First (a.) Most eminent or exalted; most excellent; chief; highest; as, Demosthenes was the first orator of Greece.
First (adv.) Before any other person or thing in time, space, rank, etc.; -- much used in composition with adjectives and participles.
First (n.) The upper part of a duet, trio, etc., either vocal or instrumental; -- so called because it generally expresses the air, and has a preeminence in the combined effect.
Firstborn (a.) First brought forth; first in the order of nativity; eldest; hence, most excellent; most distinguished or exalted.
First-class (a.) Of the best class; of the highest rank; in the first division; of the best quality; first-rate; as, a first-class telescope.
First-hand (a.) Obtained directly from the first or original source; hence, without the intervention of an agent.
Firstling (n.) The first produce or offspring; -- said of animals, especially domestic animals; as, the firstlings of his flock.
Firstling (n.) The thing first thought or done.
Firstling (a.) Firstborn.
Firstly (adv.) In the first place; before anything else; -- sometimes improperly used for first.
First-rate (a.) Of the highest excellence; preeminent in quality, size, or estimation.
First-rate (n.) A war vessel of the highest grade or the most powerful class.
Firth (n.) An arm of the sea; a frith.
Fir tree () See Fir.
Fisc (n.) A public or state treasury.
Fiscal (a.) Pertaining to the public treasury or revenue.
Fiscal (n.) The income of a prince or a state; revenue; exhequer.
Fiscal (n.) A treasurer.
Fiscal (n.) A public officer in Scotland who prosecutes in petty criminal cases; -- called also procurator fiscal.
Fiscal (n.) The solicitor in Spain and Portugal; the attorney-general.
Fisetic (a.) Pertaining to fustet or fisetin.
Fisetin (n.) A yellow crystalline substance extracted from fustet, and regarded as its essential coloring principle; -- called also fisetic acid.
Fish (n.) A counter, used in various games.
Fishes (pl. ) of Fish
Fish (pl. ) of Fish
Fish (n.) A name loosely applied in popular usage to many animals of diverse characteristics, living in the water.
Fish (n.) An oviparous, vertebrate animal usually having fins and a covering scales or plates. It breathes by means of gills, and lives almost entirely in the water. See Pisces.
Fish (n.) The twelfth sign of the zodiac; Pisces.
Fish (n.) The flesh of fish, used as food.
Fish (n.) A purchase used to fish the anchor.
Fish (n.) A piece of timber, somewhat in the form of a fish, used to strengthen a mast or yard.
Fished (imp. & p. p.) of Fish
Fishing (p. pr. & vb. n.) of Fish
Fish (v. i.) To attempt to catch fish; to be employed in taking fish, by any means, as by angling or drawing a net.
Fish (v. i.) To seek to obtain by artifice, or indirectly to seek to draw forth; as, to fish for compliments.
Fish (v. t.) To catch; to draw out or up; as, to fish up an anchor.
Fish (v. t.) To search by raking or sweeping.
Fish (v. t.) To try with a fishing rod; to catch fish in; as, to fish a stream.
Fish (v. t.) To strengthen (a beam, mast, etc.), or unite end to end (two timbers, railroad rails, etc.) by bolting a plank, timber, or plate to the beam, mast, or timbers, lengthwise on one or both sides. See Fish joint, under Fish, n.
Fish-bellied (a.) Bellying or swelling out on the under side; as, a fish-bellied rail.
Fish-block (n.) See Fish-tackle.
Fisher (n.) One who fishes.
Fisher (n.) A carnivorous animal of the Weasel family (Mustela Canadensis); the pekan; the "black cat."
Fishermen (pl. ) of Fisherman
Fisherman (n.) One whose occupation is to catch fish.
Fisherman (n.) A ship or vessel employed in the business of taking fish, as in the cod fishery.
Fisheries (pl. ) of Fishery
Fishery (n.) The business or practice of catching fish; fishing.
Fishery (n.) A place for catching fish.
Fishery (n.) The right to take fish at a certain place, or in particular waters.
Fishful (a.) Abounding with fish.
Fishgig (n.) A spear with barbed prongs used for harpooning fish.
Fishhawk (n.) The osprey (Pandion haliaetus), found both in Europe and America; -- so called because it plunges into the water and seizes fishes in its talons. Called also fishing eagle, and bald buzzard.
Fishhook (n.) A hook for catching fish.
Fishhook (n.) A hook with a pendant, to the end of which the fish-tackle is hooked.
Fishify (v. t.) To change to fish.
Fishiness (n.) The state or quality of being fishy or fishlike.
Fishing (n.) The act, practice, or art of one who fishes.
Fishing (n.) A fishery.
Fishing (n.) Pertaining to fishing; used in fishery; engaged in fishing; as, fishing boat; fishing tackle; fishing village.
Fishlike (a.) Like fish; suggestive of fish; having some of the qualities of fish.
Fishmonger (n.) A dealer in fish.
Fishskin (n.) The skin of a fish (dog fish, shark, etc.)
Fishskin (n.) See Ichthyosis.
Fish-tackle (n.) A tackle or purchase used to raise the flukes of the anchor up to the gunwale. The block used is called the fish-block.
Fish-tail (a.) Like the of a fish; acting, or producing something, like the tail of a fish.
Fishwife (n.) A fishwoman.
Fishwomen (pl. ) of Fishwoman
Fishwoman (n.) A woman who retails fish.
Fishy (a.) Consisting of fish; fishlike; having the qualities or taste of fish; abounding in fish.
Fishy (a.) Extravagant, like some stories about catching fish; improbable; also, rank or foul.
Fisk (v. i.) To run about; to frisk; to whisk.
Fissigemmation (n.) A process of reproduction intermediate between fission and gemmation.
Fissile (a.) Capable of being split, cleft, or divided in the direction of the grain, like wood, or along natural planes of cleavage, like crystals.
Fissilingual (a.) Having the tongue forked.
Fissilinguia (n. pl.) A group of Lacertilia having the tongue forked, including the common lizards.
Fissility (n.) Quality of being fissile.
Fission (n.) A cleaving, splitting, or breaking up into parts.
Fission (n.) A method of asexual reproduction among the lowest (unicellular) organisms by means of a process of self-division, consisting of gradual division or cleavage of the into two parts, each of which then becomes a separate and independent organisms; as when a cell in an animal or plant, or its germ, undergoes a spontaneous division, and the parts again subdivide. See Segmentation, and Cell division, under Division.
Fission (n.) A process by which certain coral polyps, echinoderms, annelids, etc., spontaneously subdivide, each individual thus forming two or more new ones. See Strobilation.
Fissipalmate (a.) Semipalmate and loboped, as a grebe's foot. See Illust. under Aves.
Fissipara (n. pl.) Animals which reproduce by fission.
Fissiparism (n.) Reproduction by spontaneous fission.
Fissiparity (n.) Quality of being fissiparous; fissiparism.
Fissiparous (a.) Reproducing by spontaneous fission. See Fission.
Fissipation (n.) Reproduction by fission; fissiparism.
Fissiped (a.) Alt. of Fissipedal
Fissipedal (a.) Having the toes separated to the base. [See Aves.]
Fissiped (n.) One of the Fissipedia.
Fissipedia (n. pl.) A division of the Carnivora, including the dogs, cats, and bears, in which the feet are not webbed; -- opposed to Pinnipedia.
Fissirostral (a.) Having the bill cleft beyond the horny part, as in the case of swallows and goatsuckers.
Fissirostres (n. pl.) A group of birds having the bill deeply cleft.
Fissural (a.) Pertaining to a fissure or fissures; as, the fissural pattern of a brain.
Fissuration (n.) The act of dividing or opening; the state of being fissured.
Fissure (n.) A narrow opening, made by the parting of any substance; a cleft; as, the fissure of a rock.
Fissure (v. t.) To cleave; to divide; to crack or fracture.
Fissurella (n.) A genus of marine gastropod mollusks, having a conical or limpetlike shell, with an opening at the apex; -- called also keyhole limpet.
Fist (n.) The hand with the fingers doubled into the palm; the closed hand, especially as clinched tightly for the purpose of striking a blow.
Fist (n.) The talons of a bird of prey.
Fist (n.) the index mark [/], used to direct special attention to the passage which follows.