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ially war vessels; also, the collective naval force of a country, etc. Fleet captain, the senior aid of the admiral of a fleet, when a captain. Ham. Nav. Encyc.

In a good sense, tenderness of feeling; gentleness. There is no flesh in man's obdurate heart. Cowper.

To cast, send, to throw from the hand; to hurl; to dart; to emit with violence as if thrown from the hand; as, to fing a stone into the pond. 'T is Fate that flings the dice: and, as she flings, Of kings makes peasants, and of peasants kings. Dryden. He . . . like Jove, his lighting flung. Dryden. I know thy generous t…

etc., with proper covering, which divides a building horizontally into stories. Floor in sense 1 is, then, the upper surface of floor in sense 2.

In the popular sense, the bloom or blossom of a plant; the showy portion, usually of a different color, shape, and texture from the foliage.

Florida; -- a nickname, alluding to sense of L. floridus, from florida flowery. See Florid.

That flows or for flowing (in various sense of the verb); gliding along smoothly; copious. Flowing battery (Elec.), a battery which is kept constant by the flowing of the exciting liquid through the cell or cells. Knight. -- Flowing furnace, a furnace from which molten metal, can be drawn, as through a tap hole; a fou…

. (Opt.) See under Aplanatic. -- Conjugate focus (Opt.), the focus for rays which have a sensible divergence, as from a near object; -- so called because the positions of the object and its image are interchangeable. -- Focus tube (Phys.), a vacuum tube for Roentgen rays in which the cathode rays are focused upon the…

To go or come after; -- used in the various senses of the transitive verb: To pursue; to attend; to accompany; to be a result; to imitate.

The state of being foolish; want of good sense; levity, weakness, or derangement of mind.

h and promote by excitements; to encourage; to abet; to instigate; -- used often in a bad sense; as, to foment ill humors. Locke. But quench the choler you foment in vain. Dryden. Exciting and fomenting a religious rebellion. Southey.

Affectionate; loving; tender; -- in a good sense; as, a fond mother or wife. Addison.

Courage without sense or judgment; foolish rashness; recklessness. Dryden.

In the most general sense, indicating that in consideration of, in view of, or with reference to, which anything is done or takes place.

ast armies in search of food. -- Foraging cap, a forage cap. -- Foraging party, a party sent out after forage.

Doom or sentence decreed in advance. "A dread foredoom ringing in the ears of the guilty adult." Southey.

A messenger sent before to give notice of the approach of others; a harbinger; a sign foreshowing something; a prognostic; as, the forerunner of a fever. Whither the forerunner in for us entered, even Jesus. Heb. vi. 20. My elder brothers, my forerunners, came. Dryden.

or that internal constitution which makes an existing thing to be what it is; -- called essential or substantial form, and contradistinguished from matter; hence, active or formative nature; law of being or activity; subjectively viewed, an idea; objectively, a law.

Pertaining to, or derived from, ants; as, formic acid; in an extended sense, pertaining to, or derived from, formic acid; as, formic ether. Amido formic acid, carbamic acid. -- Formic acid, a colorless, mobile liquid, HCO.OH, of a sharp, acid taste, occurring naturally in ants, nettles, pine needles, etc., and produce…

A sensation resembling that made by the creeping of ants on the skin. Dunglison.