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nd sword play; hence, skill in debate and repartee. See Fencing. Enjoy your dear wit, and gay rhetoric, That hath so well been taught her dazzing fence. Milton. Of dauntless courage and consummate skill in fence. Macaulay.

Pertaining to, or becoming, a feast; festal; joyous; gay; mirthful; sportive. -- Fes"tive*ly, adv. The glad circle round them yield their souls To festive mirth and wit that knows no gall. Thomson.

of being festive; social joy or exhilaration of spirits at an entertaintment; joyfulness; gayety. The unrestrained festivity of the rustic youth. Bp. Hurd.

To fall and hang like a flap, as the brim of a hat, or other broad thing. Gay.

Showy; gay; gaudy; as, a flashy dress.

erennial herbs (Iris) with swordlike leaves and large three-petaled flowers often of very gay colors, but probably white in the plant first chosen for the royal French emblem.

sh, or to cause to glow with excitement. Nor flush with shame the passing virgin's cheek. Gay. Sudden a thought came like a full-blown rose, Flushing his brow. Keats.

A hook dressed in imitation of a fly, -- used for fishing. "The fur-wrought fly." Gay.

Foplike; characteristic of a top in dress or manners; making an ostentatious display of gay clothing; affected in manners.

o give wholly; to make over without reservation; to resign. To them that list the world's gay shows I leave, And to great ones such folly do forgive. Spenser.

ly; nastily; shamefully; unfairly; dishonorably. I foully wronged him; do forgive me, do. Gay.

A paramour; a loose woman; also, a gay, idle fellow. [Obs.] Spenser.

A frolic; a fit of wanton gayety; a gambol: a little playful skip or leap. Johnson.

One who frisks; one who leaps of dances in gayety; a wanton; an inconstant or unsettled person. Camden.

Inclined to frisk; frolicsome; gay. He is too frisky for an old man. Jeffrey.

To curl or crisp, as hair; to friz; to crinkle. Gay. To frizzle up, to crinkle or crisp excessively.

Full of levity; dancing, playing, or frisking about; full of pranks; frolicsome; gay; merry. The frolic wind that breathes the spring. Milton. The gay, the frolic, and the loud. Waller.

In a frolicsome manner; with mirth and gayety. [Obs.] Beau. & Fl.

Full of gayety and mirth; given to pranks; sportive. Old England, who takes a frolicsome brain fever once every two or three years, for the benefit of her doctors. Sir W. Scott. -- Frol"ic*some*ly, adv. -- Frol"ic*some*ness, n.

bounding in, or overgrown with, furze; characterized by furze. Gay.