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Fixed; hence, closely compressed; compact; substantial; hard; solid; -- applied to the matter of bodies; as, firm flesh; firm muscles, firm wood.

t at first hand, by way of mouth, to yourself. Dickens. -- First coat (Plastering), the solid foundation of coarse stuff, on which the rest is placed; it is thick, and crossed with lines, so as to give a bond for the next coat. -- First day, Sunday; -- so called by the Friends. -- First floor. (a) The ground floor. […

A process by which certain coral polyps, echinoderms, annelids, etc., spontaneously subdivide, each individual thus forming two or more new ones. See Strobilation.

Fixed; solidified. [Obs.] Chaucer.

The act of uniting chemically with a solid substance or in a solid form; reduction to a non-volatile condition; -- said of gaseous elements.

The quality of a body which resists evaporation or volatilization by heat; solidity; cohesion of parts; as, the fixedness of gold.

A jumping plant louse of the family Psyllidæ, of many species. That of the pear tree is Psylla pyri.

Weak; feeble; limp; slight; vain; without strength or solidity; of loose and unsubstantial structure; without reason or plausibility; as, a flimsy argument, excuse, objection. Proud of a vast extent of flimsy lines. Pope. All the flimsy furniture of a country miss's brain. Sheridan.

To move quietly or gently on the water, as a raft; to drift along; to move or glide without effort or impulse on the surface of a fluid, or through the air. They stretch their broad plumes and float upon the wind. Pope. There seems a floating whisper on the hills. Byron.

To mock or insult; to treat with contempt. Phillida flouts me. Walton. Three gaudy standarts lout the pale blue sky. Byron.

To glide along smoothly, without harshness or asperties; as, a flowing period; flowing numbers; to sound smoothly to the ear; to be uttered easily. Virgil is sweet and flowingin his hexameters. Dryden.

pon flowers, esp. any one of numerous small species of the genus Meligethes, family Nitidulidæ, some of which are injurious to crops. -- Flower bird (Zoöl.), an Australian bird of the genus Anthornis, allied to the honey eaters. -- Flower bud, an unopened flower. -- Flower clock, an assemblage of flowers which open…

That flows or for flowing (in various sense of the verb); gliding along smoothly; copious. Flowing battery (Elec.), a battery which is kept constant by the flowing of the exciting liquid through the cell or cells. Knight. -- Flowing furnace, a furnace from which molten metal, can be drawn, as through a tap hole; a fou…

rangement of the minute crystals shows the lines of flow of thew molten material before solidification; -- also called fluxion structure.

being fluid or capable of flowing; a liquid, aëriform. or gaseous state; -- opposed to solidity. It was this want of organization, this looseness and fluidity of the new movement, that made it penetrate through every class of society. J. R. Green.

olt. (a) A screw bolt whose head is countersunk, so as to be flush with a surface. (b) A sliding bolt let into the face or edge of a door, so as to be flush therewith. -- Flush deck. (Naut.) See under Deck, n., 1. -- Flush tank, a water tank which can be emptied rapidly for flushing drainpipes, etc.…

Flowing; also, wanting solidity. B. Jonson.

n effect; especially, power to persuade, or convince, or impose obligation; pertinency; validity; special signification; as, the force of an appeal, an argument, a contract, or a term. He was, in the full force of the words, a good man. Macaulay.

A pump having a solid piston, or plunger, for drawing and forcing a liquid, as water, through the valves; in distinction from a pump having a bucket, or valved piston.

The solid piston of a force pump; the instrument by which water is forced in a pump.