Search the Dictionary

Appearance; look; countenance; face. [Obs.] This boy is fair, of female favor. Shak.

t by which, either in animals or plants, material prepared by the generative organs the female organism is brought in contact with matter from the organs of the male, so that a new organism results; impregnation; fertilization.

e quality or power of producing fruit; fruitfulness; especially (Biol.), the quality in female organisms of reproducing rapidly and in great numbers.

One of a pair, or of two things used together or suited to each other; a mate; the male. When they be but heifers of one year, . . . they are let go to the fellow and breed. Holland. This was my glove; here is the fellow of it. Shak.

To make, or to describe as, female or feminine. Shaftesbury.

Having the qualities of a woman; becoming or appropriate to the female sex; as, in a good sense, modest, graceful, affectionate, confiding; or, in a bad sense, weak, nerveless, timid, pleasure- loving, effeminate. Her heavenly form Angelic, but more soft and feminine. Milton. Ninus being esteemed no man of war at all,…

See Female rhyme, under Female, a.

The quality or nature of the female sex; womanliness.

the month in which female deer are fawning, when hunting is prohibited. Bullokar. -- Fence roof, a covering for defense. "They fitted their shields close to one another in manner of a fence roof." Holland. Fence time, the breeding time of fish or game, when they should not be killed. -- Rail fence, a fence made of ra…

A burrowing crab of the genus Gelasimus, of many species. The male has one claw very much enlarged, and often holds it in a position similar to that in which a musician holds a fiddle, hence the name; -- called also calling crab, soldier crab, and fighting crab.

Figure; dress; array. [Colloq.] Were they all in full fig, the females with feathers on their heads, the males with chapeaux bras Prof. Wilson.

A female figurant; esp., a ballet girl.

A female foal or colt; a young mare. Cf. Colt, Foal. Neighing in likeness of a filly foal. Shak.

Firstborn. All the firstling males. Deut. xv. 19.

(Zoöl.), an American bird (Phainopepla nitens), allied to the chatterers and shrikes. The male is glossy blue-black; the female brownish gray. -- Fly wheel (Mach.), a heavy wheel attached to machinery to equalize the movement (opposing any sudden acceleration by its inertia and any retardation by its momentum), and to…

A man in waiting; a male servant whose duties are to attend the door, the carriage, the table, etc.

A female ancestor.

The female of a hawk or falcon.

An unmarried person, male or female, who has criminal intercourse with the other sex; one guilty of fornication.

risher. [R.] Shak. -- Foster parent, a foster mother or foster father. -- Foster son, a male foster child.