Search the Dictionary

Apt to forget; easily losing remembrance; as, a forgetful man should use helps to strengthen his memory.

Easily broken; brittle; frail; delicate; easily destroyed. The state of ivy is tough, and not fragile. Bacon.

Easily broken; fragile; not firm or durable; liable to fail and perish; easily destroyed; not tenacious of life; weak; infirm. That I may know how frail I am. Ps. xxxix. 4. An old bent man, worn and frail. Lowell.

Capable of being broken; brittle; fragile; easily broken.

A stone composed of sand or grit; -- so called because it is easily cut or wrought.

o rub, break, or crumble into small pieces, cf. fricare to rub, E. fray. cf. F. friable.) Easily crumbled, pulverized, or reduced to powder. "Friable ground." Evelyn. "Soft and friable texture." Paley. -- Fri'a-ble-ness, n.

rizz.] He [Dr. Johnson], who saw in his glass how his wig became his face and head, might easily infer that a similar fullbottomed, well-curled friz of words would be no less becoming to his thoughts. Hare.

Easily broken; brittle; crisp.

being melted or liquefied. Fusible metal, any alloy of different metals capable of being easily fused, especially an alloy of five parts of bismuth, three of lead, and two of tin, which melts at a temperature below that of boiling water. Ure. -- Fusible plug (Steam Boiler), a piece of easily fusible alloy, placed in…

A long bag net distended by hoops, into which fish can pass easily, without being able to return; -- called also fyke net. Cozzens.

several lesser bulbs, called cloves of garlic, inclosed in a common membranous coat, and easily separable.

urus ventralis), of the Southern United States; -- so called from its fragility, the tail easily breaking into small pieces. It grows to the length of three feet. The name is applied also to similar species found in the Old World.

Covered with a fine bloom or fine white powder easily rubbed off, as that on a blue plum, or on a cabbage leaf. Gray.

Moving easily; nimble; voluble. [Obs.] Thy lubrical and glibbery muse. B. Jonson.

smoothly; to pass along without noise, violence, or apparent effort; to pass rapidly and easily, or with a smooth, silent motion, as a river in its channel, a bird in the air, a skater over ice. The river glideth at his own sweet will. Wordsworth.

having these materials, especially the mica, arranged in planes, so that it breaks rather easily into coarse slabs or flags. Hornblende sometimes takes the place of the mica, and it is then called hornblendic or syenitic gneiss. Similar varieties of related rocks are also called gneiss.

Naturally mild in temper; not easily provoked.

Having a good temper; not easily vexed. See Good-natured.

The division of a design or draught into squares, in order the more easily to reproduce it in larger or smaller dimensions.

A raw, inexperienced person; one easily imposed upon. W. Irving.