Federative adjective [ Confer French fédératif .] Uniting in a league; forming a confederacy; federal. "A federative society." Burke.

Fedity noun [ Latin foeditas , from foedus foul, filthy.] Turpitude; vileness. [ Obsolete] Bp. Hall.

Fee (fē) noun [ Middle English fe , feh , feoh , cattle, property, money, fief, Anglo-Saxon feoh cattle, property, money; the senses of "property, money," arising from cattle being used in early times as a medium of exchange or payment, property chiefly consisting of cattle; akin to Old Saxon fehu cattle, property, Dutch vee cattle, Old High German fihu , fehu , German vieh , Icelandic fē cattle, property, money, Goth. faíhu , Latin pecus cattle, pecunia property, money, Sanskrit paçu cattle, perhaps orig., "a fastened or tethered animal," from a root signifying to bind , and perhaps akin to English fang , fair , adjective ; confer Old French fie , flu , feu , fleu , fief , French fief , from German, of the same origin. the sense fief is due to the French. √249. Confer Feud , Fief , Fellow , Pecuniary .]
1. property; possession; tenure. "Laden with rich fee ." Spenser.

Once did she hold the gorgeous East in fee .

Wordsworth.

2. Reward or compensation for services rendered or to be rendered; especially, payment for professional services, of optional amount, or fixed by custom or laws; charge; pay; perquisite; as, the fees of lawyers and physicians; the fees of office; clerk's fees ; sheriff's fees ; marriage fees , etc.

To plead for love deserves more fee than hate.

Shak.

3. (Feud. Law) A right to the use of a superior's land, as a stipend for services to be performed; also, the land so held; a fief.

4. (Eng. Law) An estate of inheritance supposed to be held either mediately or immediately from the sovereign, and absolutely vested in the owner.

» All the land in England, except the crown land, is of this kind. An absolute fee , or fee simple , is land which a man holds to himself and his heirs forever, who are called tenants in fee simple . In modern writers, by fee is usually meant fee simple . A limited fee may be a qualified or base fee , which ceases with the existence of certain conditions; or a conditional fee , or fee tail , which is limited to particular heirs. Blackstone.

5. (Amer. Law) An estate of inheritance belonging to the owner, and transmissible to his heirs, absolutely and simply, without condition attached to the tenure.

Fee estate (Eng. Law) , land or tenements held in fee in consideration or some acknowledgment or service rendered to the lord. -- Fee farm (Law) , land held of another in fee, in consideration of an annual rent, without homage, fealty, or any other service than that mentioned in the feoffment; an estate in fee simple, subject to a perpetual rent. Blackstone. -- Fee farm rent (Eng. Law) , a perpetual rent reserved upon a conveyance in fee simple. -- Fee fund (Scot. Law) , certain court dues out of which the clerks and other court officers are paid. -- Fee simple (Law) , an absolute fee; a fee without conditions or limits.

Buy the fee simple of my life for an hour and a quarter.

Shak.

-- Fee tail (Law) , an estate of inheritance, limited and restrained to some particular heirs. Burill.

Fee (fē) transitive verb [ imperfect & past participle Feed (fēd); present participle & verbal noun Feeing .] To reward for services performed, or to be performed; to recompense; to hire or keep in hire; hence, to bribe.

The patient . . . fees the doctor.

Dryden.

There's not a one of them but in his house
I keep a servant feed .

Shak.

Fee-faw-fum noun A nonsensical exclamation attributed to giants and ogres; hence, any expression calculated to impose upon the timid and ignorant. "Impudent fee-faw-fums ." J. H. Newman.

Feeble (fē"b'l) adjective [ Compar. Feebler (-blẽr); superl. Feeblest (-blĕst).] [ Middle English feble , Old French feble , flebe , floibe , floible , foible , French faible , Latin flebilis to be wept over, lamentable, wretched, from flere to weep. Confer Foible .]
1. Deficient in physical strength; weak; infirm; debilitated.

Carried all the feeble of them upon asses.

2 Chron. xxviii. 15.

2. Wanting force, vigor, or efficiency in action or expression; not full, loud, bright, strong, rapid, etc.; faint; as, a feeble color; feeble motion. "A lady's feeble voice." Shak.

Feeble transitive verb To make feble; to enfeeble. [ Obsolete]

Shall that victorious hand be feebled here?

Shak.

Feeble-minded adjective Weak in intellectual power; wanting firmness or constancy; irresolute; vacillating; imbecile. "comfort the feeble-minded ." 1 Thess. v. 14.

-- Fee"ble-mind"ed*ness , noun

Feebleness noun The quality or condition of being feeble; debility; infirmity.

That shakes for age and feebleness .

Shak.

Feebly adverb In a feeble manner.

The restored church . . . contended feebly , and with half a heart.

Macaulay.

Feed (fēd) transitive verb [ imperfect & past participle Fed (fĕd); present participle & verbal noun Feeding .] [ Anglo-Saxon fēdan , from fōda food; akin to Old Saxon fōdian , OFries. fēda , fōda , Dutch voeden , Old High German fuottan , Icelandic fæða , Swedish föda , Danish föde . √75. See Food .]
1. To give food to; to supply with nourishment; to satisfy the physical huger of.

If thine enemy hunger, feed him.

Rom. xii. 20.

Unreasonable creatures feed their young.

Shak.

2. To satisfy; gratify or minister to, as any sense, talent, taste, or desire.

I will feed fat the ancient grudge I bear him.

Shak.

Feeding him with the hope of liberty.

Knolles.

3. To fill the wants of; to supply with that which is used or wasted; as, springs feed ponds; the hopper feeds the mill; to feed a furnace with coal.

4. To nourish, in a general sense; to foster, strengthen, develop, and guard.

Thou shalt feed my people Israel.

2 Sam. v. 2.

Mightiest powers by deepest calms are fed .

B. Cornwall.

5. To graze; to cause to be cropped by feeding, as herbage by cattle; as, if grain is too forward in autumn, feed it with sheep.

Once in three years feed your mowing lands.

Mortimer.

6. To give for food, especially to animals; to furnish for consumption; as, to feed out turnips to the cows; to feed water to a steam boiler.

7. (Machinery) (a) To supply (the material to be operated upon) to a machine; as, to feed paper to a printing press. (b) To produce progressive operation upon or with (as in wood and metal working machines, so that the work moves to the cutting tool, or the tool to the work).

Feed intransitive verb
1. To take food; to eat.

Her kid . . . which I afterwards killed because it would not feed .

De Foe.

2. To subject by eating; to satisfy the appetite; to feed one's self (upon something); to prey; -- with on or upon .

Leaving thy trunk for crows to feed upon.

Shak.

3. To be nourished, strengthened, or satisfied, as if by food. "He feeds upon the cooling shade." Spenser.

4. To place cattle to feed; to pasture; to graze.

If a man . . . shall put in his beast, and shall feed in another man's field.

Ex. xxii. 5.

Feed noun
1. That which is eaten; esp., food for beasts; fodder; pasture; hay; grain, ground or whole; as, the best feed for sheep.

2. A grazing or pasture ground. Shak.

3. An allowance of provender given to a horse, cow, etc.; a meal; as, a feed of corn or oats.

4. A meal, or the act of eating. [ R.]

For such pleasure till that hour
At feed or fountain never had I found.

Milton.

5. The water supplied to steam boilers.

6. (Machinery) (a) The motion, or act, of carrying forward the stuff to be operated upon, as cloth to the needle in a sewing machine; or of producing progressive operation upon any material or object in a machine, as, in a turning lathe, by moving the cutting tool along or in the work. (b) The supply of material to a machine, as water to a steam boiler, coal to a furnace, or grain to a run of stones. (c) The mechanism by which the action of feeding is produced; a feed motion.

Feed bag , a nose bag containing feed for a horse or mule. -- Feed cloth , an apron for leading cotton, wool, or other fiber, into a machine, as for carding, etc. -- Feed door , a door to a furnace, by which to supply coal. -- Feed head . (a) A cistern for feeding water by gravity to a steam boiler. (b) (Founding) An excess of metal above a mold, which serves to render the casting more compact by its pressure; -- also called a riser , deadhead , or simply feed or head Knight. -- Feed heater . (a) (Steam Engine) A vessel in which the feed water for the boiler is heated, usually by exhaust steam. (b) A boiler or kettle in which is heated food for stock. -- Feed motion , or Feed gear (Machinery) , the train of mechanism that gives motion to the part that directly produces the feed in a machine. -- Feed pipe , a pipe for supplying the boiler of a steam engine, etc., with water. -- Feed pump , a force pump for supplying water to a steam boiler, etc. -- Feed regulator , a device for graduating the operation of a feeder. Knight. -- Feed screw , in lathes, a long screw employed to impart a regular motion to a tool rest or tool, or to the work. -- Feed water , water supplied to a steam boiler, etc. -- Feed wheel (Machinery) , a kind of feeder. See Feeder , noun , 8.

Feeder noun
1. One who, or that which, gives food or supplies nourishment; steward.

A couple of friends, his chaplain and feeder .

Goldsmith.

2. One who furnishes incentives; an encourager. "The feeder of my riots." Shak.

3. One who eats or feeds; specifically, an animal to be fed or fattened.

With eager feeding, food doth choke the feeder .

Shak.

4. One who fattens cattle for slaughter.

5. A stream that flows into another body of water; a tributary; specifically (Hydraulic Engin.) , a water course which supplies a canal or reservoir by gravitation or natural flow.

6. A branch railroad, stage line, or the like; a side line which increases the business of the main line.

7. (Mining) (a) A small lateral lode falling into the main lode or mineral vein. Ure. (b) A strong discharge of gas from a fissure; a blower. Raymond.

8. (Machinery) An auxiliary part of a machine which supplies or leads along the material operated upon.

9. (Steam Engine) A device for supplying steam boilers with water as needed.

Feeding noun
1. the act of eating, or of supplying with food; the process of fattening.

2. That which is eaten; food.

3. That which furnishes or affords food, especially for animals; pasture land.

Feeding bottle . See under Bottle .

Feejee adjective & noun (Ethnol.) See Fijian .

Feel (fēl) transitive verb [ imperfect & past participle Felt (fĕlt); present participle & verbal noun Feeling .] [ Anglo-Saxon fēlan ; akin to Old Saxon gifōlian to perceive, Dutch voelen to feel, Old High German fuolen , German fühlen , Icelandic fālma to grope, and probably to Anglo-Saxon folm palm of the hand, Latin palma . Confer Fumble , Palm .]
1. To perceive by the touch; to take cognizance of by means of the nerves of sensation distributed all over the body, especially by those of the skin; to have sensation excited by contact of (a thing) with the body or limbs.

Who feel
Those rods of scorpions and those whips of steel.

Creecn.

2. To touch; to handle; to examine by touching; as, feel this piece of silk; hence, to make trial of; to test; often with out .

Come near, . . . that I may feel thee, my son.

Gen. xxvii. 21.

He hath this to feel my affection to your honor.

Shak.

3. To perceive by the mind; to have a sense of; to experience; to be affected by; to be sensible of, or sensitive to; as, to feel pleasure; to feel pain.

Teach me to feel another's woe.

Pope.

Whoso keepeth the commandment shall feel no evil thing.

Eccl. viii. 5.

He best can paint them who shall feel them most.

Pope.

Mankind have felt their strength and made it felt .

Byron.

4. To take internal cognizance of; to be conscious of; to have an inward persuasion of.

For then, and not till then, he felt himself.

Shak.

5. To perceive; to observe. [ Obsolete] Chaucer.

To feel the helm (Nautical) , to obey it.

Feel intransitive verb
1. To have perception by the touch, or by contact of anything with the nerves of sensation, especially those upon the surface of the body.

2. To have the sensibilities moved or affected.

[ She] feels with the dignity of a Roman matron

. Burke.

And mine as man, who feel for all mankind.

Pope.

3. To be conscious of an inward impression, state of mind, persuasion, physical condition, etc.; to perceive one's self to be; -- followed by an adjective describing the state, etc.; as, to feel assured, grieved, persuaded.

I then did feel full sick.

Shak.

4. To know with feeling; to be conscious; hence, to know certainly or without misgiving.

Garlands . . . which I feel
I am not worthy yet to wear.

Shak.

5. To appear to the touch; to give a perception; to produce an impression by the nerves of sensation; -- followed by an adjective describing the kind of sensation.

Blind men say black feels rough, and white feels smooth.

Dryden.

To feel after , to search for; to seek to find; to seek as a person groping in the dark. "If haply they might feel after him, and find him." Acts xvii. 27.

-- To feel of , to examine by touching.

Feel noun
1. Feeling; perception. [ R.]

To intercept and have a more kindly feel of its genial warmth.

Hazlitt.

2. A sensation communicated by touching; impression made upon one who touches or handles; as, this leather has a greasy feel .

The difference between these two tumors will be distinguished by the feel .

S. Sharp.

Feeler noun
1. One who, or that which, feels.

2. (Zoology) One of the sense organs or certain animals (as insects), which are used in testing objects by touch and in searching for food; an antenna; a palp.

Insects . . . perpetually feeling and searching before them with their feelers or antennæ.

Derham.

3. Anything, as a proposal, observation, etc., put forth or thrown out in order to ascertain the views of others; something tentative.

Feeling adjective
1. Possessing great sensibility; easily affected or moved; as, a feeling heart.

2. Expressive of great sensibility; attended by, or evincing, sensibility; as, he made a feeling representation of his wrongs.

Feeling noun
1. The sense by which the mind, through certain nerves of the body, perceives external objects, or certain states of the body itself; that one of the five senses which resides in the general nerves of sensation distributed over the body, especially in its surface; the sense of touch; nervous sensibility to external objects.

Why was the sight
To such a tender ball as the eye confined, . . .
And not, as feeling , through all parts diffused?

Milton.

2. An act or state of perception by the sense above described; an act of apprehending any object whatever; an act or state of apprehending the state of the soul itself; consciousness.

The apprehension of the good
Gives but the greater feeling to the worse.

Shak.

3. The capacity of the soul for emotional states; a high degree of susceptibility to emotions or states of the sensibility not dependent on the body; as, a man of feeling ; a man destitute of feeling .

4. Any state or condition of emotion; the exercise of the capacity for emotion; any mental state whatever; as, a right or a wrong feeling in the heart; our angry or kindly feelings ; a feeling of pride or of humility.

A fellow feeling makes one wondrous kind.

Garrick.

Tenderness for the feelings of others.

Macaulay.

5. That quality of a work of art which embodies the mental emotion of the artist, and is calculated to affect similarly the spectator. Fairholt.

Syn. -- Sensation; emotion; passion; sentiment; agitation; opinion. See Emotion , Passion , Sentiment .

Feelingly adverb In a feeling manner; pathetically; sympathetically.

Feere noun [ See Fere , noun ] A consort, husband or wife; a companion; a fere. [ Obsolete]

Feese noun [ Confer Middle English fesien to put to flight, Anglo-Saxon fēsian , fȳsian , fȳsan , from fūs , prompt, willing.] The short run before a leap. [ Obsolete] Nares.

Feet noun plural See Foot .

Feet noun [ See Feat , noun ] Fact; performance. [ Obsolete]

Feetless adjective Destitute of feet; as, feetless birds.

Feeze transitive verb [ For sense 1, confer French visser to screw, vis screw, or 1st English feaze , v.t.: for sense 2, see Feese .]
1. To turn, as a screw. [ Scot] Jamieson.

2. To beat; to chastise; to humble; to worry. [ Obsolete] [ Written also feaze , feize , pheese .] Beau. & Fl.

To feeze up , to work into a passion. [ Obsolete]

Feeze noun Fretful excitement. [ Obsolete] See Feaze .

Fehling noun (Chemistry) See Fehling's solution , under Solution .

Fehm noun , Fehm"ge*richt` noun Same as Vehm , Vehmgericht .

Fehmic adjective See Vehmic .

Feign transitive verb [ imperfect & past participle Feigned ; present participle & verbal noun Feigning .] [ Middle English feinen , French feindre (present participle feignant ), from Latin fingere ; akin to Latin figura figure,and English dough . See Dough , and confer Figure , Faint , Effigy , Fiction .]
1. To give a mental existence to, as to something not real or actual; to imagine; to invent; hence, to pretend; to form and relate as if true.

There are no such things done as thou sayest, but thou feignest them out of thine own heart.

Neh. vi. 8.

The poet
Did feign that Orpheus drew trees, stones, and floods.

Shak.

2. To represent by a false appearance of; to pretend; to counterfeit; as, to feign a sickness. Shak.

3. To dissemble; to conceal. [ Obsolete] Spenser.

Feigned adjective Not real or genuine; pretended; counterfeit; insincere; false. "A feigned friend." Shak.

Give ear unto my prayer, that goeth not out of feigned lips.

Ps. xvii. 1.

-- Feign"ed*ly adverb -- Feign"ed*ness , noun

Her treacherous sister Judah hath not turned unto me with her whole heart, but feignedly .

Jer. iii. 10.

Feigned issue (Law) , an issue produced in a pretended action between two parties for the purpose of trying before a jury a question of fact which it becomes necessary to settle in the progress of a cause. Burill. Bouvier.

Feigner noun One who feigns or pretends.

Feigning adjective That feigns; insincere; not genuine; false.

-- Feign"ing*ly , adverb

Feine transitive verb & i. To feign. [ Obsolete] Chaucer.

Feint adjective [ French feint , past participle of feindre to feign. See Feign .] Feigned; counterfeit. [ Obsolete]

Dressed up into any feint appearance of it.

Locke.

Feint noun [ French feinte , from feint . See Feint , adjective ]
1. That which is feigned; an assumed or false appearance; a pretense; a stratagem; a fetch.

Courtley's letter is but a feint to get off.

Spectator.

2. A mock blow or attack on one part when another part is intended to be struck; -- said of certain movements in fencing, boxing, war, etc.

Feint intransitive verb To make a feint, or mock attack.

Feitsui noun (Min.) The Chinese name for a highly prized variety of pale green jade. See Jade .

Feize transitive verb See Feeze , transitive verb

Felanders noun plural See Filanders .

Feldspar, Feldspath noun [ German feldspath ; feld field + spath spar.] (Min.) A name given to a group of minerals, closely related in crystalline form, and all silicates of alumina with either potash, soda, lime, or, in one case, baryta. They occur in crystals and crystalline masses, vitreous in luster, and breaking rather easily in two directions at right angles to each other, or nearly so. The colors are usually white or nearly white, flesh-red, bluish, or greenish.

» The group includes the monoclinic ( orthoclastic ) species orthoclase or common potash feldspar, and the rare hyalophane or baryta feldspar; also the triclinic species (called in general plagioclase ) microcline , like orthoclase a potash feldspar; anorthite or lime feldspar; albite or soda feldspar; also intermediate between the last two species, labradorite , andesine , oligoclase , containing both lime and soda in varying amounts. The feldspars are essential constituents of nearly all crystalline rocks, as granite, gneiss, mica, slate, most kinds of basalt and trachyte, etc. The decomposition of feldspar has yielded a large part of the clay of the soil, also the mineral kaolin, an essential material in the making of fine pottery. Common feldspar is itself largely used for the same purpose.

Feldspathic, Feldspathose adjective Pertaining to, or consisting of, feldspar.

Fele adjective [ Anglo-Saxon fela , feola ; akin to German viel , gr. .... See Full , adjective ] Many. [ Obsolete] Chaucer.

Felicify transitive verb [ Latin felix happy + -fy .] To make happy; to felicitate. [ Obsolete] Quarles.

Felicitate adjective [ Latin felicitatus , past participle of felicitare to felicitate, from felix , -icis , happy. See felicity .] Made very happy. [ Archaic]

I am alone felicitate
In your dear highness' love.

Shak.

Felicitate transitive verb [ imperfect & past participle Felicitated ; present participle & verbal noun felicitating .] [ Confer French féliciter .]
1. To make very happy; to delight.

What a glorious entertainment and pleasure would fill and felicitate his spirit.

I. Watts.

2. To express joy or pleasure to; to wish felicity to; to call or consider (one's self) happy; to congratulate.

Every true heart must felicitate itself that its lot is cast in this kingdom.

W. Howitt.

Syn. -- See Congratulate .