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Webster’s Dictionary (1828)



477 words match “ALTER”

FAKE v.
To coil (a rope, line, or hawser), by winding alternately in opposite directions, in layers usually of zigzag or figure of eight form,, to prevent twisting when running out. Faking box, a box in which a long rope is faked; used in the life-saving service for a line attached to a shot.
FALSITY n.
of being false; coutrariety or want of conformity to truth. Probability does not make any alteration, either in the truth or falsity of things. South.
FASHION n.
f a house, of an altar, etc. ; workmanship; execution. The fashion of his countenance was altered. Luke ix. 29. I do not like the fashion of your garments. Shak.
FATALITY n.
and independent of, free and rational control. The Stoics held a fatality, and a fixed, unalterable course of events. South.
FERRANTI PHENOMENON n.
An increase in the ratio of transformation of an alternating current converter, accompanied by other changes in electrical conditions, occurring when the secondary of the converter is connected with a condenser of moderate capacity; -- so called because first observed in connection with the Ferranti cables in London.…
FIXATION n.
The act of fixing, or the state of being fixed. An unalterable fixation of resolution. Killingbeck. To light, created in the first day, God gave no proper place or fixation. Sir W. Raleigh. Marked stiffness or absolute fixation of a joint. Quain. A fixation and confinement of thought to a few objects. Watts.…
FIXED a.
Securely placed or fastened; settled; established; firm; imovable; unalterable.
FLASH n.
oduced by the revolution of reflectors, so as to show a flash of light every few seconds, alternating with periods of dimness. Knight. -- Flash in the pan, the flashing of the priming in the pan of a flintlock musket without discharging the piece; hence, sudden, spasmodic effort that accomplishes nothing.…
FLAT n.
A level tract lying at little depth below the surface of water, or alternately covered and left bare by the tide; a shoal; a shallow; a strand. Half my power, this night Passing these flats, are taken by the tide. Shak.
FLEXUOUS a.
Having alternate curvatures in opposite directions; bent in a zigzag manner.
FOOTSTEP n.
le sign of a course pursued; token; mark; as, the footsteps of divine wisdom. How on the faltering footsteps of decay Youth presses. Bryant.
FORE a.
the fore part (of a horse, etc.); a martingale. -- Fore hammer, a sledge hammer, working alternately, or in time, with the hand hammer. -- Fore leg, one of the front legs of a quadruped, or multiped, or of a chair, settee, etc. -- Fore peak (Naut.), the angle within a ship's bows; the portion of the hold which is fa…
FORGERY n.
of forging, fabricating, or producing falsely; esp., the crime of fraudulently making or altering a writing or signature purporting to be made by another; the false making or material alteration of or addition to a written instrument for the purpose of deceit and fraud; as, the forgery of a bond. Bouvier.…
FOURSOME n.
players, with two on each side and each side playing but one ball, the partners striking alternately. It is called a mixed foursome when each side consists of a man and a woman.
FULLING n.
ressure. Fulling mill, a mill for fulling cloth as by means of pesties or stampers, which alternately fall into and rise from troughs where the cloth is placed with hot water and fuller's earth, or other cleansing materials.
FUNCTION n.
A quantity so connected with another quantity, that if any alteration be made in the latter there will be a consequent alteration in the former. Each quantity is said to be a function of the other. Thus, the circumference of a circle is a function of the diameter. If x be a symbol to which different numerical values ca…
GALLOP n.
A mode of running by a quadruped, particularly by a horse, by lifting alternately the fore feet and the hind feet, in successive leaps or bounds. Hand gallop, a slow or gentle gallop.
GAMETOPHYTE n.
In the alternation of generations in plants, that generation or phase which bears sex organs. In the lower plants, as the algæ, the gametophyte is the conspicuous part of the plant body; in mosses it is the so-called moss plant; in ferns it is reduced to a small, early perishing body; and in seed plants it is usually m…
GENEAGENESIS n.
Alternate generation. See under Generation.
GIRDER n.
sisting of horizontal upper and lower bars connected by a series of diagonal bars sloping alternately in opposite directions so as to divide the space between the bars into a series of triangles. Knight. -- Sandwich girder, a girder consisting of two parallel wooden beams, between which is an iron plate, the whole cla…
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