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To explain; to unfold. [Obs.] Like Solon's self explatest the knotty laws. B. Jonson.

es to public inspection. Those who seek truth only, freely expose their principles to the test, and are pleased to have them examined. Locke.

person in opposition to some impropriety of conduct; remonstrance; earnest and kindly protest; dissuasion. We must use expostulation kindly. Shak.

The best of worst; most urgent; greatest; highest; immoderate; excessive; most violent; as, an extreme case; extreme folly. "The extremest remedy." Dryden. "Extreme rapidity." Sir W. Scott. Yet extreme gusts will blow out fire. Shak.

The extreme part; the utmost limit; the farthest or remotest point or part; as, the extremities of a country. They sent fleets . . . to the extremities of Ethiopia. Arbuthnot.

sight; sight, look; view; ocular knowledge; judgment; opinion. In my eye, she is the sweetest lady that I looked on. Shak.

an general, Quintus Fabius Maximus Verrucosus; cautious; dilatory; avoiding a decisive contest. Fabian policy, a policy like that of Fabius Maximus, who, by carefully avoiding decisive contests, foiled Hannibal, harassing his army by marches, countermarches, and ambuscades; a policy of delays and cautions.…

ared by another, resting solely and implicitly on his authority and veracity; reliance on testimony.

aining to Publius Falcidius, a Roman tribune. Falcidian law (Civil Law), a law by which a testator was obliged to leave at least a fourth of his estate to the heir. Burrill.

At or to the greatest distance. See Furthest.

The lightest weight that can be put on the back of a horse in racing. Youatt. (c) In wrestling, boxing, etc., a 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 dis…

handle; to examine by touching; as, feel this piece of silk; hence, to make trial of; to test; often with out. Come near, . . . that I may feel thee, my son. Gen. xxvii. 21. He hath this to feel my affection to your honor. Shak.

One of the sense organs or certain animals (as insects), which are used in testing objects by touch and in searching for food; an antenna; a palp. Insects . . . perpetually feeling and searching before them with their feelers or antennæ. Derham.

It is cultivated in gardens for the agreeable aromatic flavor of its seeds. Smell of sweetest fennel. Milton. A sprig of fennel was in fact the theological smelling bottle of the tender sex. S. G. Goodrich. Azorean, or Sweet, fennel, (Fæniculum dulce). It is a smaller and stouter plant than the common fennel, and is u…

Intestine motion; heat; tumult; agitation. Subdue and cool the ferment of desire. Rogers. the nation is in a ferment. Walpole. in a ferment in a state of agitation, applied to human groups.

A collective term for all the competitors in any outdoor contest or trial, or for all except the favorites in the betting.

ckens. "A fierce tyrant." Pope. The fierce foe hung upon our broken rear. Milton. Thou huntest me as a fierce lion. Job. x. 16.

A small fruit tree (Ficus Carica) with large leaves, known from the remotest antiquity. It was probably native from Syria westward to the Canary Islands.

A battle; an engagement; a contest in arms; a combat; a violent conflict or struggle for victory, between individuals or between armies, ships, or navies, etc. Who now defies thee thrice to single fight. Milton.

Conclusive; decisive; as, a final judgment; the battle of Waterloo brought the contest to a final issue.