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Fictitious literature; comprehensively, all works of imagination; specifically, novels and romances. The office of fiction as a vehicle of instruction and moral elevation has been recognized by most if not all great educators. Dict. of Education.

or malicious foe; one who is diabolically wicked or cruel; an infernal being; -- applied specifically to the devil or a demon. Into this wild abyss the wary fiend Stood on the brink of Hell and looked a while. Milton. O woman! woman! when to ill thy mind Is bent, all hell contains no fouler fiend. Pope.…

One who, or that which, finds; specifically (Astron.), a small telescope of low power and large field of view, attached to a larger telescope, for the purpose of finding an object more readily.

A varying measure of capacity, usually being the fourth part of a barrel; specifically, a measure equal to nine imperial gallons. [Eng.]

A level surface, without elevation, relief, or prominences; an extended plain; specifically, in the United States, a level tract along the along the banks of a river; as, the Mohawk Flats. Envy is as the sunbeams that beat hotter upon a bank, or steep rising ground, than upon a flat. Bacon.

ustain weight, or to indicate the height of the surface, or mark the place of, something. Specifically:

e others flowing off in a film or slime on the surface, though, perhaps, having a greater specific gravity than those that sink.

comfort, happiness, or whatever is desirable; to thrive; to be prominent and influental; specifically, of authors, painters, etc., to be in a state of activity or production. When all the workers of iniquity do flourish. Ps. xcii 7 Bad men as frequently prosper and flourish, and that by the means of their wickedness.…

A failure or backing out; specifically (College cant),

Scandalous crime; sin; specifically, as applied to a woman, wantonness. [Achan] wrought folly in Israel. Josh. vii. 15. When lovely woman stoops to folly. Goldsmith.

To obtain or win by strength; to take by violence or struggle; specifically, to capture by assault; to storm, as a fortress.

ne, embracing four diatonic degrees of the scale; the subdominant of any key. The Fourth, specifically, un the United States, the fourth day of July, the anniversary of the declaration of American independence; as, to celebrate the Fourth.

To construct by fitting and uniting the several parts of the skeleton of any structure; specifically, in woodwork, to put together by cutting parts of one member to fit parts of another. See Dovetail, Halve, v. t., Miter, Tenon, Tooth, Tusk, Scarf, and Splice.

incorporated in the legislation of all the States of this country, by which writing with specific solemnities (varying in the several statutes) is required to give efficacy to certain dispositions of property. Wharton.

Pertaining to fulmination; detonating; specifically (Chem.), pertaining to, derived from, or denoting, an acid, so called; as, fulminic acid. Fulminic acid (Chem.), a complex acid, H2C2N2O2, isomeric with cyanic and cyanuric acids, and not known in the free state, but forming a large class of highly explosive salts, th…

An invested sum, whose income is devoted to a specific object; as, the fund of an ecclesiastical society; a fund for the maintenance of lectures or poor students; also, money systematically collected to meet the expenses of some permanent object.

The part of the body on which one sits; the buttocks; specifically (Anat.), the anus. Hume.

Things which may be furnished or restored in kind, as distinguished from specific things; -- called also fungible things. Burrill.

A cord; specifically, the umbilical cord or navel string.

A passage or avenue for a fluid or flowing substance; specifically, a smoke flue or pipe; the iron chimney of a steamship or the like. Funnel box (Mining), an apparatus for collecting finely crushed ore from water. Knight. -- Funnel stay (Naut.), one of the ropes or rods steadying a steamer's funnel.…