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Very hot; burning; boiling. The mounted sun Shot down direct his fervid rays. Milton.

A stratagem by which a thing is indirectly brought to pass, or by which one thing seems intended and another is done; a trick; an artifice. Every little fetch of wit and criticism. South.

To discover by study or experiment direct to an object or end; as, water is found to be a compound substance.

l projecting rod, wire, or piece, which is brought into contact with an object to effect, direct, or restrain a motion.

rogen. Raymond. -- Fire surface, the surfaces of a steam boiler which are exposed to the direct heat of the fuel and the products of combustion; heating surface. -- Fire swab, a swab saturated with water, for cooling a gun in action and clearing away particles of powder, etc. Farrow. -- Fire teaser, in England, the…

An officer who has authority to direct in the extinguishing of fires, or to order what precautions shall be taken against fires; -- called also fireward.

To fix or direct with firmness. [Obs.] He on his card and compass firms his eye. Spenser.

Law) One year's profits of lands belonging to the king on the death of a tenant who held directly from him. (c) (Eng. Eccl. Law) The first year's whole profits of a benefice or spiritual living. (d) The earliest effects or results. See, Father, what first fruits on earth are sprung From thy implanted grace in man! Mil…

Obtained directly from the first or original source; hence, without the intervention of an agent. One sphere there is . . . where the apprehension of him is first-hand and direct; and that is the sphere of our own mind. J. Martineau.

To seek to obtain by artifice, or indirectly to seek to draw forth; as, to fish for compliments. Any other fishing question. Sir W. Scott.

Capable of being split, cleft, or divided in the direction of the grain, like wood, or along natural planes of cleavage, like crystals. This crystal is a pellucid, fissile stone. Sir I. Newton.

the index mark [], used to direct special attention to the passage which follows. Hand over fist (Naut.), rapidly; hand over hand.

To hold steadily; to direct unwaveringly; to fasten, as the eye on an object, the attention on a speaker. Sat fixed in thought the mighty Stagirite. Pope. One eye on death, and one full fix'd on heaven. Young.

men. -- Flank defense (Fort.), protection of a work against undue exposure to an enemy's direct fire, by means of the fire from other works, sweeping the ground in its front. -- Flank en potence (Mil.), any part of the right or left wing formed at a projecting angle with the line. -- Flank files, the first men on th…

In a flat manner; directly; flatly. Sin is flat opposite to the Almighty. Herbert.

Having alternate curvatures in opposite directions; bent in a zigzag manner.

One who walks about in a large retail store as an overseer and director. [U.S.]

To move now in one direction and now in another; to be wavering or unsteady; to be irresolute or undetermined; to vacillate.

A motion like that of waves; a moving in this and that direction; as, the fluctuations of the sea.

An inclosed passage way for establishing and directing a current of air, gases, etc.; an air passage; esp.: