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l of expression; vividly representing the meaning or feeling meant to be conveyed; significant; emphatic; as, expressive looks or words. You have restrained yourself within the list of too cold an adieu; be more expressive to them. Shak. Through her expressive eyes her soul distinctly spoke. Littelton. -- Ex*press"ive*…

utter extempore or off-hand; to prepare in great haste, under urgent necessity, or with scanty or unsuitable materials; as, to extemporize a dinner, a costume, etc. Themistocles . . . was of all men the best able to extemporize the right thing to be done. Jowett (Thucyd. ). Pitt, of whom it was said that he could exte…

The exact amount expressed on a bill, note, bond, or other mercantile paper, without any addition for interest or reduction for discount. McElrath.

ing check or defeat, as in controversy. [Collog.] I should have been a stercoraceous mendicant if I had hollowed when I got a facer. C. Kingsley.

One who transacts business for another; an agent; a substitute; especially, a mercantile agent who buys and sells goods and transacts business for others in commission; a commission merchant or consignee. He may be a home factor or a foreign factor. He may buy and sell in his own name, and he is intrusted with the poss…

o has been constituted a voter by being made a landholder, for party purposes. [Political cant, Eng.]

To decline in power, glory, wealth, or importance; to become insignificant; to lose rank or position; to decline in weight, value, price etc.; to become less; as, the falls; stocks fell two points. I am a poor falle man, unworthy now To be thy lord and master. Shak. The greatness of these Irish lords suddenly fell and…

Significant of fate; ominous. The fateful cawings of the crow. Longfellow. -- Fate"ful*ly, adv.- Fate"ful*ness, n.

d Father in God, a title given to archbishops and metropolitans, as to the archbishops of Canterbury and York. -- Natural father, the father of an illegitimate child. -- Putative father, one who is presumed to be the father of an illegitimate child; the supposed father. -- Spiritual father. (a) A religious teacher o…

A fig; an insignificant trifle, no more than the snap of one's thumb; a sign of contempt made by the fingers, expressing. A fig for you. Steal! foh, a fico for the phrase. Shak.

c movement of one or more parts or voices in the harmony; as, figurate counterpoint or descant. Figurate counterpoint or descant (Mus.), that which is not simple, or in which the parts do not move together tone for tone, but in which freer movement of one or more parts mingles passing discords with the harmony; -- call…

y wrote for a public familiar with painted form. J. A. Symonds. Figurative counterpointdescant. See under Figurate. -- Fig"ur*a*tive*ly, adv. -- Fig"ur*a*tive*ness, n.

Free and florid; as, a figured descant. See Figurate, 3.

Any plectognath fish of the genera Monacanthus, Alutera, balistes, and allied genera; -- so called on account of the roughly granulated skin, which is sometimes used in place of sandpaper.

To delay legislation, by dilatory motions or other artifices. [political cant or slang, U.S.] Bartlett.

Any scantling smaller than a batten.

In Old English, a song; a strain; a canto or portion of a ballad; a passus. [Written also fitte, fytte, etc.] To play some pleasant fit. Spenser.

, nappy, woolen cloth, of loose texture. Shak. Adam's flannel. (Bot.) See under Adam. -- Canton flannel, Cotton flannel. See Cotton flannel, under Cotton.

Slang or cant of thieves and prostitutes.

Without allowance for accrued interest. [Broker's Cant]