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Webster’s Dictionary (1828)



1,872 words match “MEAN”

FASTEN v.
o attach or unite firmly; to cause to cleave to something , or to cleave together, by any means; as, to fasten boards together with nails or cords; to fasten anything in our thoughts. The words Whig and Tory have been pressed to the service of many successions of parties, with very different ideas fastened to them. Swi…
FAT a.
ties of a fat animal; coarse; heavy; gross; dull; stupid. Making our western wits fat and mean. Emerson. Make the heart of this people fat. Is. vi. 10.
FAWN v. 2 definitions
To court favor by low cringing, frisking, etc., as a dog; to flatter meanly; -- often followed by on or upon. You showed your teeth like apes, and fawned like hounds. Shak. Thou with trembling fear, Or like a fawning parasite, obeyest. Milton. Courtiers who fawn on a master while they betray him. Macaulay.…
FEEL v.
To perceive by the touch; to take cognizance of by means of the nerves of sensation distributed all over the body, especially by those of the skin; to have sensation excited by contact of (a thing) with the body or limbs. Who feel Those rods of scorpions and those whips of steel. Creecn.
FELLOW n.
A man without good breeding or worth; an ignoble or mean man. Worth makes the man, and want of it, the fellow. Pope.
FENESTRATION n.
windows; -- used by modern writers for the decorating of an architectural composition by means of the window (and door) openings, their ornaments, and proportions.
FETCH v.
ing or get within reach by going; to reach; to arrive at; to attain; to reach by sailing. Meantine flew our ships, and straight we fetched The siren's isle. Chapman.
FINALITY n.
The relation of end or purpose to its means. Janet.
FIND v.
To gain, as the object of desire or effort; as, to find leisure; to find means.
FISH n. 2 definitions
us, vertebrate animal usually having fins and a covering scales or plates. It breathes by means of gills, and lives almost entirely in the water. See Pisces.
FISSION n.
A method of asexual reproduction among the lowest (unicellular) organisms by means of a process of self-division, consisting of gradual division or cleavage of the into two parts, each of which then becomes a separate and independent organisms; as when a cell in an animal or plant, or its germ, undergoes a spontaneous…
FIT v.
ions. Shak. That time best fits the work. Shak. To fit out, to supply with necessaries or means; to furnish; to equip; as, to fit out a privateer. -- To fit up, to firnish with things suitable; to make proper for the reception or use of any person; to prepare; as, to fit up a room for a guest.
FITCH n.
rsion of the Bible, representing different Hebrew originals. In Isaiah xxviii. 25, 27, it means the black aromatic seeds of Nigella sativa, still used as a flavoring in the East. In Ezekiel iv. 9, the Revised Version now reads spelt.
FLAG v.
To convey, as a message, by means of flag signals; as, to flag an order to troops or vessels at a distance.
FLANK n.
efense (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 the right, and the…
FLATHEAD a.
Characterized by flatness of head, especially that produced by artificial means, as a certain tribe of American Indians.
FLEXURE n.
A turn; a bend; a fold; a curve. Varying with the flexures of the valley through which it meandered. British Quart. Rev.
FLINT n.
nts, in potash. -- To skin a flint, to be capable of, or guilty of, any expedient or any meanness for making money. [Colloq.]
FLOATING a.
attacking the outworks of a fort. (c) A kind of ferryboat which is guided and impelled by means of chains which are anchored on each side of a stream, and pass over wheels on the vessel, the wheels being driven by stream power. (d) The landing platform of a ferry dock. -- Floating cartilage (Med.), a cartilage which m…
FLORIATION n.
Ornamentation by means of flower forms, whether closely imitated or conventionalized.
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