EXCISE n.
spirits, etc., grown or manufactured in the country. It is also levied to pursue certain trades and deal in certain commodities. Certain direct taxes (as, in England, those on carriages, servants, plate, armorial bearings, etc.), are included in the excise. Often used adjectively; as, excise duties; excise law; excise…
FEATHER n.
term applied to the lightest of the classes into which contestants are divided; -- in contradistinction to light weight, middle weight, and heavy weight. A feather in the cap an honour, trophy, or mark of distinction. [Colloq.] -- To be in full feather, to be in full dress or in one's best clothes. [Collog.] -- To be…
FEME n.
has never been married, or who has been divorced, or whose husband is dead. -- Feme sole trader or merchant (Eng. Law), a married woman, by the custom of London, engages in business on her own account, inpendently of her husband.
FINISHER n.
One who finishes, puts an end to, completes, or perfects; esp. used in the trades, as in hatting, weaving, etc., for the workman who gives a finishing touch to the work, or any part of it, and brings it to perfection. O prophet of glad tidings, finisher Of utmost hope! Milton.
FLOATING a.
Not funded; not fixed, invested, or determined; as, floating capital; a floating debt. Trade was at an end. Floating capital had been withdrawn in great masses from the island. Macaulay. Floating anchor (Naut.), a drag or sea anchor; drag sail. -- Floating battery (Mil.), a battery erected on rafts or the hulls of shi…
FREE a.
-- Free thought, that which is thought independently of the authority of others. -- Free trade, commerce unrestricted by duties or tariff regulations. -- Free trader, one who believes in free trade. -- To make free with, to take liberties with; to help one's self to. [Colloq.] -- To sail free (Naut.), to sail with t…
FREEDOM n.
osity; liberality. [Obs.] Chaucer. Freedom fine, a sum paid on entry to incorporations of trades. -- Freedom of the city, the possession of the rights and privileges of a freeman of the city; formerly often, and now occasionally, conferred on one not a resident, as a mark of honorary distinction for public services.…