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Purification; a sacrifice. [Obs.] Spenser.

Consisting or pertaining to such a government; as, the Federal Constitution; a Federal officer.

m or laws; charge; pay; perquisite; as, the fees of lawyers and physicians; the fees of office; clerk's fees; sheriff's fees; marriage fees, etc. To plead for love deserves more fee than hate. Shak.

An ancient officer of the court of wards. Burrill.

The officer in a religious house who had the care of the infirmary. [Obs.]

rought to pass, or by which one thing seems intended and another is done; a trick; an artifice. Every little fetch of wit and criticism. South.

ture; comprehensively, all works of imagination; specifically, novels and romances. The office of fiction as a vehicle of instruction and moral elevation has been recognized by most if not all great educators. Dict. of Education.

estate held of a superior on condition of military service; a fee; a feud. See under Benefice, n., 2.

d chiefly to accompany the drum in military music. Fife major (Mil.), a noncommissioned officer who superintends the fifers of a regiment. -- Fife rail. (Naut.) (a) A rail about the mast, at the deck, to hold belaying pins, etc. (b) A railing around the break of a poop deck.

Distinguished appearance; magnificence; conspicuous representation; splendor; show. That he may live in figure and indulgence. Law.

A former officer in the English Court of Common Pleas; -- so called because he filed the writs on which he made out process. [Obs.] Burrill.

the clerk, is to indorse upon the paper the date of its reception, and retain it in his office, subject to inspection by whomsoever it may concern. Burrill.

A commissioned or noncommissioned officer posted in the rear of a line, or on the flank of a column, of soldiers, to rectify mistakes and insure steadiness and promptness in the ranks.

To delay legislation, by dilatory motions or other artifices. [political cant or slang, U.S.] Bartlett.

as an incumbent; to occupy; to hold; as, a king fills a throne; the president fills the office of chief magistrate; the speaker of the House fills the chair.

One charged with the administration of finance; an officer who administers the public revenue; a treasurer. Burke.

Subtilty of contrivance to gain a point; artifice; stratagem. This is the artificialest piece of finesse to persuade men into slavery. Milton.

, a pipe for water, to be used in putting out fire. -- Fire master (Mil), an artillery officer who formerly supervised the composition of fireworks. -- Fire office, an office at which to effect insurance against fire. -- Fire opal, a variety of opal giving firelike reflections. -- Fire ordeal, an ancient mode of tr…

An officer who has authority to direct in the extinguishing of fires, or to order what precautions shall be taken against fires; -- called also fireward.

who held directly from him. (c) (Eng. Eccl. Law) The first year's whole profits of a benefice or spiritual living. (d) The earliest effects or results. See, Father, what first fruits on earth are sprung From thy implanted grace in man! Milton. -- First mate, an officer in a merchant vessel next in rank to the captain.…