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A servant who attends faithfully to his duty only when watched.

To be found wanting with respect to an action or a duty to be performed, a result to be secured, etc.; to miss; not to fulfill expectation. Take heed now that ye fail not to do this. Ezra iv. 22. Either my eyesight fails, or thou look'st pale. Shak.

tc. When fair words and good counsel will not prevail on us, we must be frighted into our duty. L' Estrange.

Fidelity to one's promises, or allegiance to duty, or to a person honored and beloved; loyalty. Children in whom is no faith. Deut. xxvii. 20. Whose failing, while her faith to me remains, I should conceal. Milton.

love, gratitude, or honor, as to a husband, a prince, a friend; firm in the observance of duty; loyal; of true fidelity; as, a faithful husband or servant. So spake the seraph Abdiel, faithful found, Among the faithless, faithful only he. Milton.

Not true to allegiance, duty, or vows; perfidious; trecherous; disloyal; not of true fidelity; inconstant, as a husband or a wife. A most unnatural and faithless service. Shak.

not to adhere to; as, to fall from an agreement or engagement; to fall from allegiance or duty. -- To fall from grace (M. E. Ch.), to sin; to withdraw from the faith. -- To fall home (Ship Carp.), to curve inward; -- said of the timbers or upper parts of a ship's side which are much within a perpendicular. -- To fal…

To practice abstinence as a religious exercise or duty; to abstain from food voluntarily for a time, for the mortification of the body or appetites, or as a token of grief, or humiliation and penitence. Thou didst fast and weep for the child. 2 Sam. xii. 21. Fasting day, a fast day; a day of fasting.…

to perform fatigue duties. -- Fatigue dress, the working dress of soldiers. -- Fatigue duty (Mil.), labor exacted from soldiers aside from the use of arms. Farrow. -- Fatigue party, a party of soldiers on fatigue duty.

A moral failing; a defect or dereliction from duty; a deviation from propriety; an offense less serious than a crime.

Faithfulness; adherence to right; careful and exact observance of duty, or discharge of obligations. Especially:

ow. -- First watch (Naut.), the watch from eight to twelve at midnight; also, the men on duty during that time. -- First water, the highest quality or purest luster; -- said of gems, especially of diamond and pearls.

Conformed to a standart of duty, properiety, or taste; convenient; meet; becoming; proper. Is it fit to say a king, Thou art wicked Job xxxiv. 18.

To fail in; to shirk, as a task or duty. [Colloq. U.S.]

A duty or tribute payable to the king's foresters.

; that which is lost, or the right to which is alienated, by a crime, offense, neglect of duty, or breach of contract; hence, a fine; a mulct; a penalty; as, he who murders pays the forfeit of his life. Thy slanders I forgive; and therewithal Remit thy other forfeits. Shak.

Failure to bear in mind; careless omission; inattention; as, forgetfulness of duty.

Having the form or appearance without the substance or essence; external; as, formal duty; formal worship; formal courtesy, etc.

hiefly in Italy and Sicily, in 1294, repudiating the pope as an apostate, maintaining the duty of celibacy and poverty, and discountenancing oaths. Called also Fratricellians and Fraticelli.

her free and easy ways." W. Black. -- Free goods, goods admitted into a country free of duty. -- Free labor, the labor of freemen, as distinguished from that of slaves. -- Free port. (Com.) (a) A port where goods may be received and shipped free of custom duty. (b) A port where goods of all kinds are received from…