Search the Dictionary

t of fecundating or impregnating animal or vegetable germs; esp., the process by which in flowers the pollen renders the ovule fertile, or an analogous process in flowerless plants; fecundation; impregnation. Close fertilization (Bot.), the fertilization of pistils by pollen derived from the stamens of the same blossom…

To fecundate; as, to fertilize flower. A. R. Wallace.

A carved ornament consisting of flowers, and leaves, intermixed or twisted together, wound with a ribbon, and hanging or depending in a natural curve. See Illust. of Bucranium.

Containing woody fiber and ducts, as the stems of all flowering plants and ferns; -- opposed to cellular.

e genus Mesembryanthemum, some of which are prized for the brilliancy and beauty of their flowers. -- Fig tree (Bot.), any tree of the genus Ficus, but especially F. Carica which produces the fig of commerce.

Florid; figurative; involving passing discords by the freer melodic movement of one or more parts or voices in the harmony; as, figurate counterpoint or descant. Figurate counterpoint or descant (Mus.), that which is not simple, or in which the parts do not move together tone for tone, but in which freer movement of on…

Ambounding in figures of speech; flowery; florid; as, a highly figurative description.

The form of anything; shape; outline; appearance. Flowers have all exquisite figures. Bacon.

Free and florid; as, a figured descant. See Figurate, 3.

finer than bastard. -- Single-cut file, a file having only one set of parallel teeth; a float. -- Smooth file, a file having teeth so fine as to make an almost smooth surface.

A kind of silk thread less glossy than floss, and spun from coarser material. It is much used in embroidery instead of floss.

rocess of filtering; the mechanical separation of a liquid from the undissolved particles floating in it.

Not coarse; comminuted; in small particles; as, fine sand or flour.

bowl or glass, a bowl or glass to hold water for rinsing the fingers at table. -- Finger flower (Bot.), the foxglove. -- Finger grass (Bot.), a kind of grass (Panicum sanguinale) with slender radiating spikes; common crab grass. See Crab grass, under Crab. -- Finger nut, a fly nut or thumb nut. -- Finger plate, a s…

Little flowers of ornament introduced into a melody by a singer or player.

e a bond for the next coat. -- First day, Sunday; -- so called by the Friends. -- First floor. (a) The ground floor. [U.S.] (b) The floor next above the ground floor. [Eng.] -- First fruit or fruits. (a) The fruits of the season earliest gathered. (b) (Feudal Law) One year's profits of lands belonging to the king on…

or offspring; -- said of animals, especially domestic animals; as, the firstlings of his flock. Milton.

To become firm, so as to resist volatilization; to cease to flow or be fluid; to congeal; to become hard and malleable, as a metallic substance. Bacon. To fix on, to settle the opinion or resolution about; to determine regarding; as, the contracting parties have fixed on certain leading points.

To lay with flags of flat stones. The sides and floor are all flagged with . . . marble. Sandys.

One of a fanatical sect which flourished in Europe in the 13th and 14th centuries, and maintained that flagellation was of equal virtue with baptism and the sacrament; -- called also disciplinant.