Focus to Fold
Focus
(Fo"cus) n.; pl. E. Focuses L. Foci [L. focus hearth, fireplace; perh. akin to E. bake. Cf. Curfew,
Fuel, Fusil the firearm.]
1. (Opt.) A point in which the rays of light meet, after being reflected or refracted, and at which the
image is formed; as, the focus of a lens or mirror.
2. (Geom.) A point so related to a conic section and certain straight line called the directrix that the
ratio of the distance between any point of the curve and the focus to the distance of the same point
from the directrix is constant.
Thus, in the ellipse FGHKLM, A is the focus and CD the directrix, when the ratios FA:FE, GA:GD, MA:MC,
etc., are all equal. So in the hyperbola, A is the focus and CD the directrix when the ratio HA:HK is
constant for all points of the curve; and in the parabola, A is the focus and CD the directrix when the
ratio BA:BC is constant. In the ellipse this ratio is less than unity, in the parabola equal to unity, and in
the hyperbola greater than unity. The ellipse and hyperbola have each two foci, and two corresponding
directrixes, and the parabola has one focus and one directrix. In the ellipse the sum of the two lines
from any point of the curve to the two foci is constant; that is: AG+GB=AH+HB; and in the hyperbola the
difference of the corresponding lines is constant. The diameter which passes through the foci of the
ellipse is the major axis. The diameter which being produced passes through the foci of the hyperbola
is the transverse axis. The middle point of the major or the transverse axis is the center of the curve.
Certain other curves, as the lemniscate and the Cartesian ovals, have points called foci, possessing
properties similar to those of the foci of conic sections. In an ellipse, rays of light coming from one focus,
and reflected from the curve, proceed in lines directed toward the other; in an hyperbola, in lines directed
from the other; in a parabola, rays from the focus, after reflection at the curve, proceed in lines parallel to
the axis. Thus rays from A in the ellipse are reflected to B; rays from A in the hyperbola are reflected
toward L and M away from B.
3. A central point; a point of concentration.
Aplanatic focus. (Opt.) See under Aplanatic. — Conjugate focus (Opt.), the focus for rays which
have a sensible divergence, as from a near object; — so called because the positions of the object and
its image are interchangeable. — Focus tube (Phys.), a vacuum tube for Rœntgen rays in which the
cathode rays are focused upon the anticathode, for intensifying the effect. — Principal, or Solar, focus
(Opt.), the focus for parallel rays.
Focus
(Fo"cus) v. t. [imp. & p. p. Focused ; p. pr. & vb. n. Focusing.] To bring to a focus; to focalize; as,
to focus a camera. R. Hunt.
Fodder
(Fod"der) n. [See 1st Fother.] A weight by which lead and some other metals were formerly
sold, in England, varying from 19½ to 24 cwt.; a fother. [Obs.]
Fodder
(Fod"der), n. [AS. fodder, foddor, fodder fr. foda food; akin to D. voeder, OHG. fuotar, G.
futter, Icel. foðr, Sw. & Dan. foder. &radic75. See Food and cf. Forage, Fur.] That which is fed
out to cattle horses, and sheep, as hay, cornstalks, vegetables, etc.
Fodder
(Fod"der), v. t. [imp. & p. p. Foddered (-derd); p. pr. & vb. n. Foddering.] To feed, as
cattle, with dry food or cut grass, etc.; to furnish with hay, straw, oats, etc.
Fodderer
(Fod"der*er) n. One who fodders cattle.
Fodient
(Fo"di*ent) a. [L. fodiens, p. pr. of fodere to dig.] Fitted for, or pertaining to, digging.
Fodient
(Fo"di*ent) n. (Zoöl.) One of the Fodientia.
