FATALITY n.
te of being fatal, or proceeding from destiny; invincible necessity, superior to, and independent of, free and rational control. The Stoics held a fatality, and a fixed, unalterable course of events. South.
FEUD n.
A stipendiary estate in land, held of superior, by service; the right which a vassal or tenant had to the lands or other immovable thing of his lord, to use the same and take the profists thereof hereditarily, rendering to his superior such duties and services as belong to military tenure, etc., the property of the soi…
FIGHTING a.
in war; being the scene of a battle; as, a fighting field. Pope. A fighting chance, one dependent upon the issue of a struggle. [Colloq.] -- Fighting crab (Zoöl.), the fiddler crab. -- Fighting fish (Zoöl.), a remarkably pugnacious East Indian fish (Betta pugnax), reared by the Siamese for spectacular fish fights.…
FILE n.
of my narration. Sir H. Wotton. File firing, the act of firing by file, or each file independently of others. -- File leader, the soldier at the front of any file, who covers and leads those in rear of him. -- File marching, the marching of a line two deep, when faced to the right or left, so that the front and rear…
FIN n.
A finlike appendage, as to submarine boats. Apidose fin. (Zoöl.) See under Adipose, a. -- Fin ray (Anat.), one of the hornlike, cartilaginous, or bony, dermal rods which form the skeleton of the fins of fishes. -- Fin whale (Zoöl.), a finback. -- Paired fins (Zoöl.), the pectoral and ventral fins, corresponding to t…