Dictionary
An American Dictionary of the English Language
Revised and enlarged (Goodrich & Porter)
Springfield, Mass. · G. & C. Merriam · 1865
- Entries
- 95,912
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Look up a word as the writers of the time used it.
Fĕc'ŭ-lence or Fĕc'ŭ-len-cy, n. p. 502The state or quality of being feculent; muddiness; foulness. 2. That which is feculent; sediment; lees; dregs.Fē'cū-lent, a. p. 502Foul with extraneous or impure substances; abounding with sediment or excrementitious matter; muddy; thick; turbid. “Both his hands most filthy feculent.” Spenser.Fĕ'cund, a. p. 502Fruitful in children; prolific. [Rare.] Grant.Fē'cŭn-dāte, v. t. p. 502To make fruitful or prolific. 2. To impregnate; as, the pollen of flowers fecundates the stigma.Fē'cun-dā'tion, n. p. 502The act of fecundating or making fruitful; impregnation.Fe-cŭn'di-fy, v. t. p. 502To make fruitful or prolific; to fecundate. [Obs.] Johnson.Fe-cŭn'di-ty, n. p. 502The quality or power of producing fruit; fruitfulness; especially, the quality or power in female animals of producing young in great numbers. 2. The power of germinating, as in seeds. 3. The power…Fēd, imp. & p. p. p. 502of feed.Fēd'a-ry, n. p. 502A feodary. See FEODARY. [Obs.] Shak.Fēd'er-al, a. p. 502Pertaining to a league, contract, or treaty; derived from an agreement or covenant between parties, especially between nations; constituted by a compact between parties, usually governments or their…Fēd'er-al or Fēd'er-al-ist, n. p. 502An advocate of confederation; specifically (Amer. Hist.), a friend of the Constitution of the United States at its formation and adoption; a member of the political party which favored the…Fēd'er-al-ism, n. p. 502The principles of Federalists.Fēd'er-al-ize, v. t. p. 502To unite in compact, as different states; to confederate for political purposes; to unite by or under the Federal Constitution. Barlow.Fēd’er-a-ry, n. p. 502A partner; a confederate; an accomplice. [Obs.] Shak.Fēd'er-ate, a. p. 502United by compact, as sovereignties, states, or nations; joined in confederacy; leagued; confederate; as, federate nations or powers.Fēd'er-ā'tion, n. p. 502The act of uniting in a league; confederation. 2. A league; a confederacy; a federal or confederated government. Burke.Fēd'er-a-tive, a. p. 502Uniting; joining in a league; forming a confederacy; federal.Fe-dif'ra-goûs, a. p. 502False to treaties. [Obs.] Vèars.Fĕd′i·ty, n. p. 502Turpitude; vileness. [Obs.] Bp. Hall.Fee, n. p. 502Property; possession; control. “Laden with rich fee.” Spenser. Once did she hold the gorgeous East in fee. Wordsworth. 2. Reward for services rendered or to be rendered; especially, payment for…Fee, v. t. p. 503To reward for services performed, or to be performed; to recompense; to hire; to bribe. “Fee me an officer.” Shak.Fee'ble, a. p. 503Deficient in physical strength; weak; infirm; not powerful; debilitated. Carried all the feeble of them upon asses. 2 Chron. xxviii. 15. 2. Wanting force, vigor, or efficiency in action or…Fee'ble, v. t. p. 503To make feeble or infirm; to enfeeble; to weaken. [Obs.] Shall that victorious hand be feebled here? Shak.Fee'ble-mind'ed, a. p. 503Weak in intellectual power; wanting firmness or constancy; irresolute; vacillating. “Comfort the feeble-minded.” 1 Thess. v. 14.Fee'ble-mind'ed-ness, n. p. 503State of having a feeble mind.Fee'ble-ness, n. p. 503The quality or condition of being feeble; weakness of body or mind; infirmity; want of vigor or force; debility; infirmity. “That shakes for age and feebleness.” Shak.Fee'bly, adv. p. 503In a feeble manner; weakly; without strength; as, to move feebly. The gentle numbers feebly creep. Dryden.Feed, v. t. p. 503To give food to; to supply with nourishment; to furnish with provisions. Unreasonable creatures feed their young. Shak. 2. To fill the wants of; to supply; to furnish; to satisfy; as, springs feed…Feed, v. i. p. 503To take food; to eat. He feeds upon the cooling shade. Spenser. 2. To subsist by eating; to prey;—with on or upon. Leaving thy trunk for crows to feed upon. Shak. 3. To place cattle to feed; to…Feed, n. p. 503That which is eaten by beasts; provender; fodder; pasture; as, hills that furnish the best feed for sheep. 2. A grazing or pasture ground. Shak. 3. A certain portion or allowance of provender given…Feed’er, n. p. 503One who gives food or supplies nourishment; a steward. A couple of friends, his chaplain and feeder. Goldsmith. 2. One who furnishes incentives; an encourager. “The feeder of my riots.” Shak. 3. One…Feed'-head, n. p. 503A cistern at such a height as to feed water by its own weight to the boiler of an engine. Weale.Feed'-hēat'er, n. p. 503(Steam-eng.) A vessel in which the feed-water of a steam-engine is heated by waste steam, or the waste heat of the furnace, before it is forced into the boiler.Feed'ing, n. p. 503That which is eaten. Drayton. 2. That which furnishes or affords food, especially for animals; pasture land.Feed'-mō'tion, n. p. 503(Mach.) The machinery that gives motion to the parts called the feed in machines for dressing wood or metal.Feed'-pipe, n. p. 503A pipe which feeds or supplies the boiler of a steam-engine, &c., with water.Feed'-pŭmp, n. p. 503The force-pump which supplies the boilers of steam-engines with warmed water, called feed-water, through a feed-pipe.Fee'-es-tāte', n. p. 503(Eng. Law.) Land or tenements held in fee in consideration of some acknowledgment or service rendered to the lord.Fee'-färm, n. p. 503(Law.) Land held of another in fee, in consideration of an annual farm or rent, without homage, fealty, or any other service than that mentioned in the feoffment; an estate in fee-simple, subject to…Feel, v. t. p. 503To perceive by the touch; to take cognizance of by means of the nerves of sensation distributed all over the body, especially by those of the skin; to have sensation excited by contact of the body or…Feel, v. i. p. 503To have perception by the touch, or by the contact of any substance with the nerves of sensation, especially those upon the surface of the body. 2. To have the sensibilities moved or affected. A…Feel, n. p. 503Feeling; perception. [Rare.] To intercept and have a more kindly feel of its genial warmth. Hurlitt. 2. A sensation communicated by touching; impression made upon one who touches or handles; as, a…Feel'er, n. p. 503One who, or that which, feels. 2. (Nat. Hist.) One of the organs with which certain animals, as insects or polyps, are furnished, for trying by the touch objects with which they come in contact, or…Feel'ing, p. a. p. 503Possessing great sensibility; easily affected or moved; as, a feeling man; a feeling heart. 2. Expressive of great sensibility; attended by, or evincing, sensibility; sensitive; as, he made a feeling…Feel'ing, n. p. 503The sense by which the mind, through certain nerves of the body, perceives external objects, or certain states of the body itself; that one of the five senses which resides in the general nerves of…Feel'ing-ly, adv. p. 503In a feeling manner; with sensibility; affectingly. These are counselors. That feelingly persuade me what I am. Shak.Feere, n. p. 503A consort, husband or wife; a companion; a fere. [Obs.] Shak.Feese, n. p. 503A race; a run. [Obs.] Barret.Fee'-sīm'ple, n. p. 503(Law.) An absolute fee; a fee without conditions or limits. See FEE. Buy the fee-simple of my life for an hour and a quarter. Shak.Feet, n. p. 503pl. of foot.Fee'-tāil, n. p. 503(Law.) An estate of inheritance, limited and restrained to some particular heirs. Burrill.Feet'less, a. p. 503Destitute of feet; wanting feet; as, feetless birds. Camden.Feeze, v. t. p. 503To turn, as a screw. [Scot.] Jamieson. 2. To beat; to chastise; to vex; to rout; to put an end to. [Written also feaze, feize, pheeze, and reze.] H'as given me my “quietus est;” I felt him In my…Feeze, n. p. 503A state of anxious or fretful excitement. See FEAZE.Feign, v. t. p. 503To give a mental existence to, as to something not real or actual; to imagine; to contrive, as an appearance or semblance; hence, to assert by a fiction; to pretend; to form and relate as if true.…Feigned or Feigned issue, p. a. p. 503Pretended; counterfeit; simulating. “A feigned friend.” Shak. Feigned issue (Law), an issue produced in a pretended action between two parties for the purpose of trying before a jury a question of…Feign'ed-ly, adv. p. 503In a feigned or fictitious manner; in pretense; not really. Bacon.Feign'ed-ness, n. p. 503The condition of being feigned; fiction; pretense; deceit. Harmar.Feign'er, n. p. 504One who feigns; an inventor; a deviser of fiction.Feign'ing-ly, adv. p. 504In a feigning manner; with false appearance.