FLOWER n. 13 definitions
That part of a plant destined to produce seed, and hence including one or both of the sexual organs; an organ or combination of the organs of reproduction, whether inclosed by a circle of foliar parts or not. A complete flower consists of two essential parts, the stamens and the pistil, and two floral envelopes, the co…
FLY v. 30 definitions
enly or swiftly; -- usually with a qualifying word; as, a door flies open; a bomb flies apart. To fly about (Naut.), to change frequently in a short time; -- said of the wind. -- To fly around, to move about in haste. [Colloq.] -- To fly at, to spring toward; to rush on; to attack suddenly. -- To fly in the face of,…
FORCING n. 2 definitions
The art of raising plants, flowers, and fruits at an earlier season than the natural one, as in a hitbed or by the use of artificial heat. Forcing bed or pit, a plant bed having an under layer of fermenting manure, the fermentation yielding bottom heat for forcing plants; a hotbed. -- Forcing engine, a fire engine. -…
FOREGROUND n.
On a painting, and sometimes in a bas-relief, mosaic picture, or the like, that part of the scene represented, which is nearest to the spectator, and therefore occupies the lowest part of the work of art itself. Cf. Distance, n., 6.
FORMIC a.
sharp, acid taste, occurring naturally in ants, nettles, pine needles, etc., and produced artifically in many ways, as by the oxidation of methyl alcohol, by the reduction of carbonic acid or the destructive distillation of oxalic acid. It is the first member of the fatty acids in the paraffin series, and is homologous…