Fig Fig transitive verb [ See Fico , Fig , noun ] 1. To insult with a fico, or contemptuous motion. See Fico . [ Obsolete]

When Pistol lies, do this, and fig me like
The bragging Spaniard.

Shak. 2. To put into the head of, as something useless o... contemptible. [ Obsolete] L'Estrange.

Fig Fig noun Figure; dress; array. [ Colloq.]

Were they all in full fig , the females with feathers on their heads, the males with chapeaux bras?

Prof. Wilson.

Fig-shell Fig"-shell` noun (Zoology) A marine univalve shell of the genus Pyrula , or Ficula , resembling a fig in form.

Figaro Fi`ga`ro" noun [ From the name of the barber in Beaumarchais' "Barber of Seville."] An adroit and unscrupulous intriguer.

Figary Fig"a·ry noun [ Corrupted from vagary .] A frolic; a vagary; a whim. [ Obsolete] Beau. & Fl.

Figeater Fig"eat`er noun (Zoology) (a) A large beetle ( Allorhina nitida ) which in the Southern United States destroys figs. The elytra are velvety green with pale borders. (b) A bird. See Figpecker .

Figent Fig"ent adjective Fidgety; restless. [ Obsolete]

Such a little figent thing.

Beau. & Fl.

Figgum Fig"gum noun [ Etymol. uncertain.] A juggler's trick; conjuring. [ Obsolete]

The devil is the author of wicked figgum .

B. Jonson.

Fight Fight (fīt) intransitive verb [ imperfect & past participle Fought (fat); present participle & verbal noun Fighting .] [ Middle English fihten , fehten , Anglo-Saxon feohtan ; akin to Dutch vechten , Old High German fehtan , German fechten , Swedish fäkta , Danish fegte , and perhaps to English fist ; confer Latin pugnare to fight, pugnus fist.] 1. To strive or contend for victory, with armies or in single combat; to attempt to defeat, subdue, or destroy an enemy, either by blows or weapons; to contend in arms; -- followed by with or against .

You do fight against your country's foes.

Shak.

To fight with thee no man of arms will deign.

Milton. 2. To act in opposition to anything; to struggle against; to contend; to strive; to make resistance. To fight shy , to avoid meeting fairly or at close quarters; to keep out of reach.

Fight Fight transitive verb 1. To carry on, or wage, as a conflict, or battle; to win or gain by struggle, as one's way; to sustain by fighting, as a cause.

He had to fight his way through the world.

Macaulay.

I have fought a good fight.

2 Tim. iv. 7. 2. To contend with in battle; to war against; as, they fought the enemy in two pitched battles; the sloop fought the frigate for three hours. 3. To cause to fight; to manage or maneuver in a fight; as, to fight cocks; to fight one's ship. To fight it out , to fight until a decisive and conclusive result is reached.

Fight Fight noun [ Middle English fight , feht , Anglo-Saxon feoht . See Fight , intransitive verb ] 1. A battle; an engagement; a contest in arms; a combat; a violent conflict or struggle for victory, between individuals or between armies, ships, or navies, etc.

Who now defies thee thrice to single fight .

Milton. 2. A struggle or contest of any kind. 3. Strength or disposition for fighting; pugnacity; as, he has a great deal of fight in him. [ Colloq.] 4. A screen for the combatants in ships. [ Obsolete]

Up with your fights , and your nettings prepare.

Dryden. Running fight , a fight in which the enemy is continually chased; also, one which continues without definite end or result. Syn. -- Combat; engagement; contest; struggle; encounter; fray; affray; action; conflict. See Battle .

Fighter Fight"er noun [ Anglo-Saxon feohtere .] One who fights; a combatant; a warrior. Shak.

Fighting Fight"ing adjective 1. Qualified for war; fit for battle.

An host of fighting men.

2 Chron. xxvi. 11. 2. Occupied in war; being the scene of a battle; as, a fighting field. Pope. A fighting chance , one dependent upon the issue of a struggle. [ Colloq.] -- Fighting crab (Zoology) , the fiddler crab. -- Fighting fish (Zoology) , a remarkably pugnacious East Indian fish ( Betta pugnax ), reared by the Siamese for spectacular fish fights.

Fightingly Fight"ing·ly adverb Pugnaciously.

Fightwite Fight"wite` noun [ Fight + wite .] (O.Eng. Law) A mulct or fine imposed on a person for making a fight or quarrel to the disturbance of the peace.

Figment Fig"ment noun [ Latin figmentum , from fingere to form, shape, invent, feign. See Feign .] An invention; a fiction; something feigned or imagined.

Social figments , feints, and formalism.

Mrs. Browning.

It carried rather an appearance of figment and invention . . . than of truth and reality.

Woodward.

Figpecker Fig"peck`er noun (Zoology) The European garden warbler ( Sylvia, or Currica, hortensis ); -- called also beccafico and greater pettychaps .

Figulate, Figulated Fig"u·late, Fig"u·la`ted adjective [ Latin figulatus , past participle of figulare to shape, from figulus potter, from fingere to shape.] Made of potter's clay; molded; shaped. [ R.] Johnson.

Figuline Fig"u·line noun [ French, from Latin figulina pottery, from figulus . See Figulate .] A piece of pottery ornamented with representations of natural objects.

Whose figulines and rustic wares
Scarce find him bread from day to day.

Longfellow.

Figuline Fig"u·line adjective [ Latin figulinus . See Figulate .] 1. Suitable for the making of pottery; fictile; -- said of clay. 2. Made of clay, as by the potter; -- said of vessels, ornamental figures, or the like; as, figuline ware.

Figurability Fig`ur·a·bil"i·ty noun [ Confer French figurabilité .] The quality of being figurable. Johnson.

Figurable Fig`ur·a·ble adjective [ Latin figurare to form, shape, from figura figure: confer French figurable . See Figure .] Capable of being brought to a fixed form or shape.

Lead is figurable , but water is not.

Johnson.

Figural Fig"ur·al adjective [ From Figure .] 1. Represented by figure or delineation; consisting of figures; as, figural ornaments. Sir T. Browne. 2. (Mus.) Figurate. See Figurate . Figural numbers . See Figurate numbers , under Figurate .

Figurant Fig"u·rant` noun masc. [ French, prop. present participle of figurer figure, represent, make a figure.] One who dances at the opera, not singly, but in groups or figures; an accessory character on the stage, who figures in its scenes, but has nothing to say; hence, one who figures in any scene, without taking a prominent part.

Figurante Fig"u·rante` noun fem. [ French] A female figurant; esp., a ballet girl.

Figurate Fig"ur·ate adjective [ Latin figuratus , past participle of figurare . See Figure .] 1. Of a definite form or figure.

Plants are all figurate and determinate, which inanimate bodies are not.

Bacon. 2. Figurative; metaphorical. [ Obsolete] Bale. 3. (Mus.) Florid; figurative; involving passing discords by the freer melodic movement of one or more parts or voices in the harmony; as, figurate counterpoint or descant. Figurate counterpoint or descant (Mus.) , that which is not simple, or in which the parts do not move together tone for tone, but in which freer movement of one or more parts mingles passing discords with the harmony; -- called also figural , figurative , and figured counterpoint or descant (although the term figured is more commonly applied to a bass with numerals written above or below to indicate the other notes of the harmony). -- Figurate numbers (Math.) , numbers, or series of numbers, formed from any arithmetical progression in which the first term is a unit, and the difference a whole number, by taking the first term, and the sums of the first two, first three, first four, etc., as the successive terms of a new series, from which another may be formed in the same manner, and so on, the numbers in the resulting series being such that points representing them are capable of symmetrical arrangement in different geometrical figures, as triangles, squares, pentagons, etc. In the following example, the two lower lines are composed of figurate numbers , those in the second line being triangular , and represented thus: -- . 1, 2, 3, 4, etc. . . . 1, 3, 6, 10, etc. . . . . . . . etc. 1, 4, 10, 20, etc . . . . . . . . . . . .

Figurated Fig"ur·a`ted adjective Having a determinate form.

Figurately Fig"ur·ate·ly adverb In a figurate manner.

Figuration Fig`u·ra"tion noun [ Latin figuratio .] 1. The act of giving figure or determinate form; determination to a certain form. Bacon. 2. (Mus.) Mixture of concords and discords.

Figurative Fig"ur·a·tive adjective [ Latin figurativus : confer French figuratif . See Figurative .] 1. Representing by a figure, or by resemblance; typical; representative.

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.

Hooker. 2. Used in a sense that is tropical, as a metaphor; not literal; -- applied to words and expressions. 3. Abounding in figures of speech; flowery; florid; as, a highly figurative description. 4. Relating to the representation of form or figure by drawing, carving, etc. See Figure , noun , 2.

They belonged to a nation dedicated to the figurative arts, and they wrote for a public familiar with painted form.

J. A. Symonds. Figurative counterpoint or descant . See under Figurate . -- Fig"ur*a*tive*ly , adverb -- Fig"ur*a*tive*ness , noun

Figure Fig"ure (fĭg"ur; 135) noun [ French, figure , Latin figura ; akin to fingere to form, shape, feign. See Feign .] 1. The form of anything; shape; outline; appearance.

Flowers have all exquisite figures .

Bacon. 2. The representation of any form, as by drawing, painting, modeling, carving, embroidering, etc.; especially, a representation of the human body; as, a figure in bronze; a figure cut in marble.

A coin that bears the figure of an angel.

Shak. 3. A pattern in cloth, paper, or other manufactured article; a design wrought out in a fabric; as, the muslin was of a pretty figure . 4. (Geom.) A diagram or drawing; made to represent a magnitude or the relation of two or more magnitudes; a surface or space inclosed on all sides; -- called superficial when inclosed by lines, and solid when inclosed by surfaces; any arrangement made up of points, lines, angles, surfaces, etc. 5. The appearance or impression made by the conduct or career of a person; as, a sorry figure .

I made some figure there.

Dryden.

Gentlemen of the best figure in the county.

Blackstone. 6. Distinguished appearance; magnificence; conspicuous representation; splendor; show.

That he may live in figure and indulgence.

Law. 7. A character or symbol representing a number; a numeral; a digit; as, 1, 2,3, etc. 8. Value, as expressed in numbers; price; as, the goods are estimated or sold at a low figure . [ Colloq.]

With nineteen thousand a year at the very lowest figure .

Thackeray. 9. A person, thing, or action, conceived of as analogous to another person, thing, or action, of which it thus becomes a type or representative.

Who is the figure of Him that was to come.

Rom. v. 14. 10. (Rhet.) A mode of expressing abstract or immaterial ideas by words which suggest pictures or images from the physical world; pictorial language; a trope; hence, any deviation from the plainest form of statement.

To represent the imagination under the figure of a wing.

Macaulay. 11. (Logic) The form of a syllogism with respect to the relative position of the middle term. 12. (Dancing) Any one of the several regular steps or movements made by a dancer. 13. (Astrol.) A horoscope; the diagram of the aspects of the astrological houses. Johnson. 14. (Music) (a) Any short succession of notes, either as melody or as a group of chords, which produce a single complete and distinct impression. Grove. (b) A form of melody or accompaniment kept up through a strain or passage; a musical phrase or motive; a florid embellishment. » Figures are often written upon the staff in music to denote the kind of measure. They are usually in the form of a fraction, the upper figure showing how many notes of the kind indicated by the lower are contained in one measure or bar. Thus, 2/4 signifies that the measure contains two quarter notes. The following are the principal figures used for this purpose: -- 2/2 2/4 2/8 4/2 2/4 4/8 3/2 3/4 3/8 6/4 6/4 6/8 Academy figure , Canceled figures , Lay figure , etc. See under Academy , Cancel , Lay , etc. -- Figure caster , or Figure flinger , an astrologer. "This figure caster ." Milton. - - Figure flinging , the practice of astrology. -- Figure-of-eight knot , a knot shaped like the figure 8. See Illust. under Knot . -- Figure painting , a picture of the human figure, or the act or art of depicting the human figure. -- Figure stone (Min.) , agalmatolite. -- Figure weaving , the art or process of weaving figured fabrics. -- To cut a figure , to make a display. [ Colloq.] Sir W. Scott.

Figure Fig"ure transitive verb [ imperfect & past participle Figured ; present participle & verbal noun Figuring .] [ French figurer , Latin figurare , from figura . See Figure , noun ] 1. To represent by a figure, as to form or mold; to make an image of, either palpable or ideal; also, to fashion into a determinate form; to shape.

If love, alas! be pain I bear,

No thought can figure , and no tongue declare.Prior.

2. To embellish with design; to adorn with figures.

The vaulty top of heaven
Figured quite o'er with burning meteors.

Shak. 3. To indicate by numerals; also, to compute.

As through a crystal glass the figured hours are seen.

Dryden. 4. To represent by a metaphor; to signify or symbolize.

Whose white vestments figure innocence.

Shak. 5. To prefigure; to foreshow.

In this the heaven figures some event.

Shak. 6. (Mus.) (a) To write over or under the bass, as figures or other characters, in order to indicate the accompanying chords. (b) To embellish. To figure out , to solve; to compute or find the result of. -- To figure up , to add; to reckon; to compute the amount of.

Figure Fig"ure intransitive verb 1. To make a figure; to be distinguished or conspicious; as, the envoy figured at court.

Sociable, hospitable, eloquent, admired, figuring away brilliantly.

M. Arnold. 2. To calculate; to contrive; to scheme; as, he is figuring to secure the nomination. [ Colloq.]

Figured Fig"ured adjective 1. Adorned with figures; marked with figures; as, figured muslin. 2. Not literal; figurative. [ Obsolete] Locke. 3. (Mus.) (a) Free and florid; as, a figured descant. See Figurate , 3. (b) Indicated or noted by figures. Figured bass . See Continued bass , under Continued .

Figurehead Fig"ure·head` noun 1. (Nautical) The figure, statue, or bust, on the prow of a ship. 2. A person who allows his name to be used to give standing to enterprises in which he has no responsible interest or duties; a nominal, but not real, head or chief.

Figurial Fi·gu"ri·al adjective Represented by figure or delineation. [ R.] Craig.

Figurine Fi`gu`rine" noun [ French, dim . of figure .] A very small figure, whether human or of an animal; especially, one in terra cotta or the like; -- distinguished from statuette , which is applied to small figures in bronze, marble, etc.

Figurist Fig"ur·ist noun One who uses or interprets figurative expressions. Waterland.

Figwort Fig"wort` noun (Botany) A genus of herbaceous plants ( Scrophularia ), mostly found in the north temperate zones. See Brownwort .

Fijian Fi"ji·an adjective Of or pertaining to the Fiji islands or their inhabitants. -- noun A native of the Fiji islands. [ Written also Feejeean , Feejee .]

Fike Fike noun See Fyke .

Fil Fil obsolete imperfect of Fall , intransitive verb Fell. Chaucer.

Filaceous Fi·la"ceous adjective [ Latin filum thread.] Composed of threads. Bacon.

Filacer Fil"a·cer noun [ Middle English filace a file, or thread, on which the records of the courts of justice were strung, French filasse tow of flax or hemp, from Latin filum thread.] (Eng. Law) A former officer in the English Court of Common Pleas; -- so called because he filed the writs on which he made out process. [ Obsolete] Burrill.

Filament Fil"a·ment noun [ French filament , from Latin filum thread. See File a row.] A thread or threadlike object or appendage; a fiber; esp. (Botany) , the threadlike part of the stamen supporting the anther.

Filamentary Fil`a·men"ta·ry adjective Having the character of, or formed by, a filament.

Filamentoid Fil"a·men·toid` adjective [ Filament + -oid .] Like a filament.

Filamentous Fil`a·men"tous adjective [ Confer French filamenteux .] Like a thread; consisting of threads or filaments. Gray.

Filander Fil"an·der noun (Zoology) A species of kangaroo ( Macropus Brunii ), inhabiting New Guinea.

Filanders Fil"an·ders noun plural [ French filandres , from Latin filum thread.] (Falconry) A disease in hawks, characterized by the presence of small threadlike worms, also of filaments of coagulated blood, from the rupture of a vein; -- called also backworm . Sir T. Browne.