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To extirpate. [Obs.] It is impossible to extirp it quite, friar. Shak .

eldest member of a profession, or of a legislative assembly, etc. Bless you, good father friar ! Shak.

The friar bird; -- so called from its cry, which resembles these words.

Brother; -- a title of a monk of friar; as, Fra Angelo. Longfellow.

A monk or friar of the Order of St. Francis, a large and zealous order of mendicant monks founded in 1209 by St. Francis of Assisi. They are called also Friars Minor; and in England, Gray Friars, because they wear a gray habit.

A friar. Chaucer.

[friabilis, fr. friare to rub, break, or crumble into small pieces, cf. fricare to rub, E. fray. cf. F. friable.) Easily crumbled, pulverized, or reduced to powder. "Friable ground." Evelyn. "Soft and friable texture." Paley. -- Fri'a-ble-ness, n.

A coarse gown worn by monks or friars, and supposed to take the place of all, or nearly all, other garments. It has a hood which can be drawn over the head at pleasure, and is girded by a cord. Frock coat, a body coat for men, usually doublebreasted, the skirts not being in one piece with the body, but sewed on so as t…

lso applied to the female mallard. -- Gray falcon (Zoöl.) the peregrine falcon. -- Gray Friar. See Franciscan, and Friar. -- Gray hen (Zoöl.), the female of the blackcock or black grouse. See Heath grouse. -- Gray mill or millet (Bot.), a name of several plants of the genus Lithospermum; gromwell. -- Gray mullet (…

walk lame, bearing chiefly on one leg; to walk with a hitch or hop, or with crutches. The friar was hobbling the same way too. Dryden.

To cover with a hood; to furnish with a hood or hood-shaped appendage. The friar hooded, and the monarch crowned. Pope.

A Dominican friar; -- so named because, before the French Revolution, that order had a convent in the Rue St. Jacques, Paris.

rst made known in Europe by Jesuit missionaries to South America. -- Jesuits' drops. See Friar's balsam, under Friar. -- Jesuits' nut, the European water chestnut. -- Jesuits' powder, powdered cinchona bark. -- Jesuits' tea, a Chilian leguminous shrub, used as a tea and medicinally.

The friar bird.

The sordid friar bird of Australia (Tropidorhynchus sordidus).

A friar authorized to receive confessions and grant absolution in all places, independently of the local clergy. [Obs.] Chaucer.

To beg, or to exercise functions, within a certain limited region; as, a limiting friar. [Obs.]

A certain precinct within which friars were allowed to beg, or exercise their functions; also, the time during which they were permitted to exercise their functions in such a district. Chaucer. Latimer.

A friar licensed to beg within certain bounds, or whose duty was limited to a certain district. [Formerly written also limitour.] Chaucer. A limitour of the Gray Friars, in the time of his limitation, preached many times, and had one sermon at all times. Latimer.

Practicing beggary; begging; living on alms; as, mendicant friars. Mendicant orders (R. C. Ch.), certain monastic orders which are forbidden to acquire landed property and are required to be supported by alms, esp. the Franciscans, the Dominicans, the Carmelites, and the Augustinians.