F – Faithful

F

F, the sixth letter of the English Alphabet., is a labial articulation, formed by placing the upper teeth on the under lip, and accompanied with an emission of breath. Its kindred letter is v, which is chiefly distinguished from f by being more vocal, or accompanied with more sound, as may be perceived by pronouncing ef, ev. This letter may be derived from the Oriental vau. The Latins received the letter from the Eolians in Greece, who wrote it in the form of a double g, f ; whence it has been called most absurdly digamma. It corresponds in power to the Greek phi, and its proper name is ef.

As a Latin numeral, it signifies 40, and with a dash over the top, forty thousand.

In the civil law, two of these letters together ff, signify the pandects.

In English criminal law, this letter is branded on felons, when admitted to the benefit of clergy.

In medical prescriptions, f stands for fiat, let it be made; f S.A. fiat secundum artem.

F stands also for Fellow; f R.S. Fellow of the Royal Society.

F or fa, in music, is the fourth note rising in this order in the gamut, ut, re, mi, fa. It denotes also one of the Greek keys in music, destined for the base.

F in English has one uniform sound, as in father, after.

Fabaceous

FABACEOUS, adjective [Low Latin , a bean.] Having the nature of a bean; like a bean. [Little used.]

Fabian

FABIAN, adjective Delaying; dilatory; avoiding battle, in imitation of Q. Fabius Maximus, a Roman general who conducted military operations against Hannibal, by declining to risk a battle in the open field, but harassing the enemy by marches, countermarches and ambuscades.

Fable

FABLE, noun [Latin , Gr. The radical sense is that which is spoken or told.]

1. A feigned story or tale, intended to instruct or amuse; a fictitious narration intended to enforce some useful truth or precept.

Jothams fable of the trees is the oldest extant, and as beautiful as any made since.

2. Fiction in general; as, the story is all a fable

3. An idle story; vicious or vulgar fictions.

But refuse profane and old wives fables. 1 Timothy 4:7.

4. The plot, or connected series of events, in an epic or dramatic poem.

The moral is the first business of the poet; this being formed, he contrives such a design or fable as may be most suitable to the moral.

5. Falsehood; a softer term for a lie.

FABLE, verb intransitive

1. To feign; to write fiction.

Vain now the tales which fabling poets tell.

2. To tell falsehoods; as, he fables not.

FABLE, verb transitive To feign; to invent; to devise and speak of, as true or real.

The hell thou fablest.

Fabled

FABLED, participle passive

1. Feigned; invented, as stories.

2. adjective Told or celebrated in fables.

Hail, fabled grotto.

Fabler

FABLER, noun A writer of fables or fictions; a dealer in feigned stories.

Fabling

FABLING, participle present tense Feigning; devising, as stories; writing or uttering false stories.

Fabric

FABRIC, noun [Latin , a frame, a workman.]

1. The structure of any thing; the manner in which the parts of a thing are untied by art and labor; workmanship; texture. This is cloth of a beautiful fabric

2. The frame or structure of a building; construction. More generally, the building itself; an edifice; a house; a temple; a church; a bridge, etc. The word is usually applied to a large building.

3. Any system composed of connected parts; as the fabric of the universe.

4. Cloth manufactured.

Silks and other fine fabrics of the east.

FABRIC, verb intransitive To frame; to build; to construct. [Little used.]

Fabricate

FABRICATE, verb transitive [Latin , to frame, supra.]

1. To frame; to build; to construct; to form a whole by connecting its parts; as, to fabricate a bridge or ship.

2. To form by art and labor; to manufacture; as, to fabricate woolens.

3. To invent and form; to forge; to devise falsely; as, to fabricate a lie or story.

Our books were not fabricated with an accommodation to prevailing usages.

4. To coin; as, to fabricate money. [Unusual.]

Fabricated

FABRICATED, participle passive Framed; constructed; built; manufactured; invented; devised falsely; forged.

Fabricating

FABRICATING, participle present tense Framing; constructing; manufacturing; devising falsely; forging.

Fabrication

FABRICATION, noun

1. The act of framing or constructing construction; as the fabrication of a bridge or of a church.

2. The act of manufacturing.

3. The act of devising falsely; forgery.

4. That which is fabricated; a falsehood. The story is doubtless a fabrication

Fabricator

FABRICATOR, noun One that constructs or makes.

Fabrile

FABRILE, adjective [Latin] Pertaining to handicrafts. [Not used.]

Fabulist

FABULIST, noun [from fable.] The inventor or writer of fables.

Fabulize

FABULIZE, verb transitive To invent, compose or relate fables.

Fabulosity

FABULOSITY, noun Fabulousness; fullness of fables. [Little used.]

Fabulous

FABULOUS, adjective

1. Feigned, as a story; devised; fictitious; as a fabulous story; a fabulous description.

2. Related in fable; described or celebrated in fables; invented; not real; as a fabulous hero; the fabulous exploits of Hercules.

3. The fabulous age of Greece and Rome, was the early age of those countries, the accounts of which are mostly fabulous or in which the fabulous achievements of their heroes were performed; called also the heroic age.

Fabulously

FABULOUSLY, adverb In a fable or fiction; in a fabulous manner.

Fabulousness

FABULOUSNESS, noun The quality of being fabulous or feigned.

Facade

FACADE, noun Front.

Face

FACE, noun [Latin , to make.]

1. In a general sense, the surface of a thing, or the side which presents itself to the view of a spectator; as the face of the earth; the face of the waters.

2. A part of the surface of a thing; or the plane surface of a solid. Thus, a cube or die has six faces an octahedron has eight faces.

3. The surface of the fore part of an animals head, particularly of the human head; the visage.

In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread. Genesis 3:19.

Joseph bowed himself with his face to the earth. Genesis 48:11.

4. Countenance; cast of features; look; air of the face

We set the best face on it we could.

5. The front of a thing; the forepart; the flat surface that presents itself first to view; as the face of a house. Ezekiel 41:14.

6. Visible state; appearance.

This would produce a new face of things in Europe.

7. Appearance; look.

Nor heaven, nor sea, their former face retained.

His dialogue has the face of probability.

8. State of confrontation. The witnesses were presented face to face

9. Confidence; boldness; impudence; a bold front.

He has the face to charge others with false citations.

10. Presence; sight; as in the phrases, before the face in the face to the face from the face

11. The person.

I had not thought to see thy face Genesis 48:11.

12. In scripture, face is used for anger or favor.

Hide us from the face of him that sitteth on the throne. Revelations 6.

Make thy face to shine on thy servant. Psalms 31:16.

How long wilt thou hide thy face from me? Psalms 13:1.

Hence, to seek the face that is, to pray to, to seek the favor of.

To set the face against, is to oppose.

To accept ones face is to show him favor or grant his request. So, to entreat the face is to ask favor; but these phrases are nearly obsolete.

13. A distorted form of the face; as in the phrase, to make faces, or to make wry faces.

FACE to face

1. When both parties are present; as, to have accusers face to face Acts 25:16.

2. Nakedly; without the interposition of any other body.

Now we see through a glass, darkly; but then face to face 1 Corinthians 13:12.

FACE, verb transitive

1. To meet in front; to oppose with firmness; to resist, or to meet for the purpose of stopping or opposing; as, to face an enemy in the field of battle.

I'll face this tempest, and deserve the name of king.

2. To stand opposite to; to stand with the face or front towards. The colleges in New Haven face the public square.

3. To cover with additional superficies; to cover in front; as a fortification faced with marble; to face a garment with silk.

To face down, to oppose boldly or impudently.

FACE, verb intransitive

1. To carry a false appearance; to play the hypocrite.

To lie, to face to forge.

2. To turn the face; as, to face to the right or left.

Facecloth

FA'CECLOTH, noun [face and cloth.] A cloth laid over the face of a corpse.

Faced

FA'CED, participle passive Covered in front. In composition, denoting the kind of face; as full-faced.

Faceless

FA'CELESS, adjective Without a face.

Facepainter

FA'CEPAINTER, noun A painter of portraits; one who draws the likeness of the face.

Facepainting

FA'CEPAINTING, noun The act or art of painting portraits.

Facet

FAC'ET, noun

A little face; a small surface; as the facets of a diamond.

Facete

FACE'TE, adjective [Latin facetus.] Gay; cheerful. [Not in use.]

Faceteness

FACE'TENESS, noun Wit; pleasant representation. [Not used.]

Facetious

FACE'TIOUS, adjective [Latin facetus; facetia, or plural ]

1. Merry; sportive; jocular; sprightly with wit and good humor; as a facetious companion.

2. Witty; full of pleasantry playful; exciting laughter; as a facetious story; a facetious reply.

Facetiously

FACE'TIOUSLY, adverb Merrily; gaily; wittily; with pleasantry.

Facetiousness

FACE'TIOUSNESS, noun Sportive humor; pleasantry; the quality of exciting laughter or good humor.

Facial

FA'CIAL, adjective [Latin facies, face.] Pertaining to the face; as the facial artery, vein or nerve.

Facial angle, in anatomy, is the angle contained by a line drawn horizontally from the middle of the external entrance of the ear to the edge of the nostrils, and another from this latter point to the superciliary ridge of the frontal bone; serving to measure the elevation of the forehead.

Facile

FAC'ILE, adjective [Latin facilis, from facio, to make.]

1. Properly, easy to be done or performed; easy; not difficult; performable or attainable with little labor.

Order - will render the work facile and delightful.

2. Easy to be surmounted or removed; easily conquerable.

The facile gates of hell too slightly barred.

3. Easy of access or converse; mild; courteous; not haughty, austere or distant.

I mean she should be courteous, facile sweet.

4. Pliant; flexible; easily persuaded to good or bad; yielding; ductile to a fault.

Since Adam, and his facile consort Eve,

Lost Paradise, deceived by me.

Facilely

FAC'ILELY, adverb Easily. [Little used.]

Facileness

FAC'ILENESS, noun Easiness to be persuaded.

Facilitate

FACIL'ITATE, verb transitive [Latin facilitas, from facilis, easy.]

To make easy or less difficult; to free from difficulty or impediment, or to diminish it; to lessen the labor of. Machinery facilitates manual labor and operations. Pioneers may facilitate the march of an army.

Facilitated

FACIL'ITATED, participle passive Made easy or easier.

Facilitating

FACIL'ITATING, participle present tense Rendering easy or easier.

Facilitation

FACILITA'TION, noun The act of making easy.

Facilities

FACIL'ITIES, noun plural The means by which the performance of anything is rendered easy; convenient opportunities or advantages.

Facility

FACIL'ITY, noun [Latin facilitas, from facilis, easy.]

1. Easiness to be performed; freedom from difficulty; ease. He performed the work or operation with great facility

Though facility and hope of success might invite some other choice.

2. Ease of performance; readiness proceeding from skill or use; dexterity. Practice gives a wonderful facility in executing works of art.

3. Pliancy; ductility; easiness to be persuaded; readiness of compliance, usually in a bad sense, implying a disposition to yield to solicitations to evil.

It is a great error to take facility for good nature: tenderness without discretion, is no better than a more pardonable folly.

4. Easiness of access; complaisance; condescension; affability.

He offers himself to the visits of a friend with facility

Facing

FA'CING, participle present tense [from face.]

1. Fronting; having the face towards; opposite.

2. Covering the fore part.

3. Turning the face.

FA'CING, noun A covering in front for ornament or defense; as the facing of a fortification or of a garment.

Facinorous

FACIN'OROUS, adjective [Latin facinus.] Atrociously wicked. [Little used.]

Facinorousness

FACIN'OROUSNESS, noun Extreme or astrocious wickedness.

Facsimile

FACSIM'ILE, noun [Latin facio, to make, and similis, like. See Simile.]

An exact copy or likeness, as of handwriting.

Fact

FACT, noun [Latin factum, from facio, to make or do.]

1. Any thing done, or that comes to pass; an act; a deed; an effect produced or achieved; an event. Witnesses are introduced into court to prove a fact Facts are stubborn things. To deny a fact knowingly is to lie.

2. Reality; truth; as, in fact So we say, indeed.

Faction

FAC'TION, noun [Latin factio, from facio, to make or do.]

1. A party, in political society, combined or acting in union, in opposition to the prince, government or state; usually applied to a minority, but it may be applied to a majority. sometimes a state is divided into factions nearly equal. Rome was almost always disturbed by factions. Republics are proverbial for factions, and factions in monarchies have often effected revolutions.

A feeble government produces more factions than an oppressive one.

By a faction I understand a number of citizens, whether amounting to a majority or minority of the whole, who are united and actuated by some common impulse of passion, or of interest, adverse to the rights of other citizens, or to the permanent and aggregate interests of the community.

2. Tumult; discord; dissension.

Factionary

FAC'TIONARY, noun A party man; one of a faction. [Little used.]

Factioner

FAC'TIONER, noun One of a faction. [Not in use.]

Factionist

FAC'TIONIST, noun One who promotes faction.

Factious

FAC'TIOUS, adjective [Latin factiosus.]

1. Given to faction; addicted to form parties and raise dissensions, in opposition to government; turbulent; prone to clamor against public measures of men. No state is free from factious citizens.

2. Pertaining to faction; proceeding from faction; as factious tumults; factious quarrels.

Factiously

FAC'TIOUSLY, adverb In a factious manner; by means of faction; in a turbulent or disorderly manner.

Factiousness

FAC'TIOUSNESS, noun Inclination to form parties in opposition to the government, or to the public interest; disposition to clamor and raise opposition; clamorousness for a party.

Factitious

FACTI'TIOUS, adjective [Latin factitius, from facio.]

Made by art, in distinction from what is produced by nature; artificial; as factitious cinnabar; factitious stones; factitious air.

Factive

FAC'TIVE, adjective Making; having power to make. [Not used.]

Factor

FAC'TOR, noun [Latin factor; facio.]

1. In commerce, an agent employed by merchants, residing in other places, to buy and sell, and to negotiate bills of exchange, or to transact other business on their account.

2. an agent; a substitute.

3. In arithmetic, the multiplier and multiplicand, from the multiplication of which proceeds the product.

Factorage

FAC'TORAGE, noun the allowance given to a factor by his employer, as a compensation for his services; called also a commission. This is sometimes a certain sum or rate by the cask or package; more generally it is a certain rate per cent. Of the value of the goods, purchased or sold.

Factorship

FAC'TORSHIP, noun a factory; or the business of a factor.

Factory

FAC'TORY, noun

1. A house or place where factors reside, to transact business for their employers. The English merchants have factories in the East Indies, Turkey, Portugal, Hamburg, etc.

2. The body of factors in any place; as a chaplain to a British factory

3. Contracted frommanufactory, a building or collection of buildings, appropriated to the manufacture of goods; the place where workmen are employed in fabricating goods, wares or utensils.

Factotum

FACTO'TUM, noun [Latin do every thing.] a servant employed to do all kinds of work.

Facture

FAC'TURE, noun The art or manner of making.

Faculty

FAC'ULTY, noun [Latin facultas, from facio, to make.]

1. That power of the mind or intellect which enables it to receive, revive or modify perceptions; as the faculty of seeing, of hearing, of imagining, of remembering, etc.: or in general, the faculties may be called the powers or capacities of the mind.

2. The power of doing any thing; ability. There is no faculty or power in creatures, which can rightly perform its functions, without the perpetual aid of the Supreme Being.

3. The power of performing any action, natural, vital or animal.

The vital faculty is that by which life is preserved.

4. Facility of performance; the peculiar skill derived from practice, or practice aided by nature; habitual skill or ability; dexterity; adroitness; knack. One man has a remarkable faculty of telling a story; another, of inventing excuses for misconduct; a third, of reasoning; a fourth, of preaching.

5. Personal quality; disposition or habit, good or ill.

6. Power; authority.

This Duncan Hath borne his faculties so meek. [MacBeth, Act I, scene 7, Shakespeare] [Hardly legitimate.]

7. Mechanical power; as the faculty of the wedge. [Not used, nor legitimate.]

8. Natural virtue; efficacy; as the faculty of simples. [Not used, nor legitimate.]

9. Privilege; a right or power granted to a person by favor or indulgence, to do what by law he may not do; as the faculty of marrying without the bans being first published, or of ordaining a deacon under age. The archbishop of Canterbury has a court of faculties, for granting such privileges or dispensations.

10. In colleges, the masters and professors of the several sciences.

One of the members or departments of a university. In most universities there are four faculties; of art, including humanity and philosophy; of theology; of medicine; and of law.

In America, the faculty of a college or university consists of the president, professors and tutors.

The faculty of advocates, in Scotland, is a respectable body of lawyers who plead in all causes before the Courts of Session, Justiciary and Exchequer.

Facund

FAC'UND, adjective [Latin facundus, supposed to be from the root of for, fari, to speak. If so the original word was faco, or facor.]

Eloquent. [Little used.]

Facundity

FACUND'ITY, noun [Latin facunditas.] Eloquence; readiness of speech.

Faddle

FAD'DLE, verb intransitive To trifle; to toy; to play. [A low word.]

Fade

FADE, adjective Weak; slight; faint. [Not in use.]

FADE, verb intransitive

1. To lose color; to tend from a stronger or brighter color to a more faint shade of the same color, or to lose a color entirely. A green leaf fades and becomes less green or yellow. Those colors are deemed the best, which are least apt to fade

2. To wither, as a plant; to decay.

Ye shall be as an oak, whose leaf fadeth. Isaiah 1:1.

3. To lose strength gradually; to vanish.

When the memory is weak, ideas in the mind quickly fade

4. To lose luster; to grow dim.

The stars shall fade away.

5. To decay; to perish gradually.

We all do fade as a leaf. Isaiah 64:6.

An inheritance that fadeth not away. 1 Peter 1:1.

6. To decay; to decline; to become poor and miserable.

The rich man shall fade away in his ways. James 1:11.

7. To lose strength, health or vigor; to decline; to grow weaker.

8. To disappear gradually; to vanish.

FADE, verb transitive To cause to wither; to wear away; to deprive of freshness or vigor.

No winter could his laurels fade

This is a man, old, wrinkled, faded, withered.

Faded

FA'DED, participle passive Become less vivid, as color; withered; decayed; vanished.

Fadge

FADGE, verb intransitive [Latin pango, pegi, pepegi, figo; Gr.]

1. To suit; to fit; to come close, as the parts of things united. Hence, to have one part consistent with another.

2. To agree; to live in amity.

3. To succeed; to hit.

[This word is now vulgar, and improper in elegant writing.]

Fading

FA'DING, participle present tense [See Fade.]

1. Losing color; becoming less vivid; decaying; declining; withering.

2. adjective Subject to decay; liable to lose freshness and vigor; liable to perish; not durable; transient; as a fading flower.

FA'DING, noun Decay; loss of color, freshness or vigor.

Fadingness

FA'DINGNESS, noun Decay; liableness to decay.

Fady

FA'DY, adjective Wearing away; losing color or strength.

Faecal

FAECAL, adjective [See Fecal.]

Faeces

FAE'CES, noun [Latin] Excrement; also, settlings; sediment after infusion or distillation.

Faffel

FAF'FEL, verb intransitive To stammer. [Not in use.]

Fag

FAG, verb transitive To beat. [Not in use.]

FAG, noun A slave; one who works hard. [Not in use.]

FAG, verb intransitive [Heb. to fail, to languish.]

To become weary; to fail in strength; to be faint with weariness.

The Italian began to fag

[A vulgar word.]

FAG, noun A knot in cloth. [Not in use.]

Fagend

FAGEND', noun [fag and end. See Fag, verb intransitive supra.]

1. The end of a web of cloth, generally of coarser materials.

2. The refuse or meaner part of any thing.

3. Among seamen, the untwisted end of a rope; hence, to fag out, is to become untwisted and loose.

We observe that the use of this word among seamen leads to the true sense of the verb, as well as the noun. The sense is, to open by receding, or to yield and become lax, and hence weak.

Fagot

FAG'OT, noun [Gr. See Fadge. The sense is a bundle or collection, like pack.]

1. A bundle of sticks, twigs or small branches of trees, used for fuel, or for raising batteries, filling ditches, and other purposes in fortification. The French use fascine, from the Latin fascis, a bundle; a term now adopted in English.

2. A person hired to appear at musters in a company not full and hide the deficiency.

FAG'OT, verb transitive To tie together; to bind in a bundle; to collect promiscuously.

Fahlerz

F'AHLERZ, noun Gray copper, or gray copper ore, called by Jameson tetrahedral copper pyrite. This mineral is easily broken, and its fracture usually uneven, but sometimes a little conchoidal. it is found amorphous and in regular crystals.

Fahlunite

F'AHLUNITE, noun

Automalite, a subspecies of octahedral corundum.

Fail

FAIL, verb intransitive [Latin fallo; Gr. whence; Eng. felony. It seems to be allied to fall, fallow, pale, and many other words.]

1. To become deficient; to be insufficient; to cease to be abundant for supply; or to be entirely wanting. We say, in a dry season, the springs and streams fail or are failing, before they are entirely exhausted. We say also, the springs failed, when they entirely ceased to flow. Crops fail wholly or partially.

2. To decay; to decline; to sink; to be diminished. We say of a sick person, his strength fails daily.

3. To decline; to decay; to sink; to become weaker; as, the patient fails every hour.

4. To be extinct; to cease; to be entirely wanting; to be no longer produced.

Help, Lord, for the godly man ceaseth; for the faithful fail from among the children of men. Psalms 12:1.

5. To be entirely exhausted; to be wanting; to cease from supply.

Money failed in the land of Egypt. Genesis 47:16.

6. To cease; to perish; to be lost.

Lest the remembrance of his grief should fail

7. To die.

They shall all fail together. Isaiah 31:3.

8. To decay; to decline; as, the sight fails in old age.

9. To become deficient or wanting; as, the heart or the courage fails.

10. To miss; not to produce the effect. the experiment was made with care, but failed, or failed to produce the effect, or failed of the effect.

11. To be deficient in duty; to omit or neglect. the debtor failed to fulfil his promise.

12. To miss; to miscarry; to be frustrated or disappointed. The enemy attacked the fort, but failed in his design, or failed of success.

13. To be neglected; to fall short; not to be executed. the promises of a man of probity seldom fail

The soul or the spirit fails, when a person is discouraged. The eyes fail when the desires and expectations are long delayed, and the person is disappointed.

14. To become insolvent or bankrupt. When merchants and traders fail they are said to become bankrupt. When other men fail they are said to become insolvent.

FAIL, verb transitive

1. To desert; to disappoint; to cease or to neglect or omit to afford aid, supply or strength. it is said, fortune never fails the brave. Our friends sometimes fail us, when we most need them. The aged attempt to walk, when their limbs fail them. In bold enterprises, courage should never fail the hero.

2. to omit; not to perform.

The inventive God, who never fails his part.

3. to be wanting to.

There shall never fail thee a man on the throne. 1 Kings 2:4.

[In the transitive use of this verb there is really an ellipsis of from or to, or other word. In strictness, the verb is not transitive, and the passive particple is, I believe, never used.]

FAIL, noun Omission; non-performance.

1. He will without fail drive out from before you the Canaanites. Joshua 3:10.

2. Miscarriage; failure; deficience; want; death.

[In these senses little used.]

Failance

FA'ILANCE, noun fault; failure. obsolete

Failing

FA'ILING, participle present tense Becoming deficient or insufficient; becoming weaker; decaying; declining; omitting; not executing or performing; miscarrying; neglecting; wanting; becoming bankrupt or insolvent.

FA'ILING, noun

1. The act of failing; deficiency; imperfection; lapse; fault. Failings, in a moral sense, are minor faults, proceeding rather from weakness of intellect or from carelessness, than from bad motives. But the word is often abusively applied to vices of a grosser kind.

2. The act of failing or becoming insolvent.

Failure

FA'ILURE, noun fa'ilyur.

1. A failing; deficience; cessation of supply, or total defect; as the failure of springs or streams; failure of rain; failure of crops.

2. Omission; non-performance; as the failure of a promise; a man's failure in the execution of a trust.

3. Decay, or defect from decay; as the failure of memory or of sight.

4. A breaking, or becoming insolvent. At the close of a war, the prices of commodities fall, and innumerable failures secceed.

5. A failing; a slight fault. [Little used.]

Fain

FAIN, adjective

1. Glad; pleased; rejoiced. but the appropriate sense of the word is, glad or pleased to do something under some kind of necessity; that is, glad to evade evil or secure good. Thus, says Locke, 'The learned Castalio was fain to make trenches at Basil, to keep himself from starving.' this appropriation of the word, which is modern, led Dr. Johnson into a mistake in defining the word. The proper signification is glad, joyful.

FAIN, adverb Gladly; with joy or pleasure.

He would fain flee out of his hand. Job 27:22.

He would fain have filled his belly with husks. Luke 15:16.

FAIN, verb intransitive to wish or desire. [Not used.]

Faining

FA'INING, participle present tense wishing; desiring fondly.

In his faining eye.

Faint

FAINT, adjective [Latin vanus, whence to vanish. Eng. to wane.]

1. weak; languid; inclined to swoon; as, to be rendered faint by excessive evacuations.

2. Weak; feeble; languid; exhausted; as faint with fatigue, hunger or thirst.

3. Weak, as color; not bright or vivid; not strong; as a faint color; a faint red or blue; a faint light.

4. Feeble; weak, as sound; not loud; as a faint sound; a faint voice.

5. Imperfect; feeble; not striking; as a faint resemblance or image.

6. Cowardly; timorous. A faint heart never wins a fair lady.

7. Feeble; not vigorous; not active; as a faint resistance; a faint exertion.

8. Dejected; depressed; dispirited.

My heart is faint Lamentations 1:13.

FAINT, verb intransitive

1. To lose the animal functions; to lose strength and color, and become senseless and motionless; to swoon; sometimes with away. he fainted for loss of blood.

On hearing the honor intended her, she fainted away.

2. To become feeble; to decline or fail in strength and vigor; to be weak.

If I send them away fasting to their own houses, they will faint by the way. Mark 8:3.

3. To sink into dejection; to lose courage or spirit.

Let not your hearts faint Deuteronomy 20:3.

If thou faint in the day of adversity, thy strength is small. Proverbs 24:10.

4. To decay; to disappear; to vanish.

Gilded clouds, while we gaze on them, faint before the eye.

FAINT, verb transitive To deject; to depress; to weaken. [Unusual.]

Fainthearted

FAINTHEARTED, adjective Cowardly; timorous; dejected; easily depressed, or yielding to fear.

Fear not, neither be fainthearted Isaiah 7:4.

Faintheartedly

FAINTHEARTEDLY, adverb In a cowardly manner.

Faintheartedness

FAINTHEARTEDNESS, noun Cowardice; timorousness; want of courage.

Fainting

FA'INTING, participle present tense Falling into a swoon; failing; losing strength or courage; becoming feeble or timid.

FA'INTING, noun A temporary loss of strength, color and respiration; syncope; deliquium; leipothymy; a swoon.

Faintish

FA'INTISH, adjective Slightly faint.

Faintishness

FA'INTISHNESS, noun A slight degree of faintness.

Faintling

FA'INTLING, adjective Timorous; feeble-minded. [Not used.]

Faintly

FA'INTLY, adverb

1. In a feeble, languid manner; without vigor or activity; as, to attack or defend faintly

2. With a feeble flame; as, a torch burns faintly

3. With a feeble light; as, the candle burns faintly

4. With little force; as, to breathe faintly

5. Without force of representation; imperfectly; as, to describe faintly what we have seen.

6. In a low tone; with a feeble voice; as, to speak faintly

7. Without spirit or courage; timorously.

He faintly now declines the fatal strife.

Faintness

FA'INTNESS, noun

1. The state of being faint; loss of strength, color and respiration.

2. Feebleness; languor; want of strength.

3. Inactivity; want of vigor.

4. Feebleness, as of color or light.

5. Feebleness of representation; as faintness of description.

6. Feebleness of mind; timorousness; dejection; irresolution.

I will send a faintness into their hearts. Leviticus 26:36.

Faints

FAINTS, noun plural the gross fetid oil remaining after distillation, or a weak spirituous liquor that runs from the still in rectifying the low wines after the proof spirit is drawn off; also, the last runnings of all spirits distilled by the alembic.

Fainty

FA'INTY, adjective weak; feeble; languid.

Fair

FAIR, adjective

1. Clear; free from spots; free from a dark hue; white; as a fair skin; a fair complexion. hence,

2. Beautiful; handsome; properly, having a handsome face.

Thou art a fair woman to look upon. Genesis 12:11. Hence,

3. Pleasing to the eye; handsome or beautiful in general.

Thus was be fair in his greatness, in the length of his branches. Ezekiel 31:3.

4. Clear; pure; free from feculence or extraneous matter; as fair water.

5. Clear; not cloudy or overcast; as fair weather; a fair sky.

6. Favorable; prosperous; blowing in a direction towards the place of destination; as a fair wind at sea.

7. Open; direct, as a way or passage. You are in a fair way to promotion. hence, likely to succeed. he stands as fair to succeed as any man.

8. Open to attack or access; unobstructed; as a fair mark; a fair butt; fair in sight; in fair sight; a fair view.

9. Open; frank; hones; hence, equal; just; equitable. My friend is a fair man; his offer is fair; his propositions are fair and honorable.

10. Not effected by insidious or unlawful methods; not foul.

He died a fair and natural death.

11. Frank; candid; not sophistical or insidious; as a fair disputant.

12. Honest; honorable; mild; opposed to insidious and compulsory; as, to accomplish a thing by fair means.

13. Frank; civil; pleasing; not harsh.

When fair words and good counsel will not prevail on us, we must be frighted into our duty.

14. Equitable; just; erited.

His doom is fair

That dust I am, and shall to dust return.

15. Liberal; not narrow; as a fair livelihood.

16. Plain; legible; as, the letter is written in a fair hand.

17. Free from stain or blemish; unspotted; untarnished; as a fair character or fame.

FAIR, adverb

1. Openly; frankly; civilly; complaisantly.

One of the company spoke him fair

2. Candidly; honestly; equitably; He promised fair

3. Happily; successfully.

Now fair befall thee.

4. On good terms; as, to keep fair with the world; to stand fair with one's companions.

To bid fair is to be likely, or to have a fair prospect.

FAIR and square, just dealing; honesty.

FAIR, noun

1. Elliptically, a fair woman; a handsome female. The fair the female sex.

2. Fairness; applied to things or persons. [Not used.]

FAIR, noun [Latin forum, or feriae, a holiday, a day exempt from labor; Gr. to trade, whence, emporium, the primary sense of which is to pass.]

A stated market in a particular town or city; a stated meeting of buyers and sellers for trade. A fair is annual or more frequent. The privilege of holding fairs is granted by the king or supreme power. Among the most celebrated fairs in Europe are those of Frankfort and Leipsic in Germany; of Novi in the Milanese; of Riga and Archangel in Russia; of Lyons and St. Germain in France. In Great Britain many towns enjoy this privilege.

Fair-Hand

FA'IR-HAND adjective Having a fair appearance.

Fair-Spoken

FA'IR-SPOKEN, adjective Using fair speech; bland; civil; courteous; plausible.

Arius, a fair-spoken man.

Fairing

FA'IRING, noun A present given at a fair.

Fairly

FA'IRLY, adverb

1. Beautifully; handsomely. [Little used.]

2. Commodiously; conveniently; as a town fairly situated for foreign trade.

3. Frankly; honestly; justly; equitably; without disguise, fraud or prevarication. The question was fairly stated and argued. Let us deal fairly with all men.

4. Openly; ingenuously; plainly. Let us deal fairly with ourselves or our own hearts.

5. Candidly.

I interpret fairly your design.

6. Without perversion or violence; as, an inference may be fairly deduced from the premises.

7. Without blots; in plain letters; plainly; legibly; as an instrument or record fairly written.

8. Completely; without deficience. His antagonist fought till he was fairly defeated.

9. Softly; gently.

Fairness

FA'IRNESS, noun

1. Clearness; freedom from spots or blemishes; whiteness; as the fairness of skin or complexion.

2. Clearness; purity; as the fairness of water.

3. Freedom from stain or blemish; as the fairness of character or reputation.

4. Beauty; elegance; as the fairness of form.

5. Frankness; candor; hence, honesty; ingenuousness; as fairness in trade.

6. Openness; candor; freedom from disguise, insidiousness or prevarication; as the fairness of an argument.

7. Equality of terms; equity; as the fairness of a contract.

8. Distinctness; freedom from blots or obscurity; as the fairness of hand-writing; the fairness of a copy.

Fairy

FA'IRY, noun

[The origin of this word is not obvious, and the radical letters are uncertain. the conjectures of Baxter, Jamieson and others throw no satisfactory light on the subject.]

1. A fay; an imaginary being or spirit, supposed to assume a human form, dance in meadows, steal infants and play a variety of pranks. [See Elf and Demon.]

2. An enchantress.

Fairy of the mine, an imaginary being supposed to inhabit mines, wandering about in the drifts and chambers, always employed in cutting ore, turning the windlass, etc., yet effecting nothing. The Germans believe in two species; one fierce and malevolent; the other gentle. [See Cobalt.]

Fairy ring or circle, a phenomenon observed in fields, vulgarly supposed to be caused by fairies in their dances. This circle is of two kinds; one about seven yards in diameter, containing a round bare path, a foot broad, with green grass in the middle; the other of different size, encompassed with grass.

FA'IRY, adjective

1. Belonging to fairies; as fairy land

2. Given by fairies; as fairy money or favors.

Fairylike

FA'IRYLIKE, adjective Imitating the manner of fairies.

Fairystone

FA'IRYSTONE, noun A stone found in gravel pits.

The fossil echinite, abundant in chalk pits.

Faith

FAITH, noun [Latin fides, fido, to trust; Gr. to persuade, to draw towards any thing, to conciliate; to believe, to obey. In the Greek Lexicon of Hederic it is said, the primitive signification of the verb is to bind and draw or lead, as signifies a rope or cable. But this remark is a little incorrect. The sense of the verb, from which that of rope and binding is derived, is to strain, to draw, and thus to bind or make fast. A rope or cable is that which makes fast. Heb.]

1. Belief; the assent of the mind to the truth of what is declared by another, resting on his authority and veracity, without other evidence; the judgment that what another states or testifies is the truth. I have strong faith or no faith in the testimony of a witness, or in what a historian narrates.

2. The assent of the mind to the truth of a proposition advanced by another; belief, or probable evidence of any kind.

3. In theology, the assent of the mind or understanding to the truth of what God has revealed. Simple belief of the scriptures, of the being and perfections of God, and of the existence, character and doctrines of Christ, founded on the testimony of the sacred writers, is called historical or speculative faith; a faith little distinguished from the belief of the existence and achievements of Alexander or of Cesar.

4. Evangelical, justifying, or saving faith is the assent of the mind to the truth of divine revelation, on the authority of God's testimony, accompanied with a cordial assent of the will or approbation of the heart; an entire confidence or trust in God's character and declarations, and in the character and doctrines of Christ, with an unreserved surrender of the will to his guidance, and dependence on his merits for salvation. In other words, that firm belief of God's testimony, and of the truth of the gospel, which influences the will, and leads to an entire reliance on Christ for salvation.

Being justified by faith Romans 5:1.

Without faith it is impossible to please God. Hebrews 11:1.

For we walk by faith and not by sight. 2 Corinthians 5:7.

With the heart man believeth to righteousness. Romans 10:6.

The faith of the gospel is that emotion of the mind, which is called trust or confidence, exercised towards the moral character of God, and particularly of the Savior.

FAITH is an affectionate practical confidence in the testimony of God.

FAITH is a firm, cordial belief in the veracity of God, in all the declarations of his word; or a full and affectionate confidence in the certainty of those things which God has declared, and because he has declared them.

5. The object of belief; a doctrine or system of doctrines believed; a system of revealed truths received by christians.

They heard only, that he who persecuted us in times past, now preacheth the faith which once he destroyed. Galatians 1:23.

6. The promises of God, or his truth and faithfulness.

shall their unbelief make the faith of God without effect? Rom 3.

7. An open profession of gospel truth.

Your faith is spoken of throughout the whole world. Rom 1.

8. A persuasion or belief of the lawfulness of things indifferent.

Hast thou faith? Have it to thyself before God. Rom 14.

9. Faithfulness; fidelity; a strict adherence to duty and fulfillment of promises.

Her failing, while her faith to me remains, I would conceal.

Children in whom is no faith Deuteronomy 32:20.

10. Word or honor pledged; promise given; fidelity. He violated his plighted faith

For you alone I broke my faith with injured Palamon.

11. Sincerity; honesty; veracity; faithfulness. We ought in good faith to fulfill all our engagements.

12. Credibility or truth. Unusual.]

The faith of the foregoing narrative.

Faith-Breach

FA'ITH-BREACH, noun Breach of fidelity; disloyalty; perfidy.

Faithed

FA'ITHED, adjective Honest; sincere. [Not used.]

Faithful

FA'ITHFUL, adjective

1. Firm in adherence to the truth and to the duties of religion.

Be thou faithful unto death, and I will give thee a crown of life. Revelation 2:10.

2. Firmly adhering to duty; of true fidelity; loyal; true to allegiance; as a faithful subject.

3. constant in the performance of duties or services; exact in attending to commands; as a faithful servant.

4. Observant of compact, treaties, contracts, vows or other engagements; true to one's word. A government should be faithful to its treaties; individuals, to their word.

5. True; exact; in conformity to the letter and spirit; as a faithful execution of a will.

6. True to the marriage covenant; as a faithful wife or husband.

7. Conformable to truth; as a faithful narrative or representation.

8. Constant; not fickle; as a faithful lover or friend.

9. True; worthy of belief. 2 Timothy 2:2.