Search the Dictionary

Given to trifling; marked with unbecoming levity; silly; interested especially in trifling matters. His personal tastes were low and frivolous. Macaulay.

A loose outer garment; especially, a gown forming a part of European modern costume for women and children; also, a coarse hirtlike garment worn by some workmen over their ther clothes; a smock frock; as, a marketman's frock.

he forehead, countenance, or personal presence, as expressive of character or temper, and especially, of boldness of disposition, sometimes of impudence; seeming; as, a bold front; a hardened front. With smiling fronts encountering. Shak. The inhabitants showed a bold front. Macaulay.

laced below the oil tube of an Argand lamp to keep the oil limpid on cold nights; -- used especially in lighthouses. Knight. -- Frost nail, a nail with a sharp head driven into a horse's shoe to keen him from slipping. -- Frost smoke, an appearance resembling smoke, caused by congelation of vapor in the atmosphere in…

A woman; especially, a Dutch or German woman. Beau. & Fl.

The pulpy, edible seed vessels of certain plants, especially those grown on branches above ground, as apples, oranges, grapes, melons, berries, etc. See 3.

Use or possession of anything, especially such as is accompanied with pleasure or satisfaction; pleasure derived from possession or use. "Capacity of fruition." Rogers. "Godlike fruition." Milton. Where I may have fruition of her love. Shak.

A swarm or crowd, especially of little fishes; young or small things in general. The fry of children young. Spenser. To sever . . . the good fish from the other fry. Milton. We have burned two frigates, and a hundred and twenty small fry. Walpole.

A soldier especially expert and well drilled, who takes his place in front of a military company, as a guide for the others in their exercises; a file leader. He originally stood in front of the right wing. [Written also flugelman.]

To utter or send out with denunciations or censures; -- said especially of menaces or censures uttered by ecclesiastical authority. They fulminated the most hostile of all decrees. De Quincey.

ng oil, nitroglycerin. -- Fulminating powder (Chem.) any violently explosive powder, but especially one of the fulminates, as mercuric fulminate.

Leave of abserice; especially, leave given to an offcer or soldier to be absent from service for a certain time; also, the document granting leave of absence.

or liquefied. Fusible metal, any alloy of different metals capable of being easily fused, especially an alloy of five parts of bismuth, three of lead, and two of tin, which melts at a temperature below that of boiling water. Ure. -- Fusible plug (Steam Boiler), a piece of easily fusible alloy, placed in one of the she…

The possibilities of the future; -- used especially of prospective success or advancement; as, he had great future before him.

A tax, especially on salt. [France] Brande & C.

Relating to the use of galvanic heat as a caustic, especially in medicine.

An instrument or apparatus for detecting the presence of electrical currents, especially such as are of feeble intensity.

One who has the care of game, especially in a park or preserve. Blackstone.

A place of confinement, especially for minor offenses or provisional imprisonment; a jail. [Preferably, and in the United States usually, written jail.] Commission of general gaol delivery, an authority conferred upon judges and others included in it, for trying and delivering every prisoner in jail when the judges, up…

The whole dress or suit of clothes worn by any person, especially when indicating rank or office; as, the garb of a clergyman or a judge.