See Also:

dryad (iou) and fax (sh)


dryad (iou)



dryad noun. . LME.
[Old & mod. French dryade from Latin Dryades pl. of Dryas from Greek Druas, Druades, from drus tree: see -AD1.]
Classical Mythology. A nymph supposed to inhabit trees, a wood nymph.
transf.: Byron The palm, the loftiest dryad of the woods.
dry'adic adjective L19.

fax (sh)




in full facsimile

Device for the transmission and reproduction of documents by digitized signals sent over telephone lines.

Fax machines scan printed text and Graphics and convert the image into a digital code: 1 for dark areas, 0 for white areas. The code is transmitted through the telephone network to similar devices, where the documents are reproduced in close to their original form. Though the concepts for fax technology were developed in the 19th century, widespread use did not occur until the 1970s, when inexpensive means of adapting digitized information to telephone circuits became common.