FLAT a.
, a mode of ornamenting silverware, etc., producing figures by dots and lines made with a punching tool. Knight. -- Flat chisel, a sculptor's chisel for smoothing. -- Flat file, a file wider than its thickness, and of rectangular section. See File. -- Flat nail, a small, sharp-pointed, wrought nail, with a flat, thi…
FLY n.
-- Fly powder, an arsenical powder used to poison flies. -- Fly press, a screw press for punching, embossing, etc., operated by hand and having a heavy fly. -- Fly rail, a bracket which turns out to support the hinged leaf of a table. -- Fly rod, a light fishing rod used in angling with a fly. -- Fly sheet, a small…
FORMAL a.
Devoted to, or done in accordance with, forms or rules; punctilious; regular; orderly; methodical; of a prescribed form; exact; prim; stiff; ceremonious; as, a man formal in his dress, his gait, his conversation. A cold-looking, formal garden, cut into angles and rhomboids. W. Irwing. She took off the formal cap that c…
FUGUE n.
polyphonic composition, developed from a given theme or themes, according to strict contrapuntal rules. The theme is first given out by one voice or part, and then, while that pursues its way, it is repeated by another at the interval of a fifth or fourth, and so on, until all the parts have answered one by one, contin…
FURNACE n.
A place or time of punishment, affiction, or great trial; severe experience or discipline. Deut. iv. 20. Bustamente furnace, a shaft furnace for roasting quicksilver ores. -- Furnace bridge, Same as Bridge wall. See Bridge, n., 5. -- Furnace cadmiam or cadmia, the oxide of zinc which accumulates in the chimneys of fu…