Fang, To. To pour water into a pump in order to fetch it, when otherwise the boxes do not hold the water left on them.
Fanion (Fr.). A small flag which was sometimes carried at the head of the baggage of a brigade. It was made of serge, and resembled in color the uniform livery of the brigadier, or of the commandant of any particular corps.
Fantassin (Fr.). A foot-soldier. This term is derived from the Italian fante, a boy, the light troops in the 14th and 15th centuries being formed of boys who followed the armies and were formed into corps with light arms, hence the origin of the word infantry.
Fantee, or Fanti. A maritime country of Guinea, inhabited by a tribe of the same name, who are now under English protection.
Farcy. A horse disease of the absorbents, affecting the skin and its blood-vessels; is of the nature of mange, and allied to glanders.
Farrier. In a general acceptation of the term, any person who shoes horses, or professes to cure their diseases. In a practical military sense, a man appointed to do the duty of farriery in a troop of cavalry. Troop farriers should be under the immediate superintendence and control of a veterinary surgeon. There is one farrier allowed to each troop of cavalry in the U. S. army.
Farrier-Major. A person who was formerly appointed by the colonel of a dragoon regiment to superintend the farriers of troops. He has since been superseded or replaced by a veterinary surgeon.
Fasces. Bundles of rods usually made of birch, but sometimes of elm, with an axe projecting from the middle of them, which were carried before the chief magistrates of ancient Rome, as symbols of their power over life and limb. They were borne by the lictors, at first before the kings; in the time of the republic, before consuls and prætors; and afterwards before the emperors.
Fascine. A long cylindrical fagot of brushwood, used to revet the interior of batteries and embrasures, and for many other purposes of military engineering.
Fascines, Covering. See [Covering-fascines].