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.
Fôrt'ūne-tĕll'ing, n. p. 537The act or practice of telling, or revealing the future fortune or events of one's life.Fôrt'ūn-īze, v. t. p. 537To regulate the fortune of. [Obs.] Spenser.Fôr'ty, a. p. 537Four times ten; thirty-nine and one added.Fôr'ty, n. p. 537The sum of forty units. 2. A symbol expressing forty units, as 40 or XL.Fō'rum, n. p. 537A market-place or public place in Rome, where causes were judicially tried, and orations delivered to the people. 2. A tribunal; a court; an assembly empowered to hear and decide causes.For-wan'der, v. i. p. 537To wander away; to go astray; to wander far and to weariness. [Obs.] Spenser.Fōr'ward or Fōr'wards, adv. p. 537Toward a part or place before or in front; onward; in advance; progressively; — opposed to backward.Fōr'ward, a. p. 537Near or at the fore part; in advance of something else; as, the forward gun in a ship, or the forward ship in a fleet; the forward horse in a team. 2. Ready; prompt; strongly inclined; in an ill…Fôr'ward, v. t. p. 537To help onward; to advance; to promote; to accelerate; to quicken; to hasten; as, to forward the growth of a plant; to forward one in improvement. 2. To send forward; to send toward the place of…Fôr'ward-er, n. p. 537One who promotes, or advances in, progress. 2. One who sends forward or transmits goods; a forwarding merchant. [U. S.]Fôr'ward-ing, n. p. 537The act or employment of transmitting or sending forward merchandise and other property for others.Fôr'ward-ly, adv. p. 537Eagerly; hastily. Atterbury.Fôr'ward-ness, n. p. 537The quality of being forward; cheerful readiness; promptness; as, the forwardness of Christians in propagating the gospel. 2. Eagerness; ardor; boldness; confidence; assurance; want of due reserve or…Fôr'wards, adv. p. 538See FORWARD.For-wāste', v. t. p. 538To lay waste; to desolate; to destroy. [Obs.] Spenser.For-wêa'ry, v. t. p. 538To weary extremely; to dispirit. [Obs.] Spenser.For-weep', v. i. p. 538To weep much. [Obs.] Chaucer.Fôr'word, n. p. 538A promise. [Obs.] Spenser.For-wōrn’, a. p. 538Much worn. [Obs.] A silly man, in simple weeds forworn. Spenser.For-zan'do, adv. p. 538(Mus.) Sudden and forcible; explosive;—used to designate a tone which is produced suddenly and forcibly, and instantly diminished;—usually indicated by the mark > over each note of the passage, or by…Fŏsse, n. p. 538(Fort.) A ditch or moat. 2. (Anat.) (a.) A non-articular depression in a bone, wider at the margin than at the bottom; as, temporal fosse. (b.) One of variously shaped cavities in the soft parts; as…Fŏs'set, n. p. 538A faucet. [Obs.] Shak.Fôs'sil, a. p. 538Dug out of the earth; as, fossil coal; fossil salt. 2. Pertaining to, or resembling, fossils; changed into stone; petrified; as, fossil shells, bones, or wood. Fossil copal, a kind of resinous…Fŏs'sil, n. p. 538A substance dug from the earth. Warburton. 2. (Palæon.) The petrified form of a plant or animal in the strata composing the surface of our globe.Fŏs'sil-īf'er-oŭs, a. p. 538(Paleon.) Containing fossil or organic remains; as, fossiliferous rocks.Fŏs'sil-i-fi-cā'tion, n. p. 538Act of becoming fossil.Fŏs'sil-ism, n. p. 538The science or quality of fossils. Coleridge.Fôs'sil-îst, n. p. 538One who studies the nature and properties of fossils; one who is versed in the science of fossils; a paleontologist. Black.Fŏs'sil-i-zā'tion, n. p. 538The act or process of converting into a fossil or petrifaction.Fōs'sil-īze, v. t. p. 538To convert into a fossil or petrifaction; as, to fossilize bones or wood. 2. To cause to become antiquated, rigid, or fixed, as by fossilization; to cause to lose the characteristics proper to the…Fōs'sil-ize, v. i. p. 538To become, or be changed into, a fossil or petrifaction. 2. To become antiquated, rigid, or fixed, beyond the influence of change or progress.Fōs'sil-īzed, p. a. p. 538Converted into a fossil or petrifaction. 2. Fixed or hardened beyond the reach of change or progress.Fos-sō'rēs, n. pl. p. 538(Entom.) A group of insects which excavate cells in earth or wood, where they deposit their eggs, with the bodies of other insects for the support of the young when hatched.Fos-sō'ri-al, a. p. 538Fitted for digging, or accustomed to dig; as, a fossorial limb or instrument; a fossorial animal.Fos-sō'ri-al, n. p. 538(Zoöl.) An animal which digs into the earth for a retreat or lodge, and whose locomotive extremities are adapted for that purpose.Fōss'-rōad, n. p. 538A Roman military way in England, from Totnes to Barton;—so called from the ditches on each side. [Written also foss-way.]Fōs'su-late, a. p. 538Having trenches, or depressions like trenches. Brande.Fôss'-wày, n. p. 538See FOSS-ROAD.Fōs'ter, v. t. p. 538To feed; to nourish; to support; to bring up. Some say that ravens foster forlorn children. Shak. 2. To cherish; to forward; to promote the growth of; to encourage; to sustain and promote; as, to…Fōs'ter, v. i. p. 538To be nourished or trained up together. [Obs.] Spenser.Fōs'ter, n. p. 538A forester. [Obs.] Spenser.Fōs'ter-age, n. p. 538The charge of nursing. Raleigh.Fōs'ter-brōth'er, n. p. 538A male nursed at the same breast, or fed by the same nurse, but not the offspring of the same parents.Fŏs'ter-chīld, n. p. 538A child nursed by a woman not the mother, or bred by a man not the father. Addison.Fōs'ter-dām, n. p. 538One who performs the office of a mother by giving food to a child; a nurse. Dryden.Fōs'ter-ēarth, n. p. 538Earth by which a plant is nourished, though not its native soil. Philips.Fōs'ter-er, n. p. 538One who feeds and nourishes in the place of parents; a nurse. Davies.Fōs'ter-fä'ther, n. p. 538One who takes the place of a father in feeding and educating a child. Bacon.Fōs'ter-ling, n. p. 538A foster-child. B. Jonson.Fōs'ter-ment, n. p. 538Food; nourishment. [Obs.]Fōs'ter-mōth'er, n. p. 538One who takes the place of a mother in the care of a child; a nurse.Fōs'ter-nurse, n. p. 538A nurse. [Rare.] Shak.Fōs'ter-pār'ent, n. p. 538One who rears up a child in place of its own parent.Fōs'ter-sis'ter, n. p. 538One not a sister, but brought up as such by the same parent or parents.Fōs'ter-sōn, n. p. 538One fed and educated like a son, though not a son by birth. Dryden.Fōs'tress, n. p. 538A female who feeds and cherishes; a nurse. B. Johnson.Fōth'er, n. p. 538A fodder.Fōth'er, v. t. p. 538To endeavor to stop, as a leak in the bottom of a ship, while afloat, by letting down a sail under her bottom, by its corners, and putting between it and the ship’s sides oakum to be sucked into the…Fōt'ive, a. p. 538Nourishing. [Obs.] T. Carew, 1633.Fōt'māl, n. p. 538The weight of seventy pounds of lead. Simmonds.