FE'AL, adjective Faithful. [Infra.]

FE'ALTY, noun [Latin fidelis.]

Fidelity to a lord; faithful adherence of a tenant or vassal to the superior of whom he holds his lands; loyalty. Under the feudal system of tenures, every vassal or tenant was bound to be true and faithful to his lord, and to defend him against all his enemies. This obligation was called his fidelity or fealty and an oath of fealty was required to be taken by all tenants to their landlords. The tenant was called a liege man; the land, a liege fee; and the superior, liege lord. [See Liege.]

FEAR, noun [See the Verb.]

1. A painful emotion or passion excited by an expectation of evil, or the apprehension of impending danger. fear expresses less apprehension than dread, and dread less than terror and fright. The force of this passion, beginning with the most moderate degree, may be thus expressed, fear dread, terror, fright. fear is accompanied with a desire to avoid or ward off the expected evil. fear is an uneasiness of mind, upon the thought of future evil likely to befall us.

FEAR is the passion of our nature which excites us to provide for our security, on the approach of evil.

2. Anxiety; solicitude.

The principal fear was for the holy temple.

3. The cause of fear

Thy angel becomes a fear

4. The object of fear

Except the God of Abraham, and the fear of Isaac, had been with me. Genesis 31:42.

5. Something set or hung up to terrify wild animals, by its color or noise. Isaiah 24:17. Jeremiah 48:43.

6. In scripture, fear is used to express a filial or a slavish passion. In good men, the fear of God is a holy awe or reverence of God and his laws, which springs from a just view and real love of the divine character, leading the subjects of it to hate and shun every thing that can offend such a holy being, and inclining them to aim at perfect obedience. This is filial fear

I will put my fear in their hearts. Jeremiah 32:39.

Slavish fear is the effect or consequence of guilt; it is the painful apprehension of merited punishment. Romans 8:15.

The love of God casteth out fear 1 John 4:1.

7. The worship of God.

I will teach you the fear of the Lord. Psalms 34:7.

8. The law and word of God.

The fear of the Lord is clean, enduring for ever. Psalms 19:9.

9. Reverence; respect; due regard.

Render to all their dues; fear to whom fear Romans 13:7.

FEAR, verb transitive [Latin vereor.]

1. To feel a painful apprehension of some impending evil; to be afraid of; to consider or expect with emotions of alarm or solicitude. We fear the approach of an enemy or of a storm. We have reason to fear the punishment of our sins.

I will fear no evil, for thou art with me. Psa 23.

2. To reverence; to have a reverential awe; to venerate.

This do, and live:for I fear God. Genesis 42:18.

3. To affright; to terrify; to drive away or prevent approach by fear or by a scarecrow. [This seems to be the primary meaning, but now obsolete.]

We must not make a scarecrow of the law, setting it up to fear the birds of prey.

FEAR, verb intransitive To be in apprehension of evil; to be afraid; to feel anxiety on account of some expected evil.

But I fear lest by any means, as the serpent beguiled Eve through his subtility, so your minds should be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ. 2 Corinthians 11:3.

FEAR not, Abram:I am thy shield, and thy exceeding great reward. Gen 15.

FEAR, noun A companion. [Not in use. See Peer.]

FE'ARED, participle passive Apprehended or expected with painful solicitude; reverenced.

FE'ARFUL, adjective

1. Affected by fear; feeling pain in expectation of evil; apprehensive with solicitude; afraid. I am fearful of the consequences of rash conduct. Hence,

2. Timid; timorous; wanting courage.

What man is there that is fearful and fainthearted?

Deuteronomy 20:8.

3. Terrible; impressing fear; frightful; dreadful.

It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God. Hebrews 10:27.

4. Awful; to be reverenced.

O Lord, who is like thee, glorious in holiness, fearful in praises? Exodus 15:11.

That thou mayest fear this glorious and fearful name, Jehovah, thy God. Deuteronomy 28:58.

FE'ARFULLY, adverb

1. Timorously; in fear.

In such a night did Thisbe fearfully o'ertrip the dew.

2. Terribly; dreadfully; in a manner to impress terror.

There is a cliff, whose high and bending head looks fearfully on the confined deep.

3. In a manner to impress admiration and astonishment.

I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Psalms 139:14.

FE'ARFULNESS, noun

1. Timorousness; timidity.

2. State of being afraid; awe; dread.

A thing that makes a government despised, is fearfulness of, and mean compliances with, bold popular offenders.

3. Terror; alarm; apprehension of evil.

Fearfulness hath surprised the hypocrites. Isaiah 33:14.

FE'ARLESS, adjective

1. Free from fear; as fearless of death; fearless of consequences.

2. Bold; courageous; intrepid; undaunted; as a fearless hero; a fearless foe.

FE'ARLESSLY, adverb Without fear; in a bold or courageous manner; intrepidly. Brave men fearlessly expose themselves to the most formidable dangers.

FE'ARLESSNESS, noun Freedom from fear; courage; boldness; intrepidity.

He gave instances of an invincible courage and fearlessness in danger.

FEASIBIL'ITY, noun s as z. [See Feasible.] The quality of being capable of execution; practicability. Before we adopt a plan, let us consider its feasibility

FE'ASIBLE, adjective s as z. [Latin facere.]

1. That may be done, performed, executed or effected; practicable. We say a thing is feasible when it can be effected by human means or agency. A thing may be possible, but not feasible

2. That may be used or tilled, as land.

FE'ASIBLE, noun That which is practicable; that which can be performed by human means.

FE'ASIBLENESS, noun Feasibility; practicability.

FE'ASIBLY, adverb Practicably.

FEAST, noun [Latin festum.]

1. A sumptuous repast or entertainment, of which a number of guests partake; particularly, a rich or splendid public entertainment.

On Pharaoh's birth day, he made a feast to all his servants. Genesis 40:20.

2. A rich or delicious repast or meal; something delicious to the palate.

3. A ceremony of feasting; joy and thanksgiving on stated days, in commemoration of some great event, or in honor of some distinguished personage; an anniversary, periodical or stated celebration of some event; a festival; as on occasion of the games in Greece, and the feast of the passover, the feast of Pentecost, and the feast of tabernacles among the Jews.

4. Something delicious and entertaining to the mind or soul; as the dispensation of the gospel is called a feast of fat things. Isaiah 25:6.

5. That which delights and entertains.

He that is of a merry heart hath a continual feast

Proverbs 15:15.

In the English church, feasts are immovable or movable; immovable, when they occur on the same day of the year, as Christmas day, etc.; and movable, when they are not confined to the same day of the year, as Easter, which regulates many others.

FEAST, verb intransitive

1. To eat sumptuously; to dine or sup on rich provisions; particularly in large companies, and on public festivals.

And his sons went and feasted in their houses. Job 1:4.

2. To be highly gratified or delighted.

FEAST, verb transitive

1. To entertain with sumptuous provisions; to treat at the table magnificently; as, he was feasted by the king.

2. To delight; to pamper; to gratify luxuriously; as, to feast the soul.

Whose taste or smell can bless the feasted sense.

FE'ASTED, participle passive Entertained sumptuously; delighted.

FE'ASTER, noun

1. One who fares deliciously.

2. One who entertains magnificently.

FE'ASTFUL, adjective

1. Festive; joyful; as a feastful day or friend.

2. Sumptuous, luxurious; as feastful rites.

FE'ASTING, participle present tense

1. Eating luxuriously; faring sumptuously.

2. Delighting; gratifying.

3. Entertaining with a sumptuous table.

FE'ASTING, noun An entertainment.

FE'ASTRITE, noun Custom observed in entertainments.

FEAT, noun [Latin factum, from facio, to perform.]

1. An act; a deed; an exploit; as a bold feat; a noble feat; feats of prowess.

2. In a subordinate sense, any extraordinary act of strength, skill or cunning, as feats of horsemanship, or of dexterity; a trick.

FEAT, adjective Ready; skilful; ingenious.

Never master had a page - so feat

FEAT, verb transitive To form; to fashion.

FE'ATEOUS, adjective Neat; dextrous.

FE'ATEOUSLY, adverb Neatly; dextrously. obsolete

FEATH'ER,

FEATH'ER-BED

FEATH'ER-DRIVER,

FEATH'ER-FEW, A corruption of feverfew.

FEATH'ERED,

FEATH'EREDGE,

FEATH'EREDGED,

FEATH'ERLESS,

FEATH'ERLY,

FEATH'ERY,

FE'ATLY, adverb [from feat.] Neatly; dextrously; adroitly. [Little used.]

FEATH'EREDGE,

FEATH'EREDGED,

FEATH'ERLESS,

FEATH'ERLY,

FEATH'ERY,

FE'ATLY, adv. [from feat.] Neatly; dextrously; adroitly. [Little used.]

FE'ATNESS, noun [from feat.] Dexterity; adroitness; skillfulness. [Little used.]

FE'ATURE, noun [Latin factura, a making, from facio, to make.]

1. The make, form or cast of any part of the face; any single lineament. We speak of large features or small features. We see a resemblance in the features of a parent and of a child.

2. The make or cast of the face.

Report the feature of Octavia, her years.

3. The fashion; the make; the whole turn or cast of the body.

4. The make or form of any part of the surface of a thing, as of a country or landscape.

5. Lineament; outline; prominent parts; as the features of a treaty.

FE'ATURED, adjective Having features or good features; resembling in features.

FEAZE, verb transitive To untwist the end of a rope.

FEB'ERARY,

FEB'RIFACIENT, adjective [Latin febris, a fever, and facio, to make.] Causing fever.

FEB'RIFACIENT, noun That which produces fever.

FEBRIF'IC, adjective [Latin febris, fever, and facio, to make.] Producing fever; feverish.

FEB'RIFUGE, noun [Latin febris, fever, and fugo, to drive away.]

Any medicine that mitigates or removes fever.

FEB'RIFUGE, adjective Having the quality of mitigating or subduing fever; antifebrile.

FE'BRILE, adjective [Latin febrilis, from febris, fever.]

Pertaining to fever; indicating fever, or derived from it; as febrile symptoms; febrile action.

FEB'RUARY, noun [Latin Februarius. The Latin word is said to be named from februo, to purify by sacrifice, and thus to signify the month of purification, as the people were, in this month, purified by sacrifices and oblations. The word februo is said to be a Sabine word, connected with ferveo, ferbeo, to boil, as boiling was used in purifications.

This practice bears a resemblance to that of making atonement among the Jews; but the connection between ferveo and february is doubtful.

The name of the second month in the year, introduced into the Roman calendar by Numa. In common years, this month contains 28 days; in the bissextile or leap year, 29 days.

FEBRUA'TION, noun Purification. [See February.]

FE'CAL, adjective [See Feces.] Containing or consisting of dregs, lees, sediment or excrement.

FE'CES, noun plural [Latin faces.]

1. Dregs; lees; sediment; the matter which subsides in casks of liquor.

2. Excrement.

FE'CIAL, adjective [Latin fecialis.] Pertaining to heralds and the denunciation of war to an enemy; as fecial law.

FEC'ULA, noun

1. The green matter of plants; chlorophyll.

2. Starch or farina; called also amylaceous fecula

This term is applied to any pulverulent matter obtained from plants by simply breaking down the texture, washing with water, and subsidence. Hence its application to starch and the green fecula though entirely different in chimical properties.

FEC'ULENCE,

FEC'ULENCY, noun [Latin faeculentia, from facula, faces, fax, dregs.]

1. Muddiness; foulness; the quality of being foul with extraneous matter or lees.

2. Lees; sediment; dregs; or rather the substances mixed with liquor, or floating in it, which, when separated and lying at the bottom, are called lees, dregs or sediment. The refining or fining of liquor is the separation of it from its feculencies.

FEC'ULENCY, n. [L. faeculentia, from facula, faces, fax, dregs.]

FEC'ULENT, adjective Foul with extraneous or impure substances; muddy; thick; turbid; abounding with sediment or excrementitious matter.

FEC'ULUM, noun [from faces, supra.] A dry, dusty, tasteless substance obtained from plants. [This should be fecula.]

FE'CUND, adjective [Latin facundus, from the root of faetus.] Fruitful in children; prolific.

FE'CUNDATE, verb transitive

1. To make fruitful or prolific.

2. To impregnate; as, the pollen of flowers fecundates the stigma.

FE'CUNDATED, participle passive Rendered prolific or fruitful; impregnated.

FE'CUNDATING, participle present tense Rendering fruitful; impregnating.

FECUNDA'TION, noun The act of making fruitful or prolific; impregnation.

FECUND'IFY, verb transitive To make fruitful; to fecundate. [Little used.]

FECUND'ITY, noun [Latin faecunditas.]

1. Fruitfulness; the quality of producing fruit; particularly, the quality in female animals of producing young in great numbers.

2. The power of producing or bringing forth. It is said that the seeds of some plants retain their fecundity forty years.

3. Fertility; the power of bringing forth in abundance; richness of invention.

FED, preterit tense and participle passive of feed, which see.

FED'ARY, noun A partner; a confederate; an accomplice. [Not used.]

FED'ERAL, adjective [from Latin faedus, a league, allied perhaps to Eng. wed. Latin vas, vadis, vador, vadimonium. See Heb. to pledge.]

1. Pertaining to a league or contract; derived from an agreement or covenant between parties, particularly between nations.

The Romans, contrary to federal right, compelled them to part with Sardinia.

2. Consisting in a compact between parties, particularly and chiefly between states or nations; founded on alliance by contract or mutual agreement; as a federal government, such as that of the United States.

3. Friendly to the constitution of the United States. [See the Noun.]

FED'ERALIST, noun an appellation in America, given to the friends of the constitution of the United States, at its formation and adoption, and to the political party which favored the administration of President Washington.

FED'ERATE, adjective [Latin faederatus.] Leagued; united by compact, as sovereignties, states or nations; joined in confederacy; as federate nations or powers.

FEDERA'TION, noun

1. The act of uniting in a league.

2. A league; a confederacy.

FED'ERATIVE, adjective uniting; joining in a league; forming a confederacy.

FE'DITY, noun [Latin faditas.] Turpitude; vileness. [Not in use.]

FEE, noun [Latin pecu, pecus. From the use of cattle in transferring property, or from barter and payments in cattle, the word came to signify money; it signified also goods, substance in general. The word belongs to Class Bg, but the primary sense is not obvious.]

A reward or compensation for services; recompense, either gratuitous, or established by law and claimed of right. It is applied particularly to the reward of professional services; as the fees of lawyers and physicians; the fees of office; clerk's fees; sheriff's fees; marriage fees, etc. Many of these are fixed by law; but gratuities to professional men are also called fees.

FEE, noun [In English, is loan. This word, fee inland, or an estate in trust, originated among the descendants of the northern conquerors of Italy, but it originated in the south of Europe. See Feud.]

Primarily, a loan of land, an estate in trust, granted by a prince or lord, to be held by the grantee on condition of personal service, or other condition; and if the grantee or tenant failed to perform the conditions, the land reverted to the lord or donor, called the landlord, or lend-lord, the lord of the loan. A fee then is any land or tenement held of a superior on certain conditions. It is synonymous with fief and feud. All the land in England, except the crown land, is of this kind. Fees are absolute or limited. An absolute fee or fee-simple is land which a man holds to himself and his heirs forever, who are called tenants in fee simple. Hence in modern times, the term fee or fee simple denotes an estate of inheritance; and in America, where lands are not generally held of a superior, a fee or fee simple is an estate in which the owner has the whole property without any condition annexed to the tenure. A limited fee is an estate limited or clogged with certain conditions; as a qualified or base fee which ceases with the existence of certain conditions; and a conditional fee which is limited to particular heirs.

In the United States, an estate in fee or fee simple is what is called in English law an allodial estate, an estate held by a person in his own right, and descendible to the heirs in general.

FEE'-FARM, noun [fee and farm.] A kind of tenure of estates without homage, fealty or other service, except that mentioned in the feoffment, which is usually the full rent. The nature of this tenure is, that if the rent is in arrear or unpaid for two years, the feoffer and his heirs may have an action for the recovery of the lands.

FEE'BLE, adjective [I know not the origin of the first syllable.]

1. Weak; destitute of much physical strength; as, infants are feeble at their birth.

2. Infirm; sickly; debilitated by disease.

3. Debilitated by age or decline of life.

4. Not full or loud; as a feeble voice or sound.

5. Wanting force or vigor; as feeble efforts.

6. Not bright or strong; faint; imperfect; as feeble light; feeble colors.

7. Not strong or vigorous; as feeble powers of mind.

8. Not vehement or rapid; slow; as feeble motion.

FEE'BLE, verb transitive To weaken. [Not used. See Enfeeble.]

FEE'BLENESS, noun

1. Weakness of body or mind, from any cause; imbecility; infirmity; want of strength, physical or intellectual; as feebleness of the body or limbs; feebleness of the mind or understanding.

2. Want of fullness or loudness; as feebleness of voice.

3. Want of vigor or force; as feebleness of exertion, or of operation.

4. Defect of brightness; as feebleness of light or color.

FEE'BLY, adverb Weakly; without strength; as, to move feebly

Thy gentle numbers feebly creep.

FEED, verb transitive preterit tense and participle passive [See Father.]

1. To give food to; as, to feed an infant; to feed horses and oxen.

2. To supply with provisions. We have flour and meat enough to feed the army a month.

3. To supply; to furnish with any thing of which there is constant consumption, waste or use. Springs, feed ponds, lakes and rivers; ponds and streams feed canals. Mills are fed from hoppers.

4. To graze; to cause to be cropped by feeding, as herbage by cattle If grain is too forward in autumn, feed it with sheep.

5. To nourish; to cherish; to supply with nutriment; as, to feed hope or expectation; to feed vanity.

6. To keep in hope or expectation; as, to feed one with hope.

7. To supply fuel; as, to feed a fire.

8. To delight; to supply with something desirable; to entertain; as, to feed the eye with the beauties of a landscape.

9. To give food or fodder for fattening; to fatten. The county of Hampshire, in Massachusetts, feeds a great number of cattle for slaughter.

10. To supply with food, and to lead, guard and protect; a scriptural sense.

He shall feed his flock like a shepherd. Isaiah 40:11.

FEED, verb intransitive

1. To take food; to eat.

2. To subsist by eating; to prey. Some birds feed on seeds and berries, others on flesh.

3. To pasture; to graze; to place cattle to feed Exodus 22:5.

4. To grow fat.

FEED, noun

1. Food; that which is eaten; pasture; fodder; applied to that which is eaten by beasts, not to the food of men. The hills of our country furnish the best feed for sheep.

2. Meal, or act of eating.

For such pleasure till that hour at feed or fountain never had I found.

FEE'DER, noun

1. One that gives food, or supplies nourishment.

2. One who furnishes incentives; an encourager.

The feeder of my riots.

3. One that eats or subsists; as, small birds are feeders on grain or seeds.

4. One that fattens cattle for slaughter.

5. A fountain, stream or channel that supplies a main canal with water.

Feeder of a vein, in mining, a short cross vein.

FEE'DING, participle present tense Giving food or nutriment; furnishing provisions; eating; taking food or nourishment; grazing; supplying water or that which is constantly consumed; nourishing; supplying fuel or incentives.

FEE'DING, noun Rich pasture.

FEEL, verb transitive preterit tense and participle passive felt. [Latin palpo. the primary sense is to touch, to pat, to strike gently, or to press, as is evident from the Latin palpito, and other derivatives of palp. If so, the word seems to be allied to Latin pello.]

1. To perceive by the touch; to have sensation excited by contact of a thing with the body or limbs.

Suffer me that I may feel the pillars. Judges 16:26.

Come near, I pray thee, that I may feel thee, my son.

Genesis 27:12.

2. To have the sense of; to suffer or enjoy; as, to feel pain; to feel pleasure.

3. To experience; to suffer.

Whoso keepeth the commandments shall feel no evil thing. Ecclesiastes 8:5.

4. To be affected by; to perceive mentally; as, to feel grief or woe.

Would I had never trod this English earth, or felt the flatteies that grow upon it.

5. To know; to be acquainted with; to have a real and just view of.

For then, and not till then, he felt himself.

6. To touch; to handle; with or without of.

FEEL this piece of silk, or feel of it.

To feel or to feel out, is to try; to sound; to search for; to explore; as, to feel or feel out one's opinions or designs.

To feel after, to search for; to seek to find; to seek as a person groping in the dark.

If haply they might feel after him, and find him. Acts 18:1.

FEEL, verb intransitive

1. To have perception by the touch, or by the contact of any substance with the body.

2. To have the sensibility or the passions moved or excited. The good man feels for the woes of others.

3. To give perception; to excite sensation.

Blind men say black feels rough, and white feels smooth.

So, we say, a thing feels soft or hard, or it feels hot or cold.

4. To have perception mentally; as, to feel hurt; to feel grieved; to feel unwilling.

FEEL, noun The sense of feeling, or the perception caused by the touch. The difference of tumors may be ascertained by the feel Argillaceous stones may sometimes be known by the feel [In America, feeling is more generally used; but the use of feel is not uncommon.]

FEE'LER, noun

1. One who feels.

2. One of the palpi of insects. The feelers of insects are usually four or six, and situated near the mouth. They are filiform and resemble articulated, movable antennae. They are distinguished from antennae or horns, by being short, naked and placed near the mouth. They are used in searching for food.

This tern is also applied to the antennae or horns of insects.

FEE'LING, participle present tense

1. Perceiving by the touch; having perception.

2. adjective Expressive of great sensibility; affecting; tending to excite the passions. He made a feeling representation of his wrongs. He spoke with feeling eloquence.

3. Possessing great sensibility; easily affected or moved; as a feeling man; a feeling heart.

4. Sensibly or deeply affected; as, I had a feeling sense of his favors. [This use is not analogical, but common.]

FEE'LING, noun

1. The sense of touch; the sense by which we perceive external objects which come in contact with the body, and obtain ideas of their tangible qualities; one of the five senses. It is by feeling we know that a body is hard or soft, hot or cold, wet or dry, rough or smooth.

2. Sensation; the effect of perception.

The apprehension of the good gives but the greater feeling to the worse.

3. Faculty or power of perception; sensibility.

Their king, out of a princely feeling was sparing and compassionate towards his subjects.

4. Nice sensibility; as a man of feeling

5. Excitement; emotion.

FEE'LINGLY, adverb

1. With expression of great sensibility; tenderly; as, to speak feelingly

2. So as to be sensibly felt.

These are counselors, that feelingly persuade me what I am.

FEESE, noun A race. [Not in use.]

FEET, noun plu of foot. [See Foot.]

FEE'TLESS, adjective Destitute of feet; as feetless birds.

FEIGN, verb transitive fane. [Latin fingo. The Latin forms fictum, fictus, whence figura, figure, also fucus.]

1. To invent or imagine; to form an idea or conception of something not real.

There are no such things done as thou sayest, but thou feignest them out of thine own heart. Nehemiah 6:8.

2. To make a show of; to pretend; to assume a false appearance; to counterfeit.

I pray thee, feign thyself to be a mourner. 2 Samuel 14:2.

She feigns a laugh.

3. To represent falsely; to pretend; to form and relate a fictitious tale.

The poet did feign that Orpheus drew trees, stones, and floods.

4. To dissemble; to conceal. obsolete

FEIGNED, participle passive Invented; devised; imagined; assumed.

FEIGNEDLY, adverb In fiction; in pretense; not really.

FEIGNEDNESS, noun Fiction; pretense; deceit.

FEIGNER, noun One who feigns; an inventor; a deviser of fiction.

FEIGNING, participle present tense Imagining; inventing; pretending; making a false show.

FEIGNING, noun A false appearance; artful contrivance.

FEIGNINGLY, adverb With false appearance.

FEINT, noun

1. An assumed or false appearance; a pretense of doing something not intended to be done.

Courtley's letter is but a feint to get off.

2. A mock attack; an appearance of aiming at one part when another is intended to be struck. In fencing, a show of making a thrust at one part, to deceive an antagonist, when the intention is to strike another part.

FEINT, adjective or participle passive Counterfeit; seeming. [Not used.]

FE'LANDERS, noun [See Filanders.]

FELD'SPAR,

FELD'SPATH,

FELDSPATH'IC, adjective Pertaining to feldspar or consisting of it.

FELD'SPATH,

FELDSPATH'IC, a. Pertaining to feldspar, or consisting of it.

FELIC'ITATE, verb transitive [Latin felicito, from felix, happy.]

1. To make very happy.

What a glorious entertainment and pleasure would fill and felicitate his spirit, if he could grasp all in a single survey.

More generally,

2. To congratulate; to express joy or pleasure to. We felicitate our friends on the acquisition of good, or an escape from evil.

FELIC'ITATE, adjective Made very happy.

FELIC'ITATED, participle passive Made very happy; congratulated.

FELIC'ITATING, participle present tense Making very happy; congratulating.

FELICITA'TION, noun Congratulation.

FELIC'ITOUS, adjective Very happy; prosperous; delightful.

FELIC'ITOUSLY, adverb Happily.

FELIC'ITY, noun [Latin felicitas, from felix, happy.]

1. Happiness, or rather great happiness; blessedness; blissfulness; appropriately, the joys of heaven.

2. Prosperity; blessing; enjoyment of good.

The felicities of her wonderful reign may be complete.

Females - who confer on life its finest felicities.

FE'LINE, adjective [Latin felinus, from felis, a cat.]

Pertaining to cats, or to their species; like a cat; noting the cat kind or the genus Felis. We say, the feline race; feline rapacity.

FELL, preterit tense of fall.

FELL, adjective

1. Cruel; barbarous; inhuman.

It seemed fury, discord, madness fell

2. Fierce; savage; ravenous; bloody.

More fell than tigers on the Libyan plain.

FELL, noun [Latin pellis.] A skin or hide of a beast; used chiefly in composition, as wool-fell.

FELL, noun A barren or stony hill. [Local.]

FELL, verb transitive To cause to fall; to prostrate; to bring to the ground, either by cutting, as to fell trees, or by striking, as to fell an ox.

FELL'ED, participle passive Knocked or cut down.

FELL'ER, noun One who hews or knocks down. Isaiah 14:8.

FELLIF'LUOUS, adjective [Latin fel, gall, and fluo, to flow.] Flowing with gall.

FELL'ING, participle present tense Cutting or beating to the ground.

FELL'MONGER, noun [fell and monger.] A dealer in hides.

FELL'NESS, noun [See Fell, cruel.] Cruelty; fierce barbarity; rage.

FELL'OE, [See Felly.]

FEL'LOW, noun [Heb. to tie or connect, to be joined or associated.]

1. A companion; an associate.

In youth I had twelve fellows, like myself.

Each on his fellow for assistance calls.

2. One of the same kind.

A shepherd had one favorite dog; he fed him with his own hand, and took more care of him than of his fellows.

3. An equal.

Awake, O sword, against my shepherd, and against the man that is my fellow saith Jehovah of hosts. Zechariah 13:7.

4. One of a pair, or of two things used together and suited to each other. Of a pair of gloves, we call one the fellow of the other.

5. One equal or like another. Of an artist we say, this man has not his fellow that is, one of like skill.

6. An appellation of contempt; a man without good breeding or worth; an ignoble man; as a mean fellow

Worth makes the man, and want of it the fellow

7. A member of a college that shares its revenues; or a member of any incorporated society.

8. A member of a corporation; a trustee.

FEL'LOW, verb transitive To suit with; to pair with; to match. [Little used.]

In composition, fellow denotes community of nature, station or employment.

FEL'LOWLIKE, adjective Like a companion; companionable; on equal terms.

FEL'LOWSHIP, noun

1. Companionship; society; consort; mutual association of persons on equal and friendly terms; familiar intercourse.

Have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness. Ephesians 5:11.

Men are made for society and mutual fellowship

2. Association; confederacy; combination.

Most of the other christian princes were drawn into the fellowship of that war. [Unusual.]

3. Partnership; joint interest; as fellowship in pain.

4. Company; a state of being together.

The great contention of the sea and skies parted our fellowship

5. Frequency of intercourse.

In a great town friends are scattered, so that there is not that fellowship which is in less neighborhoods.

6. Fitness and fondness for festive entertainments; with good prefixed.

He had by his good fellowship - made himself popular, with all the officers of the army.

7. Communion; intimate familiarity. 1 John 1:3.

8. In arithmetic, the rule of proportions, by which the accounts of partners in business are adjusted, so that each partner may have a share of gain or sustain a share of loss, in proportion to his part of the stock.

9. An establishment in colleges, for the maintenance of a fellow.

FEL'LY, adverb [See Fell, cruel.] Cruelly; fiercely; barbarously.

FEL'LY, noun The exterior part or rim of a wheel, supported by the spokes.

Felo de se, in law, one who commits felony by suicide, or deliberately destroys his own life.

FEL'ON, noun [Low Latin felo.]

1. In law, a person who has committed felony. [See Felony.]

2. A whitlow; a painful swelling formed in the periosteum at the end of the finger.

FEL'ON, adjective

1. Malignant; fierce; malicious; proceeding from a depraved heart.

Vain shows of love to vail his felon hate.

2. Traitorous; disloyal.

FELO'NIOUS, adjective

1. Malignant; malicious; indicating or proceeding from a depraved heart or evil purpose; villainous; traitorous; perfidious; as a felonious deed.

2. In law, proceeding from an evil heart or purpose; done with the deliberate purpose to commit a crime; as felonious homicide.

FELON'NIOUSLY, adverb In a felonious manner; with the deliberate intention to commit a crime. Indictments for capital offenses must state the fact to be done feloniously.

FEL'ONY, noun [See Felon.] In common law, any crime which incurs the forfeiture of lands or goods. Treason was formerly comprised under the name of felony but is now distinguished from crimes thus denominated, although it is really a felony All offenses punishable with death are felonies; and so are some crimes not thus punished, as suicide, homicide by chance-medley, or in self-defense, and petty larceny. Capital punishment therefore does not necessarily enter into the true idea or definition of felony; the true criterion of felony being forfeiture of lands or goods. But the idea of felony has been so generally connected with that of capital punishment, that law and usage now confirm that connection. Thus if a statute makes any new offense a felony it is understood to mean a crime punishable with death.

FEL'SITE, noun [See Feldspar.] A species of compact feldspar, of an azure blue or green color, found amorphous associated with quartz and mica.

FEL'SPAR,

FEL'SPATH, noun A mineral widely distributed and usually of a foliated structure. When in crystals or crystalline masses, it is very susceptible of mechanical division at natural joints. its hardness is a little inferior to that of quartz. There are several varieties, as common feldspar, the adularia, the siliceous, the glassy, the ice-spar, the opalescent, aventurine feldspar, petuntze, the granular, and the compact.

FELT, preterit tense of feel.

FELT, noun [Latin pellis, Eng. fell, a skin from plucking or stripping, Latin vello, vellus, Eng. wool.]

1. A cloth or stuff made of wool, or wool and hair, fulled or wrought into a compact substance by rolling and pressure with lees or size.

2. A hat made of wool.

3. Skin.

To know whether sheep are sound or not, see that the felt be loose.

FELT, verb transitive To make cloth or stuff of wool, or wool and hair, by fulling.

FELT'ER, verb transitive To clot or meet together like felt.

FELT'MAKER, noun One whose occupation is to make felt.

FELUC'CA, noun

A boat or vessel, with oars and lateen sails, used in the Mediterranean. It has this peculiarity, that the helm may be applied to the head or stern, as occasion requires.

FEL'WORT, noun A plant, a species of Gentian.

FE'MALE, noun [Latin femella. See Feminine.]

1. Among animals, one of that sex which conceives and brings forth young.

2. Among plants, that which produces fruit; that which bears the pistil and receives the pollen of the male flowers.

FE'MALE, adjective

1. Noting the sex which produces young; not male; as a female bee.

2. Pertaining to females; as a female hand or heart; female tenderness.

To the generous decision of a female mind, we owe the discovery of America.

3. Feminine; soft; delicate; weak.

Female rhymes, double rhymes, so called from the French, in which language they end in e feminine.

FEM'INATE, adjective Feminine. [Not in use.]

FEM'ININE, adjective [Latin femininus, from femina, woman. The first syllable may be and probably is from wemb or womb, by the use of f for w; the b not being radical. The last part of the word is probably from man, quasi, femman, womb-man.]

1. Pertaining to a woman, or to women, or to females; as the female sex.

2. soft; tender; delicate.

Her heavenly form angelic, but more soft and feminine

3. Effeminate; destitute of manly qualities.

4. In grammar, denoting the gender or words which signify females, or the terminations of such words. words are said to be of the feminine gender, when they denote females, or have the terminations proper to express females in any given language. Thus in Latin dominus, a lord, is masculine; but domina, is mistress, a female.

Milton uses feminine as a noun, for female.

FEMIN'ITY, noun The quality of the female sex. [Not used.]

FEM'INIZE, verb transitive To make womanish. [Not used.]

FEM'ORAL, adjective [Latin femoralis, from femur, the thigh.]

Belonging to the thigh; as the femoral artery.

FEN, noun [Latin fons, Eng. fountain.]

Low land overflowed, or covered wholly or partially with water, but producing sedge, coarse grasses, or other aquatic plants; boggy land; a moor or marsh.

A long canal the muddy fen divides.

FEN'-BERRY, noun A kind of blackberry.

FEN'-BORN, adjective Born or produced in a fen

FEN'-CRESS, noun Cress growing in fens.

FEN'-CRICKET, noun an insect that digs for itself a little hole in the ground.

FEN'-DUCK, noun a species of wild duck.

FEN'-FOWL, noun any fowl that frequents fens.

FEN'-LAND, noun Marshy land.

FENCE, noun fens. [See Fend.]

1. A wall, hedge, ditch, bank, or line of posts and rails, or of boards or pickets, intended to confine beasts from straying, and to guard a field from being entered by cattle, or from other encroachment. A good farmer has good fences about his farm; an insufficient fence is evidence of bad management. Broken windows and poor fences are evidences of idleness or poverty or of both.

2. A guard; any thing to restrain entrance; that which defends from attack, approach or injury; security; defense.

A fence betwixt us and the victor's wrath.

3. Fencing, or the art of fencing; defense.

4. Skill in fencing or defense.

FENCE, verb transitive fens.

1. To inclose with a hedge, wall, or any thing that prevents the escape or entrance of cattle; to secure by an inclosure. In New England, farmers, for the most part, fence their lands with posts and rails, or with stone walls. In England, lands are usually fenced with hedges and ditches.

He hath fenced my way that I cannot pass. Job 19:8.

2. To guard; to fortify.

So much of adder's wisdom I have learnt, to fence my ear against thy sorceries.

FENCE, verb intransitive

1. To practice the art of fencing; to use a sword or foil, for the purpose of learning the art of attack and defense. To fence well is deemed a useful accomplishment for military gentlemen.

2. To fight and defend by giving and avoiding blows or thrusts.

They fence and push, and pushing, loudly roar, their dewlaps and their sides are bathed in gore.

3. To raise a fence; to guard. It is difficult to fence against unruly cattle.

FEN'CED, participle passive Inclosed with a fence; guarded; fortified.

FENCEFUL, adjective fens'ful. Affording defense.

FENCELESS, adjective fens'less.

1. Without a fence; uninclosed; unguarded.

2. Open; not inclosed; as the fenceless ocean.

FEN'CER, noun One who fences; one who teaches or practices the art of fencing with sword or foil.

FEN'CIBLE, adjective

1. Capable of defense.

2. noun A soldier for defense of the country; as a regiment of fencibles.

FEN'CING, participle present tense Inclosing with fence; guarding; fortifying.

FEN'CING, noun

1. The art of using skillfully a sword or foil in attack or defense; an art taught in schools.

2. The materials of fences for farms.

FEND, verb transitive [The root of defend and offend. The primary sense is to fall on, or to strike, to repel.]

To keep off; to prevent from entering; to ward off; to shut out.

With fern beneath to fend the bitter cold.

It is usually followed by off; as, to fend off blows.

To fend off a boat or vessel, is to prevent its running against another, or against a wharf, etc., with too much violence.

FEND, verb intransitive To act in opposition; to resist; to parry; to shift off.

FEND'ED, participle passive Kept off; warded off; shut out.

FEND'ER, noun

1. That which defends; an utensil employed to hinder coals of fire from rolling forward to the floor.

2. A piece of timber or other thing hung over the side of a vessel to prevent it from striking or rubbing against a wharf, also to preserve a small vessel from being injured by a large one.

FEND'ING, participle present tense Keeping or warding off.

FEN'ERATE, verb intransitive [Latin fenero.] To put to use; to lend on interest. [Not used.]

FENERA'TION, noun The act of lending on use; or the interest or gain of that which is lent.

FENES'TRAL, adjective [Latin fenestralis, from fenestra, a window.] Pertaining to a window.

FEN'NEL, noun [Latin faeiculum, from faenum, hay.]

A fragrant plant of the genus Anethum, cultivated in gardens.

FEN'NY, adjective [from fen.]

1. Boggy; marshy; moorish.

2. Growing in fens; as fenny brake.

3. Inhabiting marshy ground; as a fenny snake.

FENNYSTONES, noun A plant.

FEN'OWED, adjective Corrupted; decayed. [Not in use.]

FEN'UGREEK, noun [Latin faenum graecum.] A plant of the genus Trigonella.

FE'OD, noun A feud. So written by Blackstone and other authors; but more generally, feud, which see.

FE'ODAL, adjective Feudal, which see.

FEODAL'ITY, noun Feudal tenures; the feudal system.

FE'ODARY, noun One who holds lands of a superior, on condition of suit and service. [Little used. See Feudatory.]

FEODATORY. [See Feudatory.]

FEOFF, verb transitive feff.

To invest with a fee or feud; to give or grant to one any corporeal hereditament. The compound infeoff is more generally used.

FEOFF, a fief. [See Fief.]

FEOFFEE, noun feffee'. A person who is infeoffed, that is, invested with a fee or corporeal hereditament.

FEOFFER,

FEOFFMENT, noun feff'ment. [Law Latin feoffamentum.] The gift or grant of a fee or corporeal hereditament, as land, castles, honors, or other immovable thing; a grant in fee simple, to a man and his heirs forever. When in writing, it is called a deed of feoffment. The primary sense is the grant of a feud or an estate in trust. [See Feud.]

FEOFFOR, noun feff'er. One who infeoff's or grants a fee.

FERA'CIOUS, adjective [Latin ferax, from fero, to bear.] Fruitful; producing abundantly.

FERAC'ITY, noun [Latin feracitas.] Fruitfulness. [Little used.]

FE'RAL, adjective [Latin feralis.] Funeral; pertaining to funerals; mournful.

FER'CIOUSLY, adverb Fiercely; with savage cruelty.

FERE, noun A fellow; a mate; a peer. obsolete

FER'ETORY, noun [Latin feretrum, a bier.] A place in a church for a bier.

FE'RIAL, adjective [Latin ferialis.] Pertaining to holidays, or to common days.

FERIA'TION, noun [Latin feriatio, from feriae, vacant days, holidays.]

The act of keeping holiday; cessation from work.

FE'RINE, adjective [Latin ferinus, from ferus, wild.]

Wild; untamed; savage. Lions, tigers, wolves and bears are ferine beasts.

FE'RINENESS, noun Wildness; savageness.

FER'ITY, noun [Latin feritas, from ferus, wild.]

Wildness, savageness; cruelty.

FERM, noun A farm or rent; a lodging-house. obsolete [See Farm.]

FER'MENT, noun [Latin fermentum, from fervo, to boil. See Fervent.]

1. A gentle boiling; or the internal motion of the constituent parts of a fluid.

[In this sense it is rarely used. See Fermentation.]

2. Intestine motion; heat; tumult; agitation; as, to put the passions in a ferment; the state of people are in a ferment

Subdue and cool the ferment of desire.

3. That which causes fermentation, as yeast, barm, or fermenting beer.

FERMENT', verb transitive [Latin fermento.]

To set in motion; to excite internal motion; to heat; to raise by intestine motion.

While youth ferments the blood.

FERMENT', verb intransitive To work; to effervesce; to be in motion, or to be excited into sensible internal motion, as the constituent particles of an animal or vegetable fluid. To the vinous fermentation we apply the term, work. We say that new cider, beer or wine ferments or works. But work is not applied to the other kinds of fermentation.

FERMENT'ABLE, adjective Capable of fermentation; thus, cider, beer of all kinds, wine, and other vegetable liquors, are fermentable

FERMENTA'TION, noun [Latin fermentatio.] The sensible internal motion of the constituent particles of animal and vegetable substances, occasioned by a certain degree of heat and moisture, and accompanied by an extrication of gas and heat. fermentation is followed by a change of properties in the substances fermented, arising from new combinations of their principles. It may be defined, in its most general sense, any spontaneous change which takes place in animal or vegetable substances, after life has ceased. It is of three kinds, vinous, acetous, and putrefactive. The term is also applied to other processes, as the panary fermentation or the raising of bread; but it is limited, by some authors, to the vinous and acetous fermentations, which terminate in the production of alcohol or vinegar. fermentation differs from effervescence. The former is confined to animal and vegetable substances; the latter is applicable to mineral substances. The former is spontaneous; the latter produced by the mixture of bodies.

FERMENT'ATIVE, adjective

1. Causing or having power to cause fermentation; as fermentative heat.

2. Consisting in fermentation; as fermentative process.

FERMENT'ATIVENESS, noun The state of being fermentative.

FERMENT'ED, participle passive Worked; having undergone the process of fermentation.

FERMENT'ING, participle present tense Working; effervesing.

FERN, noun

A plant of several species constituting the tribe or family of Filices, which have their fructification on the back of the fronds or leaves, or in which the flowers are borne on footstalks which overtop the leaves. The stem is the common footstalk or rather the middle rib of the leaves, so that most ferns want the stem altogether. The ferns constitute the first order of cryptogams, in the sexual system.

FERN'Y, a Abounding or overgrown with fern.

FERO'CIOUS, adjective [Latin ferox; allied to ferus, wild, fera, a wild animal.]

1. Fierce; savage; wild; indicating cruelty; as a ferocious look, countenance or features.

2. Ravenous; rapacious; as a ferocious lion.

3. Fierce; barbarous; cruel; as ferocious savages.

FERO'CIOUSNESS, noun Savage fierceness; cruelty; ferocity.

FEROC'ITY, noun [Latin ferocitas.]

1. Savage wildness or fierceness; fury; cruelty; as the ferocity of barbarians.

2. Fierceness indicating a savage heart; as ferocity of countenance.

FER'REOUS, adjective [Latin ferreus, from ferrum, iron.]

Partaking of iron; pertaining to iron; like iron; made of iron.

FER'RET, noun

1. An animal of the genus Mustela, or Weasel kind, about 14 inches in length, of a pale yellow color with red eyes. It is a native of Africa, but has been introduced into Europe. It cannot however bear cold, and cannot subsist even in France, except in a domestic state. Ferrets are used to catch rabbits.

2. A kind of narrow woolen tape.

3. Among glass makers, the iron used to try the melted matter, to see if it is fit to work, and to make the rings at the mouths of bottles.

FER'RET, verb transitive To drive out of a lurking place, as a ferret does the coney.

FER'RETED, participle passive Driven from a burrow or lurking place.

FER'RETER, noun One that hunts another in his private retreat.

FER'RETING, participle present tense Driving from a lurking place.

FER'RIAGE, noun [See Ferry.] The price or fare to be paid at a ferry; the compensation established or paid for conveyance over a river or lake in a boat.

FER'RIC, adjective Pertaining to or extracted from iron. ferric acid is the acid of iron saturated with oxygen.

FERRIF'EROUS, adjective [Latin ferrum and fer.] Producing or yielding iron.

FER'RILITE, noun [Latin ferrum, iron and Gr. a stone.]

Rowley ragg; a variety of trap, containing iron in the state of oxyd.

FERRU'GINATED, adjective [infra.] Having the color or properties of the rust of iron.

FERRU'GINOUS, adjective [Latin ferrugo, rust of iron, from ferrum, iron.]

1. Partaking of iron; containing particles of iron.

2. Of the color of the rust or oxyd of iron. [Ferrugineous is less used.]

FER'RULE, noun

A ring of metal put round a cane or other thing to strengthen it.

FER'RY, verb transitive [Latin fero; allied to bear.]

To carry or transport over a river, strait or other water, in a boat. We ferry men, horses, carriages, over rivers, for a moderate fee or price called fare or ferriage.

FER'RY, verb intransitive To pass over water in a boat.

FER'RY, noun

1. A boat or small vessel in which passengers and goods are conveyed over rivers or other narrow waters; sometimes called a wherry. This application of the word is, I believe, entirely obsolete, at least in America.

2. The place or passage where boats pass over water to convey passengers.

3. The right of transporting passengers over a lake or stream. adjective B. owns the ferry at Windsor. [In New England, this word is used in the two latter senses.]

FER'RYBOAT, noun A boat for conveying passengers over streams and other narrow waters.

FER'RYMAN, noun One who keeps a ferry, and transports passengers over a river.

FER'TILE, adjective [Latin fertilis, from fero, to bear.]

1. Fruitful; rich; producing fruit in abundance; as fertile land, ground, soil, fields or meadows. This word in America is rarely applied to trees, or to animals, but to land. It formerly had of before the thing producing; as fertile of all kinds of grain: but in is now used; fertile in grain.

2. Rich; having abundant resources; prolific; productive; inventive; able to produce abundantly; as a fertile genius, mind or imagination.

FER'TILENESS, noun [See Fertility.]

FERTIL'ITY, noun [Latin fertilitas.]

1. Fruitfulness; the quality of producing fruit in abundance; as the fertility of land, ground, soil, fields and meadows.

2. Richness; abundant resources; fertile invention; as the fertility of genius, of fancy or imagination.

FER'TILIZE, verb transitive To enrich; to supply with the pabulum of plants; to make fruitful or productive; as, to fertilize land, soil, ground and meadows. [Fertilitate is not used.]

FER'TILIZED, participle passive Enriched; rendered fruitful.

FER'TILIZING, participle present tense

1. Enriching; making fruitful or productive. The Connecticut overflows the adjacent meadows, fertilizing them by depositing fine particles of earth or vegetable substances.

2. adjective Enriching; furnishing the nutriment of plants.

FERULA'CEOUS, adjective [Latin ferula.] Pertaining to reeds or canes; having a stalk like a reed; or resembling the Ferula, as ferulaceous plants.

FER'ULE, noun [Latin ferula, from ferio, to strike, or from the use of stalks of the Ferula.]

1. A little wooden pallet or slice, used to punish children in school, by striking them on the palm of the hand. [Ferular is not used.]

2. Under the Eastern empire, the ferula was the emperor's scepter. It was a long stem or shank, with a flat square head.

FER'ULE, verb transitive To punish with a ferule

FERV'ENCY, noun [See fervent.]

1. Heat of mind; ardor; eagerness.

2. Pious ardor; animated zeal; warmth of devotion.

When you pray, let it be with attention, with fervency and with perseverance.

FERV'ENT, adjective [Latin fervens, from ferveo, to be hot, to boil, to glow.]

1. Hot; boiling; as a fervent summer; fervent blood.

2. Hot in temper; vehement.

They are fervent to dispute.

3. Ardent; very warm; earnest; excited; animated; glowing; as fervent zeal; fervent piety.

Fervent in spirit. Romans 12:11.

FERV'ENTLY, adverb

1. Earnestly; eagerly; vehemently; with great warmth.

2. With pious ardor; with earnest zeal; ardently.

Epaphras - saluteth you, laboring fervently for you in prayers. Colossians 4:12.

FERV'ID, adjective [Latin fervidus.]

1. Very hot; burning; boiling; as fervid heat.

2. Very warm in zeal; vehement; eager; earnest; as fervid zeal.

FERV'IDLY, adverb Very hotly; with glowing warmth.

FERV'IDNESS, noun Glowing heat; ardor of mind; warm zeal.

FERV'OR, noun [Latin fervor ]

1. Heat or warmth; as the fervor of a summer's day.

2. Heat of mind; ardor; warm or animated zeal and earnestness in the duties of religion, particularly in prayer.

FES'CENNINE, adjective Pertaining to Fescennium in Italy; licentious.

FES'CENNINE, noun A nuptial song, or a licentious song.

FES'CUE, noun [Latin festuca, a shoot or stalk of a tree, a rod.]

A small wire used to point out letters to children when learning to read.

FE'SELS, noun A kind of base grain.

FESSE, noun fess. [Latin fascia, a band.] In heraldry, a bank or girdle, possessing the third part of the escutcheon; one of the nine honorable ordinaries.

FES'TAL, adjective [Latin festus, festive. See Feast.]

Pertaining to a feast; joyous; gay; mirthful.

FES'TER, verb intransitive [Latin pestis, pus, or pustula.]

To rankle; to corrupt; to grow virulent.

We say of a sore or wound, it festers.

Passion and unkindness may give a wound that shall bleed and smart; but it is treachery that makes it fester

FES'TERING, participle present tense Rankling; growing virulent.

FES'TINATE, adjective [Latin festino, festinatus.] Hasty; hurried. [Not in use.]

FESTINA'TION, noun Haste. [Not used.]

FES'TIVAL, adjective [Latin festivus, from festus, or festum or fasti. See Feast.]

Pertaining to a feast; joyous; mirthful; as a festival entertainment.

FES'TIVAL, noun The time of feasting; an anniversary day of joy, civil or religious.

The morning trumpets festival proclaimed.

FES'TIVE, adjective [Latin festivus.] Pertaining to or becoming a feast; joyous; gay; mirthful.

The glad circle round them yield their souls to festive mirth and wit that knows no gall.

FESTIV'ITY, noun [Latin festivitas.]

1. Primarily, the mirth of a feast; hence, joyfulness; gaiety; social joy or exhilaration of spirits at an entertainment.

2. A festival. [Not in use.]

FESTOON', noun

Something in imitation of a garland or wreath. In architecture and sculpture, an ornament of carved work in the form of a wreath of flowers, fruits and leaves intermixed or twisted together. It is in the form of a string or collar, somewhat largest in the middle, where it falls down in an arch, being suspended by the ends, the extremities of which hang down perpendicularly.

FES'TUCINE, adjective [Latin festuca.] Being of a straw-color.

FES'TUCOUS, adjective Formed of straw.

FET, noun A piece. [Not used.]

FET, verb transitive or i. To fetch; to come to. [Not used.]

FE'TAL, adjective [from fetus.] Pertaining to a fetus.

FETCH, verb transitive

1. To go and bring, or simply to bring, that is, to bear a thing towards or to a person.

We will take men to fetch victuals for the people.

Judges 20:10.

Go to the flock, and fetch me from thence two kids of the goats. Genesis 27:9.

In the latter passage, fetch signifies only to bring.

2. To derive; to draw, as from a source.

On you noblest English, whose blood is fetched from fathers of war-proof.

[In this sense, the use is neither common nor elegant.]

3. To strike at a distance. [Not used.]

The conditions and improvements of weapons are the fetching afar off.

4. To bring back; to recall; to bring to any state. [Not used or vulgar.]

In smells we see their great and sudden effect in fetching men again, when they swoon.

5. To bring or draw; as, to fetch a thing within a certain compass.

6. To make; to perform; as, to fetch a turn; to fetch a leap or bound.

FETCH a compass behind them. 2 Samuel 5:23.

7. To draw; to heave; as, to fetch a sigh.

8. To reach; to attain or come to; to arrive at.

We fetched the syren's isle.

9. To bring; to obtain its price. Wheat fetches only 75 cents the bushel. A commodity is worth what it will fetch

To fetch out, to bring or draw out; to cause to appear.

To fetch to, to restore, to revive, as from a swoon.

To fetch up, to bring up; to cause to come up or forth.

To fetch a pump, to pour water into it to make it draw water.

FETCH, verb intransitive To move or turn; as, to fetch about.

FETCH, noun A stratagem, by which a thing is indirectly brought to pass, or by which one thing seems intended and another is done; a trick; an artifice; as a fetch of wit.

Straight cast about to over-reach

Th' unwary conqueror with a fetch

FETCH'ER, noun One that brings.

FETCH'ING, participle present tense Bringing; going and bringing; deriving; drawing; making; reaching; obtaining as price.

FETH'ER, noun

1. A plume; a general name of the covering of fowls. The smaller fethers are used for the filling of beds; the larger ones, called quills, are used for ornaments of the head, for writing pens, etc. The fether consists of a shaft or stem, corneous, round, strong and hollow at the lower part, and at the upper part, filled with pith. On each side of the shaft are the vanes, broad on one side and narrow on the other, consisting of thin lamins. The fethers which cover the body are called the plumage; the fethers of the wings are adapted to flight.

2. Kind; nature; species; from the proverbial phrase, 'Birds of a fether ' that is, of the same species. [Unusual.]

I am not of that feather to shake off my friend, when he most needs me.

3. An ornament; an empty title.

4. On a horse, a sort of natural frizzling of the hair, which, in some places, rises above the lying hair, and there makes a figure resembling the tip of an ear of wheat.

A fether in the cap, is an honor, or mark of distinction.

FEATH'ER,

FETH'ER, verb transitive

1. To dress in fethers; to fit with fethers, or to cover with fethers.

2. To tread as a cock.

3. To enrich; to adorn; to exalt.

The king cared not to plume his nobility and people, to feather himself.

To fether one's nest, to collect wealth, particularly from emoluments derived from agencies for others; a proverb taken from birds which collect fethers for their nests.

FETH'ERED, participle passive

1. Covered with fethers; enriched.

2. adjective Clothed or covered with fethers. A fowl or bird is a fethered animal

Rise from the ground like feathered Mercury.

3. Fitted or furnished with fethers; as a fethered arrow.

4. Smoothed, like down or fethers.

5. Covered with things growing from the substance; as land fethered with trees.

FETH'EREDGE, noun An edge like a fether.

A board that has one edge thinner than the other, is called featheredge stuff.

FETH'EREDGED, adjective Having a thin edge.

FETH'ERLESS, adjective Destitute of fethers; unfledged.

FETH'ERLY, adjective Resembling fethers. [Not used.]

FETH'ERY, adjective

1. Clothed or covered with fethers.

2. Resembling fethers.

FET'ICHISM,

FET'ICISM, noun The worship of idols among the negroes of Africa, among whom fetch is an idol, any tree, stone or other thing worshipped.

FET'ID, adjective [Latin faetidus, from faetco, to have an ill scent.]

Having an offensive smell; having a strong or rancid scent.

Most putrefactions smell either fetid or moldy.

FET'IDNESS, noun The quality of smelling offensively; a fetid quality.

FETIF'EROUS, adjective [Latin faetifer; faetus and fero, to bear.] Producing young, as animals.

FET'LOCK, noun [foot or feet and lock.] A tuft of hair growing behind the pastern joint of many horses. Horses of low size have scarce any such tuft.

FE'TOR, noun [Latin faetor.] Any strong offensive smell; stench.

FET'TER, noun

1. A chain for the feet; a chain by which an animal is confined by the foot, either made fast or fixed, as a prisoner, or impeded in motion and hindered from leaping, as a horse whose fore and hind feet are confined by a chain.

The Philistines bound Samson with fetters of brass.

Judges 16:21.

2. Any thing that confines or restrains from motion.

Passions too fierce to be in fetters bound.

FET'TER, verb transitive

1. To put on fetters; to shackle or confine the feet with a chain.

2. To bind; to enchain; to confine; to restrain motion; to impose restraints on.

Fetter strong madness in a silken thread.

FET'TERED, participle passive Bound or confined by fetters; enchained.

FET'TERING, participle present tense Binding or fastening by the feet with a chain; confining; restraining motion.

FET'TERLESS, adjective Free from fetters or restraint.

FETT'STEIN, noun A mineral of a greenish or bluish gray color or flesh red, called also elaolite.

FE'TUS, noun plural fetuses. [Latin faetus.] The young of viviparous animals in the womb, and of oviparous animals in the egg, after it is perfectly formed; before which time it is called embryo. A young animal then is called a fetus from the time its parts are distinctly formed, till its birth.

Feu de joie, fire of joy, a French phrase for a bonfire, or a firing of guns in token of joy.

FEUD, noun

1. Primarily, a deadly quarrel; hatred and contention that was to be terminated only by death. Among our rude ancestors, these quarrels, though originating in the murder of an individual, involved the whole tribe or family of the injured and of the aggressing parties. Hence in modern usage,

2. A contention or quarrel; particularly, an inveterate quarrel between families or parties in a state; the discord and animosities which prevail among the citizens of a state or city, sometimes accompanied with civil war. In the north of Great Britain, the word is still used in its original sense; denoting a combination of kindred to revenge the death of any of their blood, on the offender and all his race, or any other great enemy. We say, it is the policy of our enemies to raise and cherish intestine feuds.

The word is not strictly applicable to wars between different nations, but to intestine wars, and to quarrels and animosities between families or small tribes.

FEUD, noun [Latin fides; Eng. loan.]

A fief; a fee; a right to lands or hereditaments held in trust, or on the terms of performing certain conditions; the right which a vassal or tenant has to the lands or other immovable thing of his lord, to use the same and take the profits thereof hereditarily, rendering to his superior such duties and services as belong to military tenure, etc., the property of the soil always remaining in the lord or superior.

From the foregoing explanation of the origin of the word, result very naturally the definition of the term, and the doctrine of forfeiture, upon non-performance of the conditions of the trust or loan.

FEU'DAL, adjective

1. Pertaining to feuds, fiefs or fees; as feudal rights or services; feudal tenures.

2. Consisting of feuds or fiefs; embracing tenures by military services; as the feudal system.

FEU'DALISM, noun The feudal system; the principles and constitution of feuds, or lands held by military services.

FEUDAL'ITY, noun The state or quality of being feudal; feudal form or constitution.

FEU'DARY, adjective Holding land of a superior.

FEU'DATARY, noun A feudatory, which see.

FEU'DATORY, noun

A tenant or vassal who holds his lands of a superior, on condition of military service; the tenant of a feud or fief.

FEU'DIST, noun A writer on feuds.

FEUILLAGE, noun A bunch or row of leaves.

FEUILLEMORT, The color of a faded leaf.

FEU'TER, verb transitive To make ready. [Not in use.]

FEU'TERER, noun A dog keeper. [Not used.]

FE'VER, noun [Latin febris, supposed to be so written by transposition for ferbis, or fervis, from ferbeo, ferveo, to be hot.]

1. A disease, characterized by an accelerated pulse, with increase of heat, impaired functions, diminished strength, and often with preternatural thirst. This order of diseases is called by Cullen pyrexy, Gr. Fevers are often or generally preceded by chills or rigors, called the cold stage of the disease. Fevers are of various kinds, but the principal division of fevers is into remitting fevers, which subside or abate at intervals; intermitting fevers, which intermit or entirely cease at intervals; and continued or continual fevers, which neither remit nor intermit.

2. Heat; agitation; excitement by any thing that strongly affects the passions. This news has given me a fever This quarrel has set my blood in a fever .

FE'VER, verb transitive To put in a fever

FE'VERET, noun A slight fever. [Not used.]

FE'VERFEW, noun [Latin febris and fugo.]

A plant, or rather a genus of plants, the Matricaria, so named from supposed febrifuge qualities. The common feverfew grows to the height of two or three feet with compound leaves and compound radiated white flowers, with a yellow disk.

FE'VERISH, adjective

1. Having a slight fever; as the patient is feverish

2. Diseased with fever or heat; as feverish nature.

3. Uncertain; inconstant; fickle; now hot, now cold.

We toss and turn about our feverish will.

4. Hot; sultry; burning; as the feverish north.

FE'VERISHNESS, noun The state of being feverish; a slight febrile affection.

FE'VEROUS, adjective

1. Affected with fever or ague.

2. Having the nature of fever.

All feverous kinds.

3. Having a tendency to produce fever; as a feverous disposition of the year. [This word is little used.]

FE'VERY, adjective Affected with fever.

FEW, adjective [Latin pauci. The senses of few and small are often united.]

Not many; small in number. Party is the madness of many for the gain of a few; but few men, in times of party, regard the maxim.

FEW'EL, noun Combustible matter. [See fuel.]

FEW'NESS, noun

1. Smallness of number; paucity.

2. Paucity of words; brevity. [Not used.]