Lancashire, and Scotland.

'''Otick Catarrh''' 
420; "otick" is a noun-thing that currently escapes you; "catarrh" refers to any Inflammation of a mucous membrane, caused by one of many factors, including the common cold. The symptoms of catarrh are well known to most people - progressive nasal obstruction, inflammation of mucous passageways, polyps on mucous membranes, and coughing.

'''Oven''' 
86; 205

'''Owl''' 
210; "terrible massed beat of their wings [...] Snowy Owl Year [...] white
visitors from afar" 513; 597

'''Oxenstjerna, Axel (1583-1654)''' 
272; Swedish chancellor (1612-54) who, while head of the regency during the minority of Queen Christina, caused the founding of a trading and colonizing agency, the New South Company, giving it a land grant in the area of Delaware Bay. Fort Christina, at the present site of Wilmington, DE, was erected in 1638, and several other forts subsequently. However, Swedish influence in America was ended in 1655 when Peter Stuyvesant, the governor of New Netherland, captured the forts with ease.

'''Oxford''' 
557

{{MD Alpha Nav}}

F

2007-03-01T17:17:43Z

Bbatche3: Annotation of "Force Intensifier" as Tox styl'd it - to connect to Leyden Jar, Avesbury, Oolite

'''Fabian''' 
397; fiancé of Urania, in Williamsburg; Fabian means cautious, inclined to using delaying tactics (hence quoits?). And there's that Fabian Society, founded 1884 for the gradual introduction into the US of Socialism, named after Quintus Fabius Maximus.

'''Factors''' 
251; "Warehouses of the" at Scanderoon

'''Fair Anchor, The''' 
271

'''Falconer, Captain''' 
258; of the Falmouth Packet; Dixon gives him Emerson's Watch for safekeeping,
318

<div id="falmouth"></div>'''Falmouth Packet''' 
96; Falmouth is at the mouth of the River Fal, in Cornwall at the southwestern tip of England; a "packet" is a passenger boat carrying mail and cargo on a regular schedule; 317; 704

'''False Bay''' 
On the southern part of Cape Peninsula; the area is also known as Constantia; [http://www.cia.co.za/accommo/bluesea/map1.htm MAP]

'''''falsum in unum ''Principle''' 
132;

'''Fang''' 
24; aka Learnéd English Dog; 644

'''farinaceous''' 
739; rich in starch, or having a mealy texture

'''Farlow, Robert''' 
446; on M-D Line crew; 460; 492

'''''Fatum in Denario vertit''''' 
674; Latin: "Misfortune turns into money" ("If you get a lemon, make lemonade")

'''Faust''' 
558

'''Feather Row''' 
185; There remains a Feathers Place at the bottom of Greenwich
Park, a short walk from the observatory.

<div id="felipe"></div>'''Felípe''' 
426; Voam's [t.html#torpedo">torpedo</A> (electrick eel); 469

'''Fell''' 
215; a barren field

'''Felucca''' 
252; a narrow sailing ship usu. in the Mediterranean

'''''Feng Shui''''' 
229; Feng Shui (pronounced "phong shway") is a Chinese philosophy, developed over 5,000 years ago, about the relationship between humans and their environment. It is about how everything in our external environment has a connection to our inner, spirtual world, and affects our well-being; 288; 487; "that undifferentiated condition before Light and Dark,--earth
and Sky, man and Woman,--a return to that Holy Silence which the Word
broke, and the multiplexity of matter has ever since kept hidden,
Above from Below, the map from the mapped" (Tao De Jing, describing Feng Shui), 523; 542; [http://www.fengshuichinese.com Feng Shui Website]

'''Fepp, Highwayman''' 
111

'''Fermat's Last Theorem''' 
336; Pierre de Fermat (1601-1665) was a lawyer and amateur mathematician. In about 1637, he annotated his copy (now lost) of Bachet's translation of Diophantus' Arithmetika with a theorem of which he never published the proof; [http://www-gap.dcs.st-and.ac.uk/~history/HistTopics/Fermat's_last_theorem.html The Whole Story]; [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fermat%27s_last_theorem Wikipedia entry]

[[image:Ferrers_hanged.jpg|thumb|The Execution of Lord Ferrers at Tyburn in 1760|left]]'''Ferrers, Lord (1720-1760)''' 
111; Laurence Shirley, 4th Earl Ferrers (August 18, 1720 – May 5, 1760) was the last aristocrat hanged in England, for shooting and killing the steward charged with receiving rents. Ferrers pleaded insanity but was convicted of murder, none the less. On May 5, 1760, dressed in a light colored suit embroidered with silver (the outfit he had worn at his wedding), he was taken in his own carriage from the Tower of London to Tyburn and there hanged. It has been said that as a concession to his order the rope used was of silk;

hanging of, 111; [[Lord Ferrers|Details of the Hanging]]; [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laurence_Shirley,_4th_Earl_Ferrers Wikipedia entry]

<div id="eliza"></div>'''Fields, Eliza''' 
511-17; of Conestoga (named), 532

'''Fields, Joseph''' 
536; Eliza's father, of Conestoga Creek

'''Fields, Seth''' 
511; husband of Eliza, 540

'''Fifty-five''' 
330; 1755

'''Figg, the Great''' 
389; bladesman (knife-fighter)

'''Finger, Great''' 
189; "reaching in from the Distance, pausing at Draco"; [http://gravitys-rainbow.pynchonwiki.com/wiki/index.php?title=H#hand That Finger in Gravity's Rainbow]

'''Finger of Corsica''' 
726

<div id="finnbogi"></div>'''Finnbogi''' 
634; The oldest surviving texts of the Gr�nlendinga saga (or Vinland Saga) are found in the Flateyjarbók written between 1382 and 1395 for a wealth farmer Jon Hakonarsson. The family heirloom was eventually given to an Icelandic bishop, who in turn presented it to the king of Denmark in the seventeen century. The Flateyjarbók is now in the Royal library of Copenhagen

"Finnbogi saga ins ramma" (The Saga of Finnbogi the Strong) is one of the last Old Icelandic Family Sagas. Of considerable interest to folklorists and students of comparative literature courses, this saga purportedly recounts the life adventures of one Finnbogi Asbjornson, a tenth century Icelander renowned for his prodigious strength. Although external evidence does suggest that there was indeed someone name Finnbogi, born in Flateyjardale, who lived in Vididale and Trekyllisvik, it can not be proven. <ref>[http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0819175943/hyperartspynchon The Saga of Finnbogi the Strong]</ref>

And this, from a now-defunct website:

:Two brothers from Iceland, Helgi and Finnbogi, came to Greenland. Freydis, daughter of Eric the Red, went with the brothers to Vinland. In Vinland there came up some disagreement between the two groups of settlers and Freydis lied to her husband that Helgi and Finnbogi had mistreated her. Then Freydis's husband and his men attacked the group of Helgi and Finnbogi. Freydis's men killed Helgi and Finnbogi and all the men in their group. Freydis herself killed five women. They then went back to Greenland. When Leifur found out what had happened he got very angry. But he couldn't do anything because Freydis, the murderess, was his sister.

'''Fiona''' 
563; dancing girl in the ''Black Hole of Calcutta''

<div id="flamsteed"></div>'''Flamsteed, John (1646-1719)''' 
142; an English astronomer who suggested to King Charles II that he establish a royal observatory, which King Charles did (at Greenwich in 1676) and appointed Flamsteed first astronomer royal; 211; 438; 479; 772

'''Flanders''' 
230

'''Flautuer''' 
668

'''Flight''' 
517; 531; Dixon's over the Fells, 596; 296; 625; 651; 677; 740

'''Florinda''' 
109

<div id="florizel"></div>'''''Florizel and Perdita''''' 
214; "A Dramatic Pastoral, in Three Acts" written by [[G#garrick|David Garrick]] in 1758; [http://www.faculty.umb.edu/elizabeth_fay/floriz1.html Read the play...]; Florizel and Perdita are also the young lovers in Shakespeare's ''The Winter's Tale'' (1592-94) which was based on Robert Greene's romantic nouvella, ''Pandosta'' (1588);

<div id="fleur"></div>'''Flower-de-luce''' 
298; aka ''Fleur de Lys'' or ''Fleur-de-lis'', being the origin of the heraldic emblem of the Kings of France. The legend is that early in the sixth century, the Frankish King Clovis, faced with defeat in battle, was induced to pray for victory to the god of his Christian wife, Clothilde. He conquered and became a Christian and thereupon replaced the three toads on his banner by three Irises, the Iris being the Virgin's flower. in Locust-Street, Philadelphia; "Flower of Light" 688; [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fleur-de-lis Wikipedia entry]

'''Flux''' 
237; ''O.E.D.'': to bleed/flow copiously; in this instance: menstruation

'''Fluxions''' 
220; the Method of Fluxions is a branch of differential calculus concerned chiefly with the study of the rate of change of functions with respect to their variables especially through the use of derivatives and differentials:

:"Type II superconductors, however, permit the field to penetrate through the sample in quantized amounts of flux. These quanta are comprised of circulating vortices of current and the flux contained in the vortices. The total flux in a vortex is 2 x 10-7 Gauss-cm2. Great numbers of these vortices, or fluxoids as they are frequently called, can exist in a superconductor. For example, at a field intensity of 80 kilogauss (8 Tesla) there are 4 x 1011 fluxoids/cm2. These fluxoids and their interactions with defects in the superconductor give rise to the high current carrying capabilities of superconducting magnets." <ref>[http://www.americanmagnetics.com/tutorial/supercon.html More from this Website]</ref>

602; 721

'''Fops''' 
21; The fop is a stock character who appears from time to time in fiction. He is a person who makes a habit of fastidiously overdressing and putting on airs, aspiring to be viewed as an aristocrat. In English, the word fop is older, but the meaning of an overdressed, frivolously fastidious man may not be; Shakespeare's ''King Lear'' contains the word, in the general sense of a fool, and before him, Thomas Nashe, in ''Summer's Last Will'' and ''Testament'' (1592, printed 1600): "the Idiot, our Playmaker. He, like a Fop & an Ass must be making himself a public laughing-stock." Osric in ''Hamlet'' has a great deal of the fop's affected manner; 314; [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fop Wikipedia entry]

'''"For He's A Jolly Good Fellow"''' 
118

'''"Force Intensifier"''' 
600

'''Fort Detroit''' 
674

'''Fort George''' 
566; founded in New York by the East India Co and later became
Madras where [[B#bodine|Bodine]] jumps ship (p566); where Zacharia Hood was granted refuge, 570

'''Fort Loudon''' 
490

'''Fort Pitt''' 
330; Fort Pitt stood (some ruins remain) at the confluence of the Allegheny and Monongahela rivers, in Western Pennsylvania, where they form the Ohio River. Originally a French fort named Fort Duquesne, it was renamed Fort Pitt when English took it in 1758; the English also named the place Pitts-bourgh on
the same day; 661

'''Fort Stanwix''' 
531; Built in 1758 to guard a strategic portage along a major transportation route, ... Fort Stanwix guarded the centuries old Oneida Carrying Place. This strategic Iroquois Confederacy portage in upstate New York bridged the waterways between the Atlantic Ocean and the Great Lakes. The events that occurred at the site included the development of European and later American-Indian affairs, the melding of diverse cultures, and the protection of the Mohawk Valley during two world wars: the French and Indian, and the American Revolutionary Wars.

'''Fortune''' 
176

'''Fort William, Calcutta''' 
152; location of Black Hole of Calcutta, in the 9' x 7'6" room of which "146
Europeans were oblig'd to spend the night of 20-21 June 1756"

<div id="45"></div>'''Forty-five, The Rebellion of'''

First, a wee joak:

:'''How Scotland was Created'''

:At the beginning of time God was discussing the creation of the world with the Angel Gabriel. Leaning back in His golden throne, He told him of His plans for Scotland.

:"Gabriel," said God, "I am going to give Scotland towering mountains and magnificent glens resplendent with purple heather. Red deer will roam the countryside, golden eagles will circle in the skies, salmon will leap in the crystal clear rivers and lochs, and the surrounding seas will team with fish. Agriculture will flourish and there will be a glorious coming together of water with barley to be known as whisky. Coal, oil. and gas - all will be there. The Scots will be intelligent, innovative, industrious and......."

:"Wait a minute!" interrupted Gabriel. "Are you not being just a wee bit too generous to these Scots?"

:But the Almighty replied, "Not really. I haven't told you yet who their neighbours are going to be!"

311; In 1745 the Scottish [[J#jacobites|Jacobites]] (aka the Highlanders), led by Prince Charles Edward Stuart ("Bonnie Prince Charlie," the grandson of [[J#james|James II]]), rose up against the British in a last attempt to restore the Stuarts to the throne. The rebellion was quashed at the Battle of Culloden in January 1746. This lost battle ended the risings of the Jacobites, though Prince Charles escaped and went into hiding for several months before leaving Scotland; After 1745, the English banned the Scottish Clan system, the kilt, many of the loved Scottish traditions and were particularly harsh in the punishment of holdouts; 745; [[Blind Jack Metcalf]] and; [[Jacobites|MORE]]

'''''Fougueuse, La''''' 
567; French: "the impetuous one"; "a French Bomb-Ketch"

<div id="fox"></div>'''Fox's Advice''' 
38; Dixon follows it by deciding to answer "that of God" in Mason; Charles James Fox (1749-1806), born in London, was a British [w.html#whigs">Whig</a> politician, a fast living, hard gambling & drinking man who opposed tyranny and maintained a generous bearing towards his opponents (preferring to see beyond their faults to "that of God" in them). His support for the French Revolution led to the demise of his cherished friendship with Edmund Burke over the issue. Although I haven't located the exact quote to which Pynchon refers, here's another Fox bon mot:

:Equality of opportunity and equality of result are entirely alien to each other. Men are entitled to equal rights but to equal rights to unequal things.

[[image:mandelbrot_set.jpg|thumb|Mandelbrot Set|right]]'''Fractal geometry''' 
In colloquial usage, a fractal is "a rough or fragmented geometric shape that can be subdivided in parts, each of which is (at least approximately) a reduced/size copy of the whole." <ref>Falconer, Kenneth, ''Fractal Geometry: Mathematical Foundations and Applications'', John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., 2003, xxxv, [http://www.amazon.com/gp/redirect.html?ie=UTF8&location=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.amazon.com%2FFractal-Geometry-Mathematical-Foundations-Applications%2Fdp%2F0470848626%2Fsr%3D11-1%2Fqid%3D1167005587&tag=hyperartspynchon&linkCode=ur2&camp=1789&creative=9325 ISBN 0-470-84862-6]</ref> The term was coined by Benoît Mandelbrot in 1975 and was derived from the Latin fractus meaning broken or fractured.

A fractal as a geometric object generally has the following features:

* fine structure at arbitrarily small scales
* is too irregular to be easily described in traditional Euclidean geometric language.
* is self-similar (at least approximatively or stochastically)
* has a Hausdorff dimension that is greater than its topological dimension (although this requirement is not met by space-filling curves such as the Hilbert curve)
* has a simple and recursive definition. <ref>Falconer, Kenneth (2003). ''Fractal Geometry: Mathematical Foundations and Applications''. John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., xxv. ISBN 0-470-84862-6.</ref>

Because they appear similar at all levels of magnification, fractals are often considered to be 'infinitely complex'. Obvious examples include clouds, mountain ranges and lightning bolts. However, not all self-similar objects are fractals — for example, the real line (a straight Euclidean line) is formally self-similar but fails to have other fractal characteristics.

"this slavery within Slavery" 150; 204; "Shoreline tending to Infinite Length" 354; "'as above, so below'" 721; [http://archive.ncsa.uiuc.edu/Edu/Fractal/Fgeom.html Fractal Geometry Website]; [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fractal_geometry Wikipedia entry]

<div id="franklin"></div>'''Franklin, Dr. Benjamin (1706-90)''' 
266; American statesman, scientist, inventor and writer; interrogating Mason & Dixon about their connections, 268-69; as ''Poor Richard'' ("Let us go out into the Nights Main Drama!"), 294-95; and the Paxton Boys, 310; "out in the Thunder-Gusts" 394; 442; 463; 488; "Toy image of" 548; "American Promotheus" 565; "success in London" 613; 656; 760; [[N#newstyle|and the New Style]]; [[Benjamin Franklin|MORE]]; [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Benjamin_franklin Wikipedia entry]

'''Franz''' 
217

'''Frederick''' 
659; his "rank'd Automata"

'''Frederick of Prussia (1712-86) (reigned 1740-86)''' 
160; aka Frederick II, the Great; 550

'''Frederick the Third''' 
612; Frederik III (1609-70) was king of Denmark and Norway from 1648 to his
death; he founded the Royal Library in Copenhagen.

'''Freemasons''' 
394; 479

'''[[French Translations|FRENCH TRANSLATIONS]]'''

'''Fret''' 
243-44; ornamental network

'''Friar's Valley''' 
174; on St. Helena

'''Friendly Islands''' 
319

'''Friggs''' 
658; Philadelphia land speculator at M-D Line

'''''Frikkadel''''' 
146; dish which Dixon "reinvented"

'''Fritz''' 
551; "a couple of"

'''Frizzen and Flint''' 
343; In 18th & 19th c. guns and pistols, the flintlock was a lock having a flint in the hammer (aka "frizzen") for striking a spark to ignite the charge; [[Frizzen and Flint|MORE]]

'''Frome''' 
181; the River Frome rises in the Cotswolds near Miserden and then follows a
rather U-shaped course past Edgewotth and Chalford before running through
Stroud and on into the Severn to the SW of Gloucester.

'''Fry, Professor''' 
395

'''Fuh-kien School''' 
544

'''Fulhams''' 
25; loaded dice

'''Futurity''' 
Aka "the future"; Gateways to, 19; 118; 163; 182; 195; 196; 212; 297; 333; 499; 569; 574

===References===
<references/>

{{MD Alpha Nav}}