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. friare to 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.

dy or consisting largely of sand; of the nature of sand; easily disintegrating into sand; friable; as, arenaceous limestone.

Any one of several varieties of friable earthy clay, usually colored more or less strongly red by oxide of iron, and used to color and adulterate various substances. It was formerly used in medicine. It is composed essentially of hydrous silicates of alumina, or more rarely of magnesia. See Clay, and Terra alba.…

A species of agalloch, or aloes wood, of a dusky or mottled color, of a light, friable texture, and less fragrant than calambac; -- used by cabinetmakers.

The act or process of disintegrating a substance, or rendering it friable by the action of heat, esp. by the expulsion of some volatile matter, as when carbonic and acid is expelled from carbonate of calcium in the burning of limestone in order to make lime.

To reduce to a powder, or to a friable state, by the action of heat; to expel volatile matter from by means of heat, as carbonic acid from limestone, and thus (usually) to produce disintegration; as to, calcine bones.

Easily crumbled; friable; brittle. [R.] Now the fowler . . . treads the crimp earth. J. Philips.

Brittle; friable; in a condition to break with a short, sharp fracture; as, crisp snow. The cakes at tea ate short and crisp. Goldsmith.

EAsily crumbled; friable; brittle. "The crumbly soil." Hawthorne.

The quality of being friable; friableness. Locke.

A sweetish exudation in the form of pale yellow friable flakes, coming from several trees and shrubs and used in medicine as a gentle laxative, as the secretion of Fraxinus Ornus, and F. rotundifolia, the manna ashes of Southern Europe.

Having the qualities of meal; resembling meal; soft, dry, and friable; easily reduced to a condition resembling meal; as, a mealy potato.

Crumbling, soft, friable earth; esp., earth containing the remains or constituents of organic matter, and suited to the growth of plants; soil.

f moorland. Moor buzzard (Zoöl.), the marsh harrier. [Prov. Eng.] -- Moor coal (Geol.), a friable variety of lignite. -- Moor cock (Zoöl.), the male of the moor fowl or red grouse of Europe. -- Moor coot. (Zoöl.) See Gallinule. -- Moor fowl. (Zoöl.) (a) The European ptarmigan, or red grouse (Lagopus Scoticus). (b) T…

Easily crumbling to pieces; friable; loose; as, a powdery spar.

A fine, white, somewhat friable clay; also, the ore contained in a mixture of clay and pebbles. [Written also pryan.]

To reduce of fine powder or dust, as by beating, grinding, or the like; as, friable substances may be pulverized by grinding or beating, but to pulverize malleable bodies other methods must be pursued.

ishing in the arts, and for cleaning metallic substances. The name is also given to other friable siliceous stones applied to like uses.

A fine-grained sedimentary rock of a thin, laminated, and often friable, structure. Bituminous shale. See under Bituminous.

To make short or friable, as pastry, with butter, lard, pot liquor, or the like. To shorten a rope (Naut.), to take in the slack of it. -- To shorten sail (Naut.), to reduce sail by taking it in.