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The sea; a wave. See Flote, n. Float board, one of the boards fixed radially to the rim of an undershot water wheel or of a steamer's paddle wheel; -- a vane. -- Float case (Naut.), a caisson used for lifting a ship. -- Float copper or gold (Mining), fine particles of metallic copper or of gold suspended in water, an…

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 Floating capital had been withdrawn in great masses from the island.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…

nce a flock bed, but repaired with straw." Pope. -- Flock paper, paper coated with flock fixed with glue or size.

t. Her image has escaped the flux of things, And that same infant beauty that she wore Is fixed upon her now forevermore. Trench. Languages, like our bodies, are in a continual flux. Felton.

To watch, as a receding object; to keep the eyes fixed upon while in motion; to keep the mind upon while in progress, as a speech, musical performance, etc.; also, to keep up with; to understand the meaning, connection, or force of, as of a course of thought or argument. He followed with his eyes the flitting shade. Dr…

Doted on; regarded with affection. [R.] Nor fix on fond abodes to circumscribe thy prayer. Byron.

A prefix to verbs, having usually the force of a negative or privative. It often implies also loss, detriment, or destruction, and sometimes it is intensive, meaning utterly, quite thoroughly, as in forbathe.

A suffix used to denote in the form or shape of, resembling, etc.; as, valiform; oviform.

That which serves merely to give form, and is no part of the radical, as the prefix or the termination of a word.

A prescribed or set form; an established rule; a fixed or conventional method in which anything is to be done, arranged, or said.

To cause to become antiquated, rigid, or fixed, as by fossilization; to mummify; to deaden. Ten layers of birthdays on a woman's head Are apt to fossilize her girlish mirth. Mrs. Browning.

Converted into a fossil; antiquated; firmly fixed in views or opinions. A fossilized sample of confused provincialism. Earle.

adopted country. -- Foster lean Etym: [foster + AS. læn a loan See Loan.], remuneration fixed for the rearing of a foster child; also, the jointure of a wife. [Obs.] Wharton. -- Foster mother, a woman who takes a mother's place in the nurture and care of a child; a nurse. -- Foster nurse, a nurse; a nourisher. [R.]…

thing solid, for support; to ground; to establish upon a basis, literal or figurative; to fix firmly. I had else been perfect, Whole as the marble, founded as the rock. Shak. A man that all his time Hath founded his good fortunes on your love. Shak. It fell not, for it was founded on a rock. Matt. vii. 25.…

The act of founding, fixing, establishing, or beginning to erect.

Not under an arbitrary or despotic government; subject only to fixed laws regularly and fairly administered, and defended by them from encroachments upon natural or acquired rights; enjoying political liberty.

son who chooses to bring it to the mint; in a modified sense, such coinage when done at a fixed charge proportionate to the cost of the operation.

The free coinage of silver; often, specif., the free coinage of silver at a fixed ratio with gold, as at the ratio of 16 to 1, which ratio for some time represented nearly or exactly the ratio of the market values of gold and silver respectively.

A short piece of wire, or other material fixed across the finger board of a guitar or a similar instrument, to indicate where the finger is to be placed.

Not fixed; not durable; liable to disappear or fall away; volatile; uncertain; evanescent; liable to fade; -- applied to material and immaterial things; as, fugitive colors; a fugitive idea. The me more tender and fugitive parts, the leaves . . . of vegatables. Woodward. Fugitive compositions, Such as are short and occ…