Noah Webster’s 1828 Dictionary
FOUGADE — FRANKED
FOUGADE, n. [L. focus.]
In the art of war, a little mine, in the form of a well, 8 or 10 feet wide, and 10 or 12 deep, dug under some work, fortification or post, charged with sacks of powder and covered with stones or earth, for destroying the works by explosion.
FOUGHT, pret, and pp. of fight; pron. faut. [See Fight.]
FOUGHTEN, for fought. Obs.
FOUL, a.
1. Covered with or containing extraneous matter which is injurious, noxious or offensive; filthy; dirty; not clean; as a foul cloth; foul hands; a foul chimney.
My face is foul with weeping. Job 16:16.
2. Turbid; thick; muddy; as foul water; a foul stream.
3. Impure; polluted; as a foul mouth.
4. Impure; scurrilous; obscene or profane; as foul words; foul language.
5. Cloudy and stormy; rainy or tempestuous; as foul weather.
6. Impure; defiling; as a foul disease.
7. Wicked; detestable; abominable; as a foul deed; a foul spirit.
Babylon - the hold of every foul spirit. Revelation 18:2.
8. Unfair; not honest; not lawful or according to established rules or customs; as foul play.
9. Hateful; ugly; loathsome.
Hast thou forgot the foul witch Sycorax.
10. Disgraceful; shameful; as a foul defeat.
Who first seduced them to that foul revolt?
11. Coarse; gross.
They are all for rank and foul feeding.
12. Full of gross humors or impurities.
You perceive the body of our kingdom, how foul it is.
13. Full of weeds; as, the garden is very foul.
14. Among seamen, entangled; hindered from motion; opposed to clear; as, a rope is foul.
15. Covered with weeds or barnacles; as, the ship has a foul bottom.
16. Not fair; contrary; as a foul wind.
17. Not favorable or safe; dangerous; as a foul road or bay.
1. To fall foul, is to rush on with haste, rough force and unseasonable violence.
2. To run against; as, the ship fell foul of her consort.
FOUL, v.t. To make filthy; to defile; to daub; to dirty; to bemire; to soil; as, to foul the clothes; to foul the face or hands. Ezekiel 34:18.
FOULDER, v.i. To emit great heat. [Not used.]
FOULED, pp. Defiled; dirtied.
FOULFACED, a. Having an ugly or hateful visage.
FOULFEEDING, a. Gross; feeding grossly.
FOULING, ppr. Making foul; defiling.
FOULLY, adv.
1. Filthily; nastily; hatefully; scandalously; disgracefully; shamefully.
I foully wronged him; do, forgive me, do.
2. Unfairly; not honestly.
Thou play’dst most foully for it.
FOULMOUTHED, a. Using language scurrilous, opprobrious, obscene or profane; uttering abuse, or profane or obscene words; accustomed to use bad language.
So foulmouthed a witness never appeared in any cause.
FOULNESS, n.
1. The quality of being foul or filthy; filthiness; defilement.
2. The quality or state of containing or being covered with any thing extraneous which is noxious or offensive; as the foulness of a cellar, or of a well; the foulness of a musket; the foulness of a ship’s bottom.
3. Pollution; impurity.
There is not so chaste a nation as this, nor so free from all pollution or foulness.
4. Hatefulness; atrociousness; as the foulness of a deed.
5. Ugliness; deformity.
The foulness of the’ infernal form to hide.
6. Unfairness; dishonesty; want of candor.
Piety is opposed to hypocrisy and insincerity, and all falseness or foulness of intentions.
FOULSPOKEN, a.
1. Slanderous.
2. Using profane, scurrilous or obscene language.
FOUMART, n. The polecat.
FOUND, pret. and pp. of find.
I am found of them that sought me not. Isaiah 65:1.
FOUND, v.t. [L. fundo, fundare; Heb. to build, that is, to set, found, erect.]
1. To lay the basis of any thing; to set, or place, as on something solid for support.
It fell not, for it was founded on a rock. Matthew 7:25.
2. To begin and build; to lay the foundation, and raise a superstructure; as, to found a city.
3. To set or place; to establish, as on something solid or durable; as, to found a government on principles of liberty.
4. To begin; to form or lay the basis; as, to found a college or a library. Sometimes to endow is equivalent to found.
5. To give birth to; to originate; as, to found an art or a family.
6. To set; to place; to establish on a basis. Christianity is founded on the rock of ages. Dominion is sometimes founded on conquest; sometimes on choice or voluntary consent.
Power, founded on contract, can descend only to him who has right by that contract.
7. To fix firmly.
I had else been perfect, whole as the marble, founded as the rock.
FOUND, v.t. [L. fundo, fudi, fusum.]
To cast; to form by melting a metal and pouring it into a mold.
[This verb is seldom used, but the derivative foundry is in common use. for found we use cast.]
FOUNDATION, n. [L. fundatio, fundo.]
1. The basis of an edifice; that part of a building which lies on the ground; usually a wall of stone which supports the edifice.
2. The act of fixing the basis.
3. The basis or ground work, or any thing; that on which any thing stands, and by which it is supported. A free government has its foundation in the choice and consent of the people to be governed. Christ is the foundation of the church.
Behold, I lay in Zion for a foundation, a stone - a precious cornerstone. Isaiah 28:16.
Other foundation can no man lay than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ. 1 Corinthians 3:11.
4. Original; rise; as the foundation of the world.
5. Endowment; a donation or legacy appropriated to support an institution, and constituting a permanent fund, usually for a charitable purpose.
6. Establishment; settlement.
FOUNDATIONLESS, a. Having no foundation.
FOUNDED, pp. Set; fixed; established on a basis; begun and built.
FOUNDER, n.
1. One that founds, establishes and erects; one that lays a foundation; as the founder of a temple or city.
2. One who begins; an author; one from whom any thing originates; as the founder of a sect of philosophers; the founder of a family or race.
3. One who endows; one who furnishes a permanent fund for the support of an institution; as the founder of a college or hospital.
4. A caster; one who casts metals in various forms; as a founder of cannon, belles, hardware, printing types, etc.
FOUNDER, v.i.
1. In seamen’s language, to fill or be filled and sink, as a ship.
2. To fail; to miscarry.
3. To trip; to fell.
FOUNDER, v.t. To cause internal inflammation and great soreness in the feet of a horse, so as to disable or lame him.
FOUNDERED, pp. Made lame in the feet by inflammation and extreme tenderness.
FOUNDEROUS, a. Failing; liable to perish; ruinous. [Not in use.]
FOUNDERY, n.
1. The art of casting metals into various forms for use; the casting of statues.
2. The house and works occupied in casting metals; as a foundery of bells, of hollow ware, of cannon, of types, etc.
FOUNDLING, n. [from found, find.] A deserted or exposed infant; a child found without a parent or owner. A hospital for such children is called a foundling hospital.
FOUNDRESS, n. A female founder; a woman who founds or establishes, or who endows with a fund.
FOUNT, FOUNTAIN, n. [L. fons.]
1. A spring, or source of water; properly, a spring or issuing of water from the earth. This word accords in sense with well, in our mother tongue; but we now distinguish the, applying fountain to a natural spring of water, and well to an artificial pit of water, issuing from the interior of the earth.
2. A small basin of springing water.
3. A jet; a spouting of water; an artificial spring.
4. The head or source of a river.
5. Original; first principle or cause; the source of any thing.
Almighty God, the fountain of all goodness.
Fount of types. [See Font.]
FOUNTAIN-HEAD, n. Primary source; original; first principle.
FOUNTAINLESS, a. Having no fountain; wanting a spring.
A barren desert fountainless and dry.
FOUNTAIN-TREE, n. In the Canary isles, a tree which distills water from its leaves, in sufficient abundance for the inhabitants near it.
FOUNTFUL, a. Full of springs; as fountful Ida.
FOUR, a. [L. petoritum, petorritum, a carriage with four wheels, petor-rota.]
Twice two; denoting the sum or two and two.
FOURBE, n. A tricking fellow; a cheat. [Not English.]
FOURFOLD, a. Four double; quadruple; four times told; as a fourfold division.
He shall restore the lamb fourfold. 2 Samuel 12:6.
FOURFOLD, n. Four times as much.
FOURFOOTED, a. Quadruped; having four feet; as the horse and the ox.
FOURRIER, n. A harbinger. [Not English.]
FOURSCORE, a. [See Score.] Four times twenty; eighty. It is used elliptically for fourscore years; as a man of fourscore.
FOURSQUARE, a. Having four sides and four angles equal; quadrangular.
FOURTEEN, a. [four and ten.] Four and ten; twice seven.
FOURTEENTH, a. The ordinal of fourteen; the fourth after the tenth.
FOURTH, a. The ordinal of four; the next after the third.
FOURTH, n. In music, an interval composed of two tones and a semitone. Three full tones compose a triton, or fourth redundant.
FOURTHLY, adv. In the fourth place.
FOURWHEELED, a. Having or running on four wheels.
FOVILLA, n. [L. foveo.] A fine substance, imperceptible to the naked eye, emitted from the pollen of flowers.
FOWL, n. [L. fugio, fugo, Gr. and signifying the flying animal.]
A flying or winged animal; the generic name of certain animals that move through the air by the aid of wings. Fowls have two feet, are covered with feathers, and have wings for flight. Bird is a young fowl or chicken, and may well be applied to the smaller species of fowls. But it has usurped the place of fowl, and is used improperly as the generic term.
Fowl is used as a collective noun. We dined on fish and fowl.
Let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air. Genesis 1:26.
But this use in America is not frequent. We generally use the plural, fowls. The word is colloquially used for poultry, or rather, in a more limited sense, for barn door fowls.
FOWL, v.i. To catch or kill wild fowls for game or food; as by means of bird-lime, decoys, nets and snares, or by pursuing them with hawks, or by shooting.
FOWLER, n. A sportsman who pursues wild fowls, or takes or kills them for food.
FOWLING, ppr. Pursuing or taking wild fowls.
FOWLING, n. The art or practice of catching or shooting fowls; also, falconry.
FOWLINGPIECE, n. A light gun for shooting fowls.
FOX, n.
1. An animal of the genus Canis, with a straight tail, yellowish or straw-colored hair, and erect ears. This animal burrows in the earth, is remarkable for his cunning, and preys on lambs, geese, hens or other small animals.
2. A sly, cunning fellow.
3. In seaman’s language, a seizing made by twisting several rope-yarns together.
4. Formerly, a cant expression for a sword.
FOX, v.t. To intoxicate; to stupefy. [Not used.]
FOXCASE, n. The skin of a fox. [Not used.]
FOXCHASE, n. The pursuit of a fox with hounds.
FOXERY, n. Behavior like that of a fox. [Not in use.]
FOXEVIL, n. A kind of disease in which the fair falls off.
FOXGLOVE, n. The name of a plant, the Digitalis.
FOXHOUND, n. A hound for chasing foxes.
FOXHUNT, n. The chase or hunting of a fox.
FOXHUNTER, n. One who hunts or pursues foxes with hounds.
FOXISH, FOXLIKE, a. Resembling a fox in qualities; cunning.
FOXSHIP, n. The character or qualities of a fox; cunning.
FOXTAIL, n. A species of grass, the Alopecurus.
FOXTRAP, n. A trap, or a gin or snare to catch foxes.
FOXY, a. Pertaining to foxes; wily. [Not used.]
FOY, n. Faith. [Not used.]
FRACAS, n. An uproar; a noisy quarrel; a disturbance.
FRACT, v.t. To break. [Not used.]
FRACTION, n. [L. fractio, frango, fractus, to break. See Break.]
1. The act of breaking or state of being broken, especially by violence.
2. In arithmetic and algebra, a broken part of an integral or integer; any division of a whole number or unit, as 2/5, two fifths, 1/4, one fourth, which are called vulgar fractions. In these, the figure above the line is called the numerator, and the figure below the line the denominator. In decimal fractions, the denominator is a unit, or 1, with as many cyphers annexed, as the numerator has places. They are commonly expressed by writing the numerator only, with a point before it by which it is separated from the whole number; thus .5, which denotes five tenths, 5/10, or half the whole number; .25, that is 25/100, or a fourth part of the whole number.
FRACTIONAL, a. Belonging to a broken number; comprising a part or the parts of a unit; as fractional numbers.
FRACTIOUS, a. Apt to break out into a passion; apt to quarrel; cross; snappish; as a fractious man.
FRACTIOUSLY, adv. Passionately; snappishly.
FRACTIOUSNESS, n. A cross or snappish temper.
FRACTURE, n. [L. fractura. See Break.]
1. A breach in any body, especially a breach caused by violence; a rupture of a solid body.
2. In surgery, the rupture or disruption of a bone. A fracture is simple or compound; simple, when the bone only is divided; compound, when the bone is broken, with a laceration of the integuments.
3. In mineralogy, the manner in which a mineral breaks, and by which its texture is displayed; as a compact fracture; a fibrous fracture; foliated, striated or conchoidal fracture, etc.
FRACTURE, v.t. To break; to burst asunder; to crack; to separate continuous parts; as, to fracture a bone; to fracture the skull.
FRACTURED, pp. Broken; cracked.
FRACTURING, ppr. Breaking; bursting asunder; cracking.
FRAGILE, a. [L. fragilis, from frango, to break.]
1. Brittle; easily broken.
The stalk of ivy is tough, and not fragile.
2. Weak; liable to fail; easily destroyed; as fragile arms.
FRAGILITY, n.
1. Brittleness; easiness to be broken.
2. Weakness; liableness to fail.
3. Frailty; liableness to fault.
FRAGMENT, n. [L. fragmentum, from frango, to break.]
1. A part broken off; a piece separated from any thing by breaking.
Gather up the fragments that remain, that nothing is lost. John 6:12.
2. A part separated from the rest; an imperfect part; as fragments of ancient writings.
3. A small detached portion; as fragments of time.
FRAGMENTARY, a. Composed of fragments.
FRAGOR, n. [L. See Break.]
1. A loud and sudden sound; the report of any thing bursting; a loud harsh sound; a crash.
2. A strong or sweet scent. Obs.
FRAGRANCE, FRAGRANCY, n. [L. fragrantia, from fragro, to smell strong.]
Sweetness of smell; that quality of bodies which affects the olfactory nerves with an agreeable sensation; pleasing scent; grateful odor.
Eve separate he spies, vailed in a cloud of fragrance -
The goblet crown’d, breathed aromatic fragrances around.
FRAGRANT, a. Sweet of smell; odorous.
Fragrant the fertile earth after soft showers.
FRAGRANTLY, adv. With sweet scent.
FRAIL, a. [L. fragilis, or from a different root.]
1. Weak; infirm; liable to fail and decay; subject to casualties; easily destroyed; perishable; not firm or durable.
That I may know how frail I am. Psalm 39:4.
2. Weak in mind or resolution; liable to error deception.
Man is frail, and prone to evil.
3. Weak; easily broken or overset; as a frail bark.
FRAIL, n.
1. A basket made of rushes.
2. A rush for weaving baskets.
3. A certain quantity of raisins, about 75 pounds.
FRAILNESS, n. Weakness; infirmity; as the frailness of the body.
FRAILTY, n.
1. Weakness of resolution; infirmity; liableness to be deceived or seduced.
God knows our frailty, and pities our weakness.
2. Frailness; infirmity of body.
3. Fault proceeding from weakness; foible; sin of infirmity; in this sense it has a plural.
FRAISCHEUR, n. Freshness; coolness. [Not English.]
FRAISE, n.
1. In fortification, a defense consisting of pointed stakes driven into the retrenchments, parallel to the horizon.
2. A pancake with bacon in it. Obs.
FRAME, v.t. [L. armus, Eng. arm.]
1. To fit or prepare and unite several parts in a regular structure or entire thing; to fabricate by orderly construction and union of various parts; as, to frame a house or other building.
2. To fit one thing to another; to adjust; to make suitable.
3. To make; to compose; as, to frame a law.
For thou art framed of the firm truth of valor.
4. To regulate; to adjust; to shape; to conform; as, to frame our lives according to the rules of the gospel.
5. To form and digest by thought; as, to frame ideas in the mind.
How many excellent reasonings are framed in the mind of a man of wisdom and study in a length of years!
6. To contrive; to plan; to devise; as, to frame a project or design.
7. To invent; to fabricate, in a bad sense; as, to frame a story or lie.
FRAME, v.i. To contrive. Judges 12:6.
FRAME, n.
1. The timbers of an edifice fitted and joined in the form proposed, for the purpose of supporting the covering; as the frame of a house, barn, bridge or ship.
2. Any fabric or structure composed of parts united; as the frame of an ox or horse. So we say, the frame of the heavenly arch; the frame of the world.
3. Any kind of case or structure made for admitting, inclosing or supporting things; as the frame of a window, door, picture or looking glass.
4. Among printers, a stand to support the cases in which the types are distributed.
5. Among founders, a kind of ledge, inclosing a board, which being filled with wet sand, serves as a mold for castings.
6. A sort of loom on which linen, silk, etc. is stretched for quilting or embroidering.
7. Order; regularity; adjusted series or composition of parts. We say, a person is out of frame; the mind is not in a good frame.
Your steady soul preserves her frame.
8. Form; scheme; structure; constitution; system; as a frame of government.
9. Contrivance; projection.
John the bastard, whose spirits toil in frame of villainies.
10. Shape; form; proportion.
FRAMEWORK, n. Work done in a frame.
FRAMED, pp. Fitted and united in due form; made; composed; devised; adjusted.
FRAMER, n. One who frames; a maker; a contriver.
FRAMING, ppr. Fitting and joining in due construction; making; fabricating; composing; adjusting; inventing; contriving.
FRAMPOLD, a. Peevish; rugged. [Low and not in use.]
FRANCHISE, n. fran’chiz. [See Frank.] Properly, liberty, freedom. Hence,
1. A particular privilege or right granted by a prince or sovereign to an individual or to a number of persons; as the right to be a body corporate with perpetual succession; the right to hold a court leet or other court; to have waifs, wrecks, treasure-treve, or forfeitures. So the right to vote for governor, senators and representatives, is a franchise belonging to citizens, and not enjoyed by aliens. The right to establish a bank, is a franchise.
2. Exemption from a burden or duty to which others are subject.
3. The district or jurisdiction to which a particular privilege extends; the limits of an immunity.
4. An asylum or sanctuary, where persons are secure from arrest.
Churches and monasteries in Spain are franchises for criminals.
FRANCHISE, v.t. To make free; but enfranchise is more generally used.
FRANCHISEMENT, n. Release from burden or restriction; freedom.
FRANCIC, a. Pertaining to the Franks or French.
FRANCISCAN, a. Belonging to the order of St. Francis.
FRANCISCAN, n. One of the order of St. Francis; an order of monks founded by him in 1209. They are called also Gray Friars.
FRANGIBILITY, n. The state or quality of being frangible.
FRANGIBLE, a. [from L. frango, to break.] That may be broken; brittle; fragile; easily broken.
FRANION, n. A paramour, or a boon companion. [Not used.]
FRANK, a.
1. Open; ingenuous; candid; free in uttering real sentiments; not reserved; using no disguise. Young persons are usually frank; old persons are more reserved.
2. Open; ingenuous; as a frank disposition or heart.
3. Liberal; generous; not niggardly. [This sense is now rare.]
4. Free; without conditions or compensation; as a frank gift.
5. Licentious; unrestrained. [Not used.]
FRANK, FRANC, n.
1. An ancient coin of France. The value of the gold frank was something more than that of the gold crown. The silver franc was in value a third of the gold one. The gold coin is no longer in circulation. The present franc or frank, is a silver coin of the value nearly of nineteen cents, or ten pence sterling.
2. A letter which is exempted from postage; or the writing which renders it free.
3. A sty for swine. [Not used.]
FRANK, n.
1. A name given by the Turks, Greeks and Arabs to any of the inhabitants of the western parts of Europe, English, French, Italians, etc.
2. The people of Franconia in German.
FRANK, v.t.
1. To exempt, as a letter from the charge of postage.
2. To shut up in a sty or frank. [Not used.]
3. To feel high; to cram; to fatten. [Not used.]
FRANKALMOIGNE, n. frankalmoin’.
Free alms; in English law, a tenure by which a religious corporation holds lands to them and their successors forever, on condition of praying for the souls of the donor.
FRANKCHASE, n. A liberty of free chase, whereby persons having lands within the compass of the same, are prohibited to cut down any wood, etc. out of the view of the forester.
Free chase, is the liberty of keeping beasts of chase or royal game therein, protected even from the owner of the land himself, with a power of hunting them thereon.