Noah Webster’s 1828 Dictionary
FIERCE — FIND
FIERCE, n. fers. [L. ferus, ferox, the primary sense of which is wild, running, rushing.]
1. Vehement; violent; furious; rushing; impetuous; as a fierce wind.
2. Savage; ravenous; easily enraged; as a fierce lion.
3. Vehement in rage; eager of mischief; as a fierce tyrant; a monster fierce for blood.
4. Violent; outrageous; not to be restrained.
Cursed be their anger, for it was fierce. Genesis 49:7.
5. Passionate; angry; furious.
6. Wild; staring; ferocious; as a fierce countenance.
7. Very eager; ardent; vehement; as a man fierce for his party.
FIERCELY, adv. fers’ly.
1. Violently; furiously; with rage; as, both sides fiercely fought.
2. With a wild aspect; as, to look fiercely.
FIERCE-MINDED, a. Vehement; of a furious temper.
FIERCENESS, n. fers’ness.
1. Ferocity; savageness.
The defect of heat which gives fierceness to our natures.
2. Eagerness for blood; fury; as the fierceness of a lion or bear.
3. Quickness to attack; keenness in anger and resentment.
The Greeks are strong, and skilful to their strength,
Fierce to their skill, and to their fierceness valiant.
4. Violence; outrageous passion.
His pride and brutal fierceness I abhor.
5. Vehemence; fury; impetuosity; as the fierceness of a tempest.
FIERI FACIAS, n. [L.] In law, a judicial writ that lies for him who has recovered in debt or damages, commanding the sheriff to levy the same on the goods of him against whom the recovery was had.
FIERINESS, n. [See Fiery, Fire.]
1. The quality of being fiery; hear; acrimony; the quality of a substance that excites a sensation of heat.
2. Heat of temper; irritability; as fieriness of temper.
FIERY, a. [from fire.]
1. Consisting of fire; as the fiery gulf of Etna.
And fiery billows roll below.
2. Hot like fire; as a fiery heart.
3. Vehement; ardent; very active; impetuous; as a fiery spirit.
4. Passionate; easily provoked; irritable.
You know the fiery quality of the duke.
5. Unrestrained; fierce; as a fiery steed.
6. Heated by fire.
The sword which is made fiery.
7. Like fire; bright; glaring; as a fiery appearance.
FIFE, n. [L. pipio, to pip or peep, as a chicken. The word may have received its name from a hollow stalk, or from its sound.]
A small pipe, used as a wind instrument, chiefly in martial music with drums.
FIFE, v.t. To play on a fife.
FIFER, n. One who plays on a fife.
FIFTEEN, a. Five and ten.
FIFTEENTH, a.
1. The ordinal of fifteen; the fifth after the tenth.
2. Containing one part in fifteen.
FIFTEENTH, n. A fifteenth part.
FIFTH, a. [See Five.]
1. The ordinal of five; the next to the fourth.
2. Elliptically, a fifth part; or the word may be considered as a noun, as to give a fifth or two fifths.
FIFTH, n. In music, an interval consisting of three tones and a semitone.
FIFTHLY, adv. In the fifth place.
FIFTIETH, a.
The ordinal of fifty; as the fiftieth part of a foot. This may be used elliptically, as a fiftieth of his goods, part being understood; or in this case, the word may be treated in grammars as a noun, admitting a plural, as two fiftieths.
FIFTY, a.
Five tens; five times ten; as fifty men. It may be used as a noun in the plural.
And they sat down by fifties. Mark 6:40.
FIG, n. [L. ficus; Heb.]
1. The fruit of the fig tree, which is of a round or oblong shape, and a dark purplish color, with a pulp of a sweet taste. But the varieties are numerous; some being blue, others red, and others of a dark brown color.
2. The fig tree.
FIG, v.t.
1. To insult with ficoes or contemptuous motions of the fingers. [Little used.]
2. To put something useless into one’s head. [Not used.]
FIG-APPLE, n. A species of apple.
FIG-GNAT, n. An insect of the fly kind.
FIG-LEAF, n. The leaf of a fig tree; also, a thin covering in allusion to the first covering of Adam and Eve.
FIG-MARIGOLD, n. The Mesembryanthemum, a succulent plant, resembling houseleek; the leaves grow opposite by pairs.
FIG-PECKER, n. [L. ficedula.] A bird.
FIG-TREE, n. A tree of the genus Ficus, growing in warm climates. The receptacle is common, turbinated, carnous and connivent, inclosing the florets either in the same or in a distinct one. The male calyx is tripartite; no corol; three stamens. The female calyx is quinquepartite; no corol; one pistil; one seed.
To dwell under our vine and fig tree, is to live in peace and safety. 1 Kings 4:25.
FIG-WORT, n. A plant of the genus Scrophularia.
Figary, for vagary, is not English.
FIGHT, v.i.
1. To strive or contend for victory, in battle or in single combat; to attempt to defeat, subdue or destroy an enemy, either by blows or weapons; to contend in arms.
Come and be our captain, that we may fight with the children of Ammon. Judges 11:6.
When two persons or parties contend in person, fight is usually followed by with. But when we speak of carrying on war, in any other form, we may say, to fight against.
Saul took the kingdom over Israel, and fought against all his enemies on every side. 1 Samuel 14:47.
Hazael king of Syria went up, and fought against Gath. 2 Kings 12:17.
It is treason for a man to join an enemy to fight against his country.
To fight against, is to act in opposition; to oppose; to strive to conquer or resist.
The stars in their courses fought against Sisera. Judges 5:20.
2. To contend; to strive; to struggle to resist or check.
3. To act as a soldier.
FIGHT, v.t.
1. To carry on contention; to maintain a struggle for victory over enemies.
I have fought a good fight. 2 Timothy 4:7.
2. To contend with in battle; to war against. They fought the enemy in two pitched battles. The captain fought the frigate seven glasses. [Elliptical; with being understood.]
FIGHT, n.
1. A battle; an engagement; a contest in arms; a struggle for victory, either between individuals, or between armies, ships or navies. A duel is called a single fight or combat.
2. Something to screen the combatants in ships.
Up with your fights and your nettings prepare.
FIGHTER, n. One that fights; a combatant; a warrior.
FIGHTING, ppr.
1. Contending in battle; striving for victory or conquest.
2. a. Qualified for war; fit for battle.
A host of fighting men. 2 Chronicles 26:11.
3. Occupied in war; being the scene of war; as a fighting field.
FIGHTING, n. Contention; strife; quarrel.
Without were fightings, within were fears. 2 Corinthians 7:5.
FIGMENT, n. [L. figmentum, from fingo, to feign.]
An invention; a fiction; something feigned or imagined. These assertions are the figments of idle brains.
FIGULATE, a. [L. figulo, to fashion, from fingo, or rather figo, which appears to be the root of fingo.]
Made of potter’s clay; molded; shaped. [Little used.]
FIGURABILITY, n. The quality of being capable of a certain fixed or stable form.
FIGURABLE, a. [from figure.] Capable of being brought to a certain fixed form or shape. Thus lead is figurable, but water is not.
FIGURAL, a. Represented by figure or delineation; as figural resemblances.
Figural numbers, in geometry, such numbers as do or may represent some geometrical figure, in relation to which they are always considered, and are either lineary, superficial or solid.
FIGURATE, a. [L. figuratus.]
1. Of a certain determinate form.
Plants are all figurate and determinate, which inanimate bodies are not.
2. Resembling any thing of a determinate form; as figurate stones, stones or fossils resembling shells.
3. Figurative. [Not used.]
Figurate counterpoint, in music, that wherein there is a mixture of discords with concords.
Figurate descant, that in which discords are concerned, though not so much as concords. It may be called the ornament or rhetorical part of music, containing all the varieties of points, figures, syncopes, and diversities of measure.
FIGURATED, a. Having a determinate form.
FIGURATION, n.
1. The act of giving figure or determinate form.
2. Determination to a certain form.
3. Mixture of concords and discords in music.
FIGURATIVE, a.
1. Representing something else; representing by resemblance; typical.
This they will say, was figurative, and served by God’s appointment but for a time, to shadow out the true glory of a more divine sanctity.
2. Representing by resemblance; not literal or direct. A figurative expression, is one in which the words are used in a sense different from that in which they are ordinarily used as,
Slander, whose edge is sharper than the sword.
3. Abounding with figures of speech; as a description highly figurative.
FIGURATIVELY, adv. By a figure; in a manner to exhibit ideas by resemblance; in a sense different from that which words originally imply. Words are used figuratively, when they express something different from their usual meaning.
FIGURE, n. fig’ur. [L. figura, from figo, to fix or set. See Feign.]
1. The form of any thing as expressed by the outline or terminating extremities. Flowers have exquisite figures. A triangle is a figure of three sides. A square is a figure of four equal sides and equal angles.
2. Shape; form; person; as a lady of elegant figure.
A good figure, or person, in man or woman, gives credit at first sight to the choice of either.
3. Distinguished appearance; eminence; distinction; remarkable character. Ames made a figure in Congress; Hamilton, in the cabinet.
4. Appearance of any kind; as an ill figure; a mean figure.
5. Magnificence; splendor; as, to live in figure and indulgence.
6. A statue; an image; that which is formed in resemblance of something else; as the figure of a man in plaster.
7. Representation in painting; the lines and colors which represent an animal, particularly a person; as the principal figures of a picture; a subordinate figure.
8. In manufactures, a design or representation wrought on damask, velvet and other stuffs.
9. In logic, the order or disposition of the middle term in a syllogism with the parts of the question.
10. In arithmetic, a character denoting a number; as 2. 7. 9.
11. In astrology, the horoscope; the diagram of the aspects of the astrological houses.
12. In theology, type; representative.
Who was the figure of him that was to come. Romans 5:14.
13. In rhetoric, a mode of speaking or writing in which words are deflected from their ordinary signification, or a mode more beautiful and emphatical than the ordinary way of expressing the sense; the language of the imagination and passions; as, knowledge is the light of the mind; the soul mounts on the wings of faith; youth is the morning of life. In strictness, the change of a word is a trope, and any affection of a sentence a figure; but these terms are often confounded.
14. In grammar, any deviation from the rules of analogy or syntax.
15. In dancing, the several steps which the dancer makes in order and cadence, considered as they form certain figures on the floor.
FIGURE, v.t. fig’ur.
1. To form or mold into any determinate shape.
Accept this goblet, rough with figured gold.
2. To show by a corporeal resemblance, as in picture or statuary.
3. To cover or adorn with figures or images; to mark with figures; to form figures in by art; as, to figure velvet or muslin.
4. To diversify; to variegate with adventitious forms of matter.
5. To represent by a typical or figurative resemblance.
The matter of the sacraments figureth their end.
6. To imagine; to image in the mind.
7. To prefigure; to foreshow.
8. To form figuratively; to use in a sense not literal; as figured expressions. [Little used.]
9. To note by characters.
As though a crystal glass the figured hours are seen.
10. In music, to pass several notes for one; to form runnings or variations.
FIGURE, v.i. To make a figure; to be distinguished. The envoy figured at the court of St. Cloud.
FIGURE-CASTER, FIGURE-FLINGER, n. A pretender to astrology.
FIGURE-STONE, n. A name of the agalmatolite, or bildstein.
FIGURED, pp.
1. Represented by resemblance; adorned with figures; formed into a determinate figure.
2. In music, free and florid.
FIGURING, ppr. Forming into determinate shape; representing by types or resemblances; adorning with figures; making a distinguished appearance.
FILACEOUS, a. [L. filum, a thread.] Composed or consisting of threads.
FILACER, n.
An officer in the English Court of Common Pleas, so called from filing the writs on which he makes process. There are fourteen of them in their several divisions and counties. They make out all original processes, real, personal and mixed.
FILAMENT, n. [L. filamenta, threads, from filum.]
A thread; a fiber. In anatomy and natural history, a fine thread of which flesh, nerves, skin, plants, roots, etc., and also some minerals, are composed. So the spider’s web is composed of filaments. The threadlike part of the stamens of plants, is called the filament.
FILAMENTOUS, a. Like a thread; consisting of fine filaments.
FILANDERS, n.
A disease in hawks, consisting of filaments of coagulated blood; also, small worms wrapped in a thin skin or net, near the reins of a hawk.
FILATORY, n. [from L. filum, a thread.] A machine which forms or spins threads.
This manufactory has three filatories, each of 640 reels, which are moved by a water wheel, and besides a small filatory turned by men.
FILBERT, n. [L. avellana, with which the first syllable corresponds; fil, vel.]
The fruit of the Corylus or hazel; an egg shaped nut, containing a kernel, that has a mild, farinaceous, oily taste, which is agreeable to the palate. The oil is said to be little inferior to the oil of almonds.
FILCH, v.t. [This word, like pilfer, is probably from the root of file, or peel, to strip or rub off. But I know not from what source we have received it.]
To steal something of little value; to pilfer; to steal; to pillage; to take wrongfully from another.
Fain would they filch that little food away.
But he that filches from me my good name,
Robs me of that which not enriches him,
And makes me poor indeed.
FILCHED, pp. Stolen; taken wrongfully from another; pillaged; pilfered.
FILCHER, n. A thief; one who is guilty of petty theft.
FILCHING, ppr. Stealing; taking from another wrongfully; pilfering.
FILCHINGLY, adv. By pilfering; in a thievish manner.
FILE, n. [L. filum. The primary sense is probably to draw out or extend, or to twist.]
1. A thread, string of line; particularly, a line or wire on which papers are strung in due order for preservation, and for conveniently finding them when wanted. Documents are kept on file.
2. The whole number of papers strung on a line or wire; as a file of writs. A file is a record of court.
3. A bundle of papers tied together, with the title of each indorsed; the mode of arranging and keeping papers being changed, without a change of names.
4. A roll, list or catalogue.
5. A row of soldiers ranged one behind another, from front to rear; the number of men constituting the depth of the battalion or squadron.
FILE, v.t.
1. To string; to fasten, as papers, on a line or wire for preservation. Declarations and affidavits must be filed. An original writ may be filed after judgment.
2. To arrange or insert in a bundle, as papers, indorsing the title on each paper. This is now the more common mode of filing papers in public and private offices.
3. To present or exhibit officially, or for trial; as, to file a bill in chancery.
FILE, v.i. To march in a file or line, as soldiers, not abreast, but one after another.
FILE, n.
An instrument used in smoothing and polishing metals, formed of iron or steel, and cut in little furrows.
FILE, v.t.
1. To rub and smooth with a file; to polish.
2. To cut as with a file; to wear off or away by friction; as, to file off a tooth.
3. [from defile.] To foul or defile. [Not used.]
FILE-CUTTER, n. A maker of files.
FILED, pp. Placed on a line or wire; placed in a bundle and indorsed; smoothed or polished with a file.
FILE-LEADER, n. The soldier placed in the front of a file.
FILEMOT, n. A yellowish brown color; the color of a faded leaf.
FILER, n. One who uses a file in smoothing and polishing.
FILIAL, a. [L. filius, a son, flia, a daughter.]
1. Pertaining to a son or daughter; becoming a child in relation to his parents. Filial love is such an affection as a child naturally bears to his parents. Filial duty or obedience is such duty or obedience as the child owes to his parents.
2. Bearing the relation of a son.
Springs of like leaf erect their filial heads.
FILIATION, n. [L. filius, a son.]
1. The relation of a son or child to a father; correlative to paternity.
2. Adoption.
FILIFORM, n. [L. filum, a thread, and form.]
Having the form of a thread or filament; of equal thickness from top to bottom; as a filiform style or peduncle.
FILIGRANE, n. sometimes written filigree. [L. filum, a thread, and granum, a grain.]
A kind of enrichment on gold and silver, wrought delicately in the manner of little threads or grains, or of both intermixed.
FILIGRANED, FILIGREED, a. Ornamented with filigrane.
FILING, ppr. Placing on a string or wire, or in a bundle of papers; presenting for trial; marching in a file; smoothing with a file.
FILINGS, n. plu. Fragments or particles rubbed off by the act of filing; as filings of iron.
FILL, v.t. [Gr. allied perhaps to fold and felt; to stuff; L. pilus, pileus. We are told that the Gr. to approach, signified originally to thrust or drive, L. pello, and contracted, it is rendered to fill, and is full.]
1. Properly, to press; to crowd; to stuff. Hence, to put or pour in, till the thing will hold no more; as, to fill a basket, a bottle, a vessel.
Fill the water pots with water: and they filled them to the brim. John 2:7.
2. To store; to supply with abundance.
Be fruitful, and multiply, and fill the waters in the seas. Genesis 1:22.
3. To cause to abound; to make universally prevalent.
The earth was filled with violence. Genesis 6:11.
4. To satisfy; to content.
Whence should we have so much bread in the wilderness, as to fill so great a multitude? Matthew 15:33.
5. To glut; to surfeit.
Things that are sweet and fat are more filing.
6. To make plump; as, in a good season the grain is well filled. In the summer of 1816, the driest and coldest which the oldest man remembered, the rye was so well filled, that the grain protruded beyond the husk, and a shock yielded a peck more than in common years.
7. To press and dilate on all sides or to the extremities; as, the sails were filled.
8. To supply with liquor; to pour into; as, to fill a glass for a guest.
9. To supply with an incumbent; as, to fill an office or vacancy.
10. To hold; to possess and perform the duties of; to officiate in, as an incumbent; as, a king fills a throne; the president fills the office of chief magistrate; the speaker of the house fills the chair.
11. In seamanship, to brace the sails so that the wind will bear upon them and dilate them.
To fill out, to extend or enlarge to the desired limit.
1. To fill up, to make full.
It pours the bliss that fills up all the mind.
But in this and many other cases, the use of up weakens the force of the phrase.
2. To occupy; to fill. Seek to fill up life with useful employments.
3. To fill; to occupy the whole extent; as, to fill up a given space.
4. To engage or employ; as, to fill up time.
5. To complete; as, to fill up the measure of sin. Matthew 23:32.
6. To complete; to accomplish.
And fill up what is behind of the afflictions of Christ. Colossians 1:24.
FILL, v.i.
1. To fill a cup or glass for drinking; to give to drink.
In the cup which she hath filled, fill to her double. Revelation 18:6.
2. To grow or become full. corn fills well in a warm season. A mill pond fills during the night.
3. To glut; to satiate.
To fill up, to grow or become full. The channel of the river fills up with sand, every spring.
FILL, n. Fullness; as much as supplies want; as much as gives complete satisfaction. Eat and drink to the fill. take your fill of joy.
The land shall yield her fruit, and ye shall eat your fill, and dwell therein in safety. Leviticus 25:19.
FILLAGREE. [See Filigrane.]
FILLED, pp. Made full; supplied with abundance.
FILLER, n.
1. One who fills; one whose employment is to fill vessels.
They have six diggers to four fillers, so as to keep the fillers always at work.
2. That which fills any space.
3. One that supplies abundantly.
FILLET, n. [L. filum.]
1. A little band to tie about the hair of the head.
A belt her waist, a fillet binds her hair.
2. The fleshy part of the thigh; applied to veal; as a fillet of veal.
3. Meat rolled together and tied round.
4. In architecture, a little square member or ornament used in divers places, but generally as a corona over a greater molding; called also listel.
5. In heraldry, a kind of orle or bordure, containing only the third or fourth part of the breadth of the common bordure. it runs quite round near the edge, as a lace over a cloke.
6. Among painters and gilders, a little rule or reglet of leaf-gold, drawn over certain moldings, or on the edges of frames, pannels, etc., especially when painted white, by way of enrichment.
7. In the manege, the loins of a horse, beginning at the place where the hinder part of the saddle rests.
FILLET, v.t.
1. to bind with a fillet or little band.
2. To adorn with an astragal. Exodus 38:17.
FILLIBEG, n. A little plaid; a dress reaching only to the knees, worn in the highlands of Scotland.
FILLING, ppr. Making full; supplying abundantly; growing full.
FILLING, n.
1. A making full; supply.
2. The woof in weaving.
FILLIP, v.t. [probably from the root of L. pello, like pelt. See Filly.]
To strike with the nail of the finger, first placed against the ball of the thumb, and forced from that position with some violence.
FILLIP, n. a jerk of the finger forced suddenly from the thumb.
FILLY, n. [L. filia, Eng. foal, a shoot, issue.]
1. A female or mare colt; a young mare.
2. A young horse. [Not used.]
3. A wanton girl.
FILM, n. [L. velamen, or from L. pellis.]
A thin skin; a pellicle, as on the eye. In plants, it denotes the thin skin which separates the seeds in pods.
FILM, v.t. To cover with a thin skin or pellicle.
FILMY, a. Composed of thin membranes or pellicles.
Whose filmy cord should bind the struggling fly.
FILTER, n.
A strainer; a piece of woolen cloth, paper or other substance, through which liquors are passed for defecation. A filter may be made in the form of a hollow inverted cone, or by a twist of thread or yarn, being wetted and one end put in the liquor and the other suffered to hand out below the surface of the liquor. Porous stone is often used as a filter.
FILTER, v.t. To purify or defecate liquor, by passing it through a filter, or causing it to pass through a porous substance that retains any feculent matter.
FILTER, v.i. To percolate; to pass through a filter.
FILTER, n. [See Philter.]
FILTERED, pp. Strained; defecated by a filter.
FILTERING, ppr. Straining; defecating.
FILTH, n. [See Foul and Defile.]
1. Dirt; any foul matter; any thing that soils or defiles; waste matter; nastiness.
2. Corruption; pollution; any thing that sullies or defiles the moral character.
To purify the soul from the dross and filth of sensual delights.
FILTHILY, adv. In a filthy manner; foully; grossly.
FILTHINESS, n.
1. The state of being filthy.
2. Foulness; dirtiness; filth; nastiness.
Carry forth the filthiness out of the holy place. 2 Chronicles 29:5.
3. Corruption; pollution; defilement by sin; impurity.
Let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God. 2 Corinthians 7:1.
FILTHY, a.
1. Dirty; foul; unclean; nasty.
2. Polluted; defiled by sinful practices; morally impure.
He that is filthy, let him be filthy still. Revelation 22:11.
3. Obtained by base and dishonest means; as filthy lucre. Titus 1:7.
FILTRATE, v.t. [See Filter.]
To filter; to defecate, as liquor, by straining or percolation.
FILTRATION, n. The act or process of filtering; defecation by passing liquors through woolen cloth, brown paper, or other porous substance, as certain kinds of stone, which permit the liquor to pass, but retain the foreign matter.
FIMBLE-HEMP, n. [Female-hemp.] Light summer hemp that bears no seed.
FIMBRIATE, a. [L. fimbria, a border or fringe.]
In botany, fringed; having the edge surrounded by hairs or bristles.
FIMBRIATE, v.t. To hem; to fringe.
FIMBRIATED, a. In heraldry, ornamented, as an ordinary, with a narrow border or hem of another tincture.
FIN, n. [L. pinna or penna. The sense is probably a shoot, or it is from diminishing. See Fine.]
The fin of a fish consists of a membrane supported by rays, or little bony or cartilaginous ossicles. The fins of fish serve to keep their bodies upright, and to prevent wavering or vacillation. The fins, except the caudal, do not assist in progressive motion; the tail being the instrument of swimming.
FIN, v.t. To carve or cut up a chub.
FINABLE, a. [See Fine.]
1. That admits a fine.
2. Subject to a fine or penalty; as a finable person or offense.
FINAL, a. [L. finalis. See Fine.]
1. Pertaining to the end or conclusion; last ultimate; as the final issue or event of things; final hope; final salvation.
2. Conclusive; decisive; ultimate; as a final judgment. The battle of Waterloo was final to the power of Buonaparte; it brought the contest to a final issue.
3. Respecting the end or object to be gained; respecting the purpose or ultimate end in view. The efficient cause is that which produces the event or effect; the final cause is that for which any thing is done.
FINALLY, adv.
1. At the end or conclusion; ultimately; lastly. The cause is expensive, but we shall finally recover. The contest was long, but the Romans finally conquered.
2. Completely; beyond recovery.
The enemy was finally exterminated.
FINANCE, n. finans’. [See Fine.]
Revenue; income of a king or state.
The United States, near the close of the revolution, appointed a superintendent of finance.
[It is more generally used in the plural.]
FINANCES, n. plu.
1. Revenue; funds in the public treasury, or accruing to it; public resources of money. The finances of the king or government were in a low condition. The finances were exhausted.
2. The income or resources of individuals.
[But the word is most properly applicable to public revenue.]
FINANCIAL, a. Pertaining to public revenue; as financial concerns or operations.
FINANCIALLY, adv. In relation to finances or public revenue; in a manner to produce revenue.
We should be careful not to consider as financially effective exports, all the goods and produce which have been sent abroad.
FINANCIER, n.
1. An officer who receives and manages the public revenues; a treasurer.
2. One who is skilled in the principles or system of public revenue; one who understands the mode of raising money by imposts, excise or taxes, and the economical management and application of public money.
3. One who is entrusted with the collection and management of the revenues of a corporation.
4. One skilled in banking operations.
FINARY, n. [from fine, refine.] In iron works, the second forge at the iron mill. [See Finery.]
FINCH, n.
A bird. But finch is used chiefly in composition; as chaffinch, goldfinch. These belong to the genus Fringilla.
FIND, v.t. pret. and pp. found. [L. venio; but in sense, with invenio. The primary sense is to come to, to rush, to fall on, to meet, to set on.]
1. Literally, to come to; to meet; hence, to discover by the eye; to gain first sight or knowledge of something lost; to recover either by searching for it or by accident.
Doth she not light a candle, and sweep the house, and seek diligently till she find it? and when she hath found it - Luke 15:8, 9.
2. To meet; to discover something not before seen or known.
He saith to him, we have found the Messiah. John 1:41.
3. To obtain by seeking.
Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find. Matthew 7:7.
4. To meet with.
In woods and forests thou art found.
5. To discover or know by experience.
The torrid zone is now found habitable.
6. To reach; to attain to; to arrive at.
Strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth to life, and few there be that find it. Matthew 7:14.
7. To discover by study, experiment or trial. Air and water are found to be compound substances. Alchimists long attempted to find the philosopher’s stone, but it is not yet found.
8. To gain; to have; as, to find leisure for a visit.
9. To perceive; to observe; to learn. I found his opinions to accord with my own.
10. To catch; to detect.
When first found in a lie, talk to him of it as a strange monstrous matter.
In this sense find is usually followed by out.
11. To meet.
In ills their business and their glory find.
12. To have; to experience; to enjoy.
Behold, in the day of your fast ye find pleasure. Isaiah 58:3.
13. To select; to choose; to designate.
I have found David my servant. Psalm 89:20.
14. To discover and declare the truth of disputed facts; to come to a conclusion and decide between parties, as a jury. The jury find a verdict for the plaintiff or defendant. They find the accused to be guilty.
15. To determine and declare by verdict. The jury have found a large sum in damages for the plaintiff.
16. To establish or pronounce charges alleged to be true. The grand jury have found a bill against the accused, or they find a true bill.
17. To supply; to furnish. Who will find the money or provisions for this expedition? We will find ourselves with provisions and clothing.
18. To discover or gain knowledge of by touching or by sounding. We first sounded and found bottom at the depth of ninety five fathoms on the Sole bank.
To find one’s self, to be; to fare in regard to ease or pain, health or sickness. Pray, sir, how do you find yourself this morning.
To find in, to supply; to furnish; to provide.
He finds his nephew in money, victuals and clothes.
1. To find out. To invent; to discover something before unknown.
A man of Tyre, skilful to work in gold - and to find out every device. 2 Chronicles 2:14.
2. To unriddle; to solve; as, to find out the meaning of a parable of an enigma.
3. To discover; to obtain knowledge of what is hidden; as, to find out a secret.
4. To understand; to comprehend.
Canst thou by searching find out God? Job 11:7.
5. To detect; to discover; to bring to light; as, to find out a thief or a theft; to find out a trick.
To find fault with, to blame; to censure.