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escape or expected evil; hasty departure. Pray ye that your flight be not in the winter. Matt. xxiv. 20. Fain by flight to save themselves. Shak.

A trifing matter; an object of contempt. [Obs.] England were but a fling Save for the crooked stick and the gray goose wing. Old Proverb. To have one's fling, to enjoy one's self to the full; to have a season of dissipation. J. H. Newman. "When I was as young as you, I had my fling. I led a life of pleasure." D. Jerrol…

Soft clayey matter in the vein, or surrounding it. [Written also flookan, flukan, and fluccan.]

The matter thus discharged.

The matter that flows. Wiseman.

Fluid matter. [Obs.] Drayton.

ther than remain in a compact group; -- used of hair or clothing or of small particles of matter. Light objects or particles readily taking a static electric charge may be moved apart by acquisition of a charge, or by approach of a charged object. Such a property is called flyaway. Syn. -- fluttering. [WordNet 1.5]…

e, or malice, against another; an enemy. A man's foes shall be they of his own household. Matt. x. 36

a general assembly of the people to consider and order matters of the commonwealth; also, a local court. [Hist.] To which folkmote they all with one consent Agreed to travel. Spenser.

for the mill. Spenser. It was young counsel for the persons, and violent counsel for the matters. Bacon. Shall I think the worls was made for one, And men are born for kings, as beasts for men, Not for protection, but to be devoured Dryden. For he writes not for money, nor for praise. Denham.

l.), the influence which causes and controls the metabolism of the body. -- No force, no matter of urgency or consequence; no account; hence, to do no force, to make no account of; not to heed. [Obs.] Chaucer. -- Of force, of necessity; unavoidably; imperatively. "Good reasons must, of force, give place to better." S…

rous, but really weak or insipid. He [Prof. Ayton] would purge his book of much offensive matter, if he struck out epithets which are in the bad taste of the forcible-feeble school. N. Brit. Review.

A leader, or would-be leader, in matters of knowledge or taste. [Obs.] Nor that the forewits, that would draw the rest unto their liking, always like the best. B. Jonson.

"Be of good cheer; thy sins be forgiven thee." Matt. ix. 2.

ished from the material of which it is composed; particular disposition or arrangement of matter, giving it individuality or distinctive character; configuration; figure; external appearance. The form of his visage was changed. Dan. iii. 19. And woven close close, both matter, form, and style. Milton.…

Belonging to the constitution of a thing, as distinguished from the matter composing it; having the power of making a thing what it is; constituent; essential; pertaining to oe depending on the forms, so called of the human intellect. Of [the sounds represented by] letters, the material part is breath and voice; the fo…

ractice or the doctrine of strict adherence to, or dependence on, external forms, esp. in matters of religion. Official formalism. Sir H. Rawlinson.

conventional rules; ceremony; conventionality. Nor was his attendance on divine offices a matter of formality and custom, but of conscience. Atterbury.

Capable of growth and development; germinal; as, living or formative matter.

See Ferment, n. Formed material (Biol.), a term employed by Beale to denote the lifeless matter of a cell, that which is physiologically dead, in distinction from the truly germinal or living matter.