Webster's Dictionary, 1913
Felicitation noun [ Confer French félicitation .] The act of felicitating; a wishing of joy or happiness; congratulation.
Felicitous adjective Characterized by felicity; happy; prosperous; delightful; skillful; successful; happily applied or expressed; appropriate. Felicitous words and images.
M. Arnold. --
Fe*lic"i*tous*ly ,
adverb --
Fe*lic"i*tous*ness ,
noun
Felicity noun ;
plural Felicities . [ Middle English
felicite , French
félicité , from Latin
felicitas , from
felix ,
-icis , happy, fruitful; akin to
fetus .]
1. The state of being happy; blessedness; blissfulness; enjoyment of good. Our own felicity we make or find.
Johnson. Finally, after this life, to attain everlasting joy and felicity .
Book of Common Prayer. 2. That which promotes happiness; a successful or gratifying event; prosperity; blessing. the felicities of her wonderful reign.
Atterbury. 3. A pleasing faculty or accomplishment; as, felicity in painting portraits, or in writing or talking. "
Felicity of expression."
Bp. Warburton. Syn. -- Happiness; bliss; beatitude; blessedness; blissfulness. See
Happiness .
Feline adjective [ Latin
felinus , from
feles ,
felis , cat, probably orig., the fruitful: confer French
félin . See
Fetus .]
1. (Zoology) Catlike; of or pertaining to the genus Felis, or family Felidæ ; as, the feline race; feline voracity. 2. Characteristic of cats; sly; stealthy; treacherous; as, a feline nature; feline manners.
Felis noun [ Latin , cat.] (Zoology) A genus of carnivorous mammals, including the domestic cat, the lion, tiger, panther, and similar animals.
Fell adjective [ Middle English
fel , Old French
fel cruel, fierce, perfidious; confer Anglo-Saxon
fel (only in comp.) Old French
fel , as a noun also accus.
felon , is from Late Latin
felo , of unknown origin; confer Arm
fall evil, Ir.
feal , Arm.
falloni treachery, Ir. & Gael.
feall to betray; or confer Old High German
fillan to flay, torment, akin to English
fell skin. Confer
Felon .]
1. Cruel; barbarous; inhuman; fierce; savage; ravenous. While we devise fell tortures for thy faults.
Shak. 2. Eager; earnest; intent. [ Obsolete]
I am so fell to my business.
Pepys.
Fell noun [ Confer Latin
fel gall, bile, or English
fell ,
adjective ]
Gall; anger; melancholy. [ Obsolete]
Untroubled of vile fear or bitter fell .
Spenser.
Fell noun [ Anglo-Saxon
fell ; akin to Dutch
vel , Old High German
fel , German
fell , Icelandic
fell (in comp.), Goth
fill in þruts
fill leprosy, Latin
pellis skin, G. .... Confer
Film ,
Peel ,
Pell ,
noun ]
A skin or hide of a beast with the wool or hair on; a pelt; -- used chiefly in composition, as wool fell . We are still handling our ewes, and their fells , you know, are greasy.
Shak.
Fell noun [ Icelandic fell , fjally ; akin to Swedish fjäll a ridge or chain of mountains, Danish fjeld mountain, rock and probably to German fels rock, or perhaps to feld field, English field .]
1. A barren or rocky hill. T. Gray. 2. A wild field; a moor. Dryton.
Fell transitive verb [
imperfect & past participle Felled ;
present participle & verbal noun Felling .] [ Anglo-Saxon
fellan , a causative verb from
feallan to fall; akin to Dutch
vellen , German
fällen , Icelandic
fella , Swedish
fälla , Danish
fælde . See
Fall ,
intransitive verb ]
To cause to fall; to prostrate; to bring down or to the ground; to cut down. Stand, or I'll fell thee down.
Shak.
Fell noun (Mining) The finer portions of ore which go through the meshes, when the ore is sorted by sifting.
Fell transitive verb [ Confer Gael. fill to fold, plait, Swedish fåll a hem.] To sew or hem; -- said of seams.
Fell noun
1. (Sewing) A form of seam joining two pieces of cloth, the edges being folded together and the stitches taken through both thicknesses. 2. (Weaving) The end of a web, formed by the last thread of the weft.
Fellable adjective Fit to be felled.
Fellah noun ;
plural Arabic
Fellahin , English
Fellahs . [ Arabic ]
A peasant or cultivator of the soil among the Egyptians, Syrians, etc. W. M. Thomson.
Feller noun One who, or that which, fells, knocks or cuts down; a machine for felling trees.
Feller noun An appliance to a sewing machine for felling a seam.
Fellfare noun [ Confer Anglo-Saxon fealafor , and English fieldfare .] (Zoology) The fieldfare.
Fellifluous adjective [ Latin fellifuus ; fel gall + fluere to flow.] Flowing with gall. [ R.] Johnson.
Fellinic adjective [ Latin fel , fellis , gall.] Of, relating to, or derived from, bile or gall; as, fellinic acid.
Fellmonger noun A dealer in fells or sheepskins, who separates the wool from the pelts.
Fellness noun [ See
Fell cruel.]
The quality or state of being fell or cruel; fierce barbarity. Spenser.
Fellon noun Variant of Felon . [ Obsolete]
Those two were foes the fellonest on ground.
Spenser.
Fellow noun [ Middle English
felawe ,
felaghe , Icelandic
fēlagi , from
fēlag companionship, prop., a laying together of property;
fē property +
lag a laying, plural
lög law, akin to
liggja to lie. See
Fee , and
Law ,
Lie to be low.]
1. A companion; a comrade; an associate; a partner; a sharer. The fellows of his crime.
Milton. We are fellows still,
Serving alike in sorrow.
Shak. That enormous engine was flanked by two fellows almost of equal magnitude.
Gibbon. » Commonly used of men, but sometimes of women.
Judges xi. 37. 2. A man without good breeding or worth; an ignoble or mean man. Worth makes the man, and want of it, the fellow .
Pope. 3. An equal in power, rank, character, etc. It is impossible that ever Rome
Should breed thy fellow .
Shak. 4. One of a pair, or of two things used together or suited to each other; a mate; the male. When they be but heifers of one year, . . . they are let go to the fellow and breed.
Holland. This was my glove; here is the fellow of it.
Shak. 5. A person; an individual. She seemed to be a good sort of fellow .
Dickens. 6. In the English universities, a scholar who is appointed to a foundation called a fellowship , which gives a title to certain perquisites and privileges. 7. In an American college or university, a member of the corporation which manages its business interests; also, a graduate appointed to a fellowship, who receives the income of the foundation. 8. A member of a literary or scientific society; as, a Fellow of the Royal Society. »
Fellow is often used in compound words, or adjectively, signifying
associate ,
companion , or sometimes
equal . Usually, such compounds or phrases are self- explanatory; as,
fellow -citizen, or
fellow citizen;
fellow -student, or
fellow student;
fellow - workman, or
fellow workman;
fellow -mortal, or
fellow mortal;
fellow -sufferer; bed
fellow ; play
fellow ; work
fellow .
Were the great duke himself here, and would lift up
My head to fellow pomp amongst his nobles.
Ford.
Fellow transitive verb To suit with; to pair with; to match. [ Obsolete] Shak.
Fellow-commoner noun A student at Cambridge University, England, who commons , or dines, at the Fellow's table.
Fellow-creature noun One of the same race or kind; one made by the same Creator. Reason, by which we are raised above our fellow- creatures , the brutes.
I. Watts.
Fellow-feeling noun
1. Sympathy; a like feeling. 2. Joint interest. [ Obsolete] Arbuthnot.
Fellowfeel transitive verb To share through sympathy; to participate in. [ R.] D. Rodgers.
Fellowless adjective Without fellow or equal; peerless. Whose well-built walls are rare and fellowless .
Chapman.
Fellowlike adjective Like a companion; companionable; on equal terms; sympathetic. [ Obsolete] Udall.
Fellowly adjective Fellowlike. [ Obsolete] Shak.
Fellowship noun [ Fellow + -ship.]
1. The state or relation of being or associate. 2. Companionship of persons on equal and friendly terms; frequent and familiar intercourse. In a great town, friends are scattered, so that there is not that fellowship which is in less neighborhods.
Bacon. Men are made for society and mutual fellowship .
Calamy. 3. A state of being together; companionship; partnership; association; hence, confederation; joint interest. The great contention of the sea and skies
Parted our fellowship .
Shak. Fellowship in pain divides not smart
.
Milton. Fellowship in woe doth woe assuage
.
Shak. The goodliest fellowship of famous knights,
Whereof this world holds record.
Tennyson. 4. Those associated with one, as in a family, or a society; a company. The sorrow of Noah with his fellowship .
Chaucer. With that a joyous fellowship issued
Of minstrels.
Spenser. 5. (Eng. & Amer. Universities) A foundation for the maintenance, on certain conditions, of a scholar called a fellow, who usually resides at the university. 6. (Arith.) The rule for dividing profit and loss among partners; -- called also partnership, company, and distributive proportion. Good fellowship ,
companionableness; the spirit and disposition befitting comrades. There's neither honesty, manhood, nor good fellowship in thee.
Shak.
Fellowship transitive verb [
imperfect & past participle Fellowshiped ;
present participle & verbal noun .
Fellowshiping .]
(Eccl.) To acknowledge as of good standing, or in communion according to standards of faith and practice; to admit to Christian fellowship.
Felly adverb In a fell or cruel manner; fiercely; barbarously; savagely. Spenser.
Felly noun ;
plural Fellies [ Middle English
feli ,
felwe ,
felow , Anglo-Saxon
felg ,
felge ; akin to Dutch
velg , German
felge , Old High German
felga felly (also, a harrow, but probably a different word), Danish
felge .]
The exterior wooden rim, or a segment of the rim, of a wheel, supported by the spokes. [ Written also
felloe .]
Break all the spokes and fellies from her wheel.
Shak.
Felo-de-se noun ;
plural Felos-de-se . [ Late Latin
felo , English
felon +
de of, concerning +
se self.]
(Law) One who deliberately puts an end to his own existence, or loses his life while engaged in the commission of an unlawful or malicious act; a suicide. Burrill.
Felon noun [ Middle English , adj., cruel, noun , villain, ruffian, traitor, whitlow, French félon traitor, in Old French also, villain, from Late Latin felo . See Fell, adjective ]
1. (Law) A person who has committed a felony. 2. A person guilty or capable of heinous crime. 3. (Medicine) A kind of whitlow; a painful imflammation of the periosteum of a finger, usually of the last joint. Syn. -- Criminal; convict; malefactor; culprit.
Felon adjective Characteristic of a felon; malignant; fierce; malicious; cruel; traitorous; disloyal. Vain shows of love to vail his felon hate.
Pope.
Felonious adjective Having the quality of felony; malignant; malicious; villainous; traitorous; perfidious; in a legal sense, done with intent to commit a crime; as, felonious homicide. O thievish Night,
Why should'st thou, but for some felonious end,
In thy dark lantern thus close up the stars?
Milton. --
Fe*lo"ni*ous*ly ,
adverb --
Fe*lo"ni*ous*ness ,
noun
Felonous adjective [ Confer Old French
feloneus . Confer
Felonious .]
Wicked; felonious. [ Obsolete]
Spenser.
Felonry noun A body of felons; specifically, the convict population of a penal colony. Howitt.
Felonwort noun (Botany) The bittersweet nightshade ( Solanum Dulcamara ). See Bittersweet .
Felony noun ;
plural Felonies . [ Middle English
felonie cruelty, Old French
felonie , French
félonie treachery, malice. See
Felon ,
noun ]
1. (Feudal Law) An act on the part of the vassal which cost him his fee by forfeiture. Burrill. 2. (O. Eng. Law) An offense which occasions a total forfeiture either lands or goods, or both, at the common law, and to which capital or other punishment may be added, according to the degree of guilt. 3. A heinous crime; especially, a crime punishable by death or imprisonment. » Forfeiture for crime having been generally abolished in the United States, the term
felony , in American law, has lost this point of distinction; and its meaning, where not fixed by statute, is somewhat vague and undefined; generally, however, it is used to denote an offense of a high grade, punishable either capitally or by a term of imprisonment. In Massachusetts, by statute, any crime punishable by death or imprisonment in the state prison, and no other, is a
felony ; so in New York. the tendency now is to obliterate the distinction between felonies and misdemeanors; and this has been done partially in England, and completely in some of the States of the Union. The distinction is purely arbitrary, and its entire abolition is only a question of time. » There is no lawyer who would undertake to tell what a
felony is, otherwise than by enumerating the various kinds of offenses which are so called. originally, the word
felony had a meaning: it denoted all offenses the penalty of which included forfeiture of goods; but subsequent acts of Parliament have declared various offenses to be felonies, without enjoining that penalty, and have taken away the penalty from others, which continue, nevertheless, to be called
felonies , insomuch that the acts so called have now no property whatever in common, save that of being unlawful and purnishable.
J. S. Mill. To compound a felony .
See under Compound , transitive verb
Felsite noun [ Confer
Feldspar .]
(Min.) A finegrained rock, flintlike in fracture, consisting essentially of orthoclase feldspar with occasional grains of quartz.
Felsitic adjective relating to, composed of, or containing, felsite.
Felspar, Felspath noun (Min.) See Feldspar .