Fahrenheit

Množina: Fahr's diseases

ETYM German.
The Fahrenheit thermometer or scale.
A temperature scale defined by 32[s] at the ice point and 212[s] at the boiling point of water at sea level.
Of a temperature scale that registers the freezing point of water as 32 degrees F and the boiling point as 212 degrees F at one atmosphere of pressure; SYN. f, Fahr.
Conforming to the scale used by Gabriel Daniel Fahrenheit in the graduation of his thermometer; of or relating to Fahrenheit's thermometric scale.

(1686-1736) Polish-born Dutch physicist who invented the first accurate thermometer 1724 and devised the Fahrenheit temperature scale. Using his thermometer, Fahrenheit was able to determine the boiling points of liquids and found that they vary with atmospheric pressure.
Fahrenheit was born in Danzig (Gdansk). He learned the manufacture of scientific instruments in Amsterdam from 1701, and spent ten years traveling round Europe, meeting scientists. In 1717 he set himself up as an instrumentmaker in Amsterdam, and remained in the Netherlands for the rest of his life.
Fahrenheit's first thermometers contained a column of alcohol which expanded and contracted directly, as originally devised by Danish astronomer Ole Römer in 1701. Fahrenheit substituted mercury for alcohol because its rate of expansion, although less than that of alcohol, is more constant. Furthermore, mercury could be used over a much wider temperature range than alcohol.
In order to reflect the greater sensitivity of his thermometer, Fahrenheit expanded Römer's scale so that blood heat was 90º and an ice–salt mixture was 0º; on this scale freezing point was 30º. Fahrenheit later adjusted the scale to ignore body temperature as a fixed point so that the boiling point of water came to 212º and freezing point was 32º. This is the Fahrenheit scale that is still in use today.

Množina: Fahrenheit scales

Temperature scale invented 1714 by Gabriel Fahrenheit which was commonly used in English-speaking countries until the 1970s, after which the Celsius scale was generally adopted, in line with the rest of the world. In the Fahrenheit scale, intervals are measured in degrees (ºF); ºF = (ºC x 9/5) + 32.
Fahrenheit took as the zero point the lowest temperature he could achieve anywhere in the laboratory, and, as the other fixed point, body temperature, which he set at 96ºF. On this scale, water freezes at 32ºF and boils at 212ºF.
A system of measuring temperature; 32 is the melting point of ice and 212 is the boiling point of water.

Množina: Fahrenheit thermometers

A thermometer calibrated in degrees Fahrenheit.