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Watery vapor condensed in the lower part of the atmosphere and disturbing its transparency. It differs from cloud only in being near the ground, and from mist in not approaching so nearly to fine rain. See Cloud.

Any substance supposed to be capable of absorbing, retaining, and transporting contagious or infectious germs; as, woolen clothes are said to be active fomites.

To come before as an earnest of something to follow; to introduce as a harbinger; to announce. These signs forerun the death or fall of kings. Shak.

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.

One who rides before; a harbinger. [Obs.] Shak.

A harbinger. [Obs.]

To rub; to wear off, or wear into shreds, by rubbing; to fret, as cloth; as, a deer is said to fray her head.

Acting the freebooter; practicing freebootery; robbing. Your freebooting acquaintance. Sir W. Scott.

An unguent; also, the act of rubbing with the unguent.

The act of rubbing the surface of one body against that of another; attrition; in hygiene, the act of rubbing the body with the hand, with flannel, or with a brush etc., to excite the skin to healthy action.

their long wings and powerful flight. Their food consists of fish which they obtain by robbing gulls, terns, and other birds, of their prey. They are related to the pelicans. -- Frigate mackerel (Zoöl.), an oceanic fish (Auxis Rochei) of little or no value as food, often very abundant off the coast of the United State…

To soften and make of even thickness by rubbing, as with pumice stone or a blunt instrument. Frizzing machine. (a) (Fabrics) A machine for frizzing the surface of cloth. (b) (Wood Working) A bench with a revolving cutter head slightly protruding above its surface, for dressing boards.

To rub or wear by rubbing; to chafe. [Obs.] B. Jonson.

To undergo or cause a disturbing action accompanied with a sensation of heat. To keep the oil from frying in the stomach. Bacon.

pikes. F. officinalis is a common species, and was formerly used as an antiscorbutic. Climbing fumitory (Bot.), the Alleghany vine (Adlumia cirrhosa); a biennial climbing plant with elegant feathery leaves and large clusters of pretty white or pinkish flowers looking like grains of rice.

To fret and wear away by friction; to hurt or break the skin of by rubbing; to chafe; to injure the surface of by attrition; as, a saddle galls the back of a horse; to gall a mast or a cable. I am loth to gall a new-healed wound. Shak.

or a gang of saws for cutting the round log into boards at one operation. Knight. -- Slabbing gang, an arrangement of saws which cuts slabs from two sides of a log, leaving the middle part as a thick beam.

A genus of climbing plants. The yellow (false) jasmine (Gelsemium sempervirens) is a native of the Southern United States. It has showy and deliciously fragrant flowers.

Soft; not violent or rough; not strong, loud, or disturbing; easy; soothing; pacific; as, a gentle touch; a gentle gallop. "Gentle music." Sir J. Davies. O sleep! it is a gentle thing. Coleridge. The gentle craft, the art or trade of shoemaking.

ia. They are tailless and without cheek pouches, and have very long arms, adapted for climbing.