Search the Dictionary

The prevailing mode or style, especially of dress; custom or conventional usage in respect of dress, behavior, etiquette, etc.; particularly, the mode or style usual among persons of good breeding; as, to dress, dance, sing, ride, etc., in the fashion. The innocent diversions in fashion. Locke. As now existing, fashion…

Records or registers of important events.

ree and rational control. The Stoics held a fatality, and a fixed, unalterable course of events. South.

Appointed lot; allotted life; arranged or predetermined event; destiny; especially, the final lot; doom; ruin; death. The great, th'important day, big with the fate Of Cato and of Rome. Addison. Our wills and fates do so contrary run That our devices still are overthrown. Shak. The whizzing arrow sings, And bears thy f…

A dignitary of the church, a superior of a convent, a confessor (called also father confessor), or a priest; also, the eldest member of a profession, or of a legislative assembly, etc. Bless you, good father friar ! Shak.

Having power to foretell future events; prophetic; fatiloquent; as, the fatidical oak. [R.] Howell. -- Fa*tid"i*cal*ly, adv.

ulness. There were they in great fear, where no fear was. Ps. liii. 5. The fear of your adventure would counsel you to a more equal enterprise. Shak. For fear, in apprehension lest. "For fear you ne'er see chain nor money more." Shak.

A festival; a holiday; a solemn, or more commonly, a joyous, anniversary. The seventh day shall be a feast to the Lord. Ex. xiii. 6. Now his parents went to Jerusalem every year at the feast of the passover. Luke ii. 41.

from an object, to strengthen it, or to enter a channel in another object and thereby prevent displacement sidwise but permit motion lengthwise; a spline.

The power of bringing forth in abundance; fertility; richness of invention; as, the fecundity of God's creative power. Bentley.

To give a mental existence to, as to something not real or actual; to imagine; to invent; hence, to pretend; to form and relate as if true. There are no such things done as thou sayest, but thou feignest them out of thine own heart. Neh. vi. 8. The poet Did feign that Orpheus drew trees, stones, and floods. Shak.…

That which promotes happiness; a successful or gratifying event; prosperity; blessing. the felicities of her wonderful reign. Atterbury.

A lantern, or louver covering, placed on a roof, for ventilation or escape of smoke.

ject; especially, an inclosing structure of wood, iron, or other material, intended to prevent intrusion from without or straying from within. Leaps o'er the fence with ease into the fold. Milton.

To keep off; to prevent from entering or hitting; to ward off; to shut out; -- often with off; as, to fend off blows. With fern beneath to fend the bitter cold. Dryden. To fend off a boat or vessel (Naut.), to prevent its running against anything with too much violence.

A screen to prevent coals or sparks of an open fire from escaping to the floor.

of metal put round a cane, tool, handle, or other similar object, to strengthen it, or prevent splitting and wearing.

in abundance; fruitful; able to produce abundantly; prolific; fecund; productive; rich; inventive; as, fertile land or fields; a fertile mind or imagination. Though he in a fertile climate dwell. Shak.

ful; fruitfulness; productiveness; fecundity; richness; abundance of resources; fertile invention; quickness; readiness; as, the fertility of soil, or of imagination. "fertility of resource." E. Everett. And all her husbandry doth lie on heaps Corrupting in its own fertility. Shak. Thy very weeds are beautiful; thy was…

The state of being fervent or warm; ardor; warmth of feeling or devotion; eagerness. When you pray, let it be with attention, with fervency, and with perseverance. Wake.