Fratrage noun [ Latin frater a brother.] (Law) A sharing among brothers, or brothers' kin. [ Obsolete] Crabb.

Fratricelli noun plural [ Italian fraticelli , lit., little brothers, dim. from frate brother, Latin frater .] (Eccl. Hist.) (a) The name which St. Francis of Assisi gave to his followers, early in the 13th century. (b) A sect which seceded from the Franciscan Order, chiefly in Italy and Sicily, in 1294, repudiating the pope as an apostate, maintaining the duty of celibacy and poverty, and discountenancing oaths. Called also Fratricellians and Fraticelli .

Fratricidal adjective Of or pertaining to fratricide; of the nature of fratricide.

Fratricide noun [ Latin fratricidium a brother's murder, from fratricida a brother's murderer; frater , fratris , brother + caedere to kill: confer French fratricide .]
1. The act of one who murders or kills his own brother.

2. [ Latin fratricida : confer French fratricide .] One who murders or kills his own brother.

Frau noun ; plural Frauen . [ G. Confer 1st Frow .] In Germany, a woman; a married woman; a wife; -- as a title, equivalent to Mrs. , Madam .

Fraud (frad) noun [ French fraude , Latin fraus , fraudis ; probably akin to Sanskrit dhūrv to injure, dhvr to cause to fall, and English dull .]
1. Deception deliberately practiced with a view to gaining an unlawful or unfair advantage; artifice by which the right or interest of another is injured; injurious stratagem; deceit; trick.

If success a lover's toil attends,
Few ask, if fraud or force attained his ends.

Pope.

2. (Law) An intentional perversion of truth for the purpose of obtaining some valuable thing or promise from another.

3. A trap or snare. [ Obsolete]

To draw the proud King Ahab into fraud .

Milton.

Constructive fraud (Law) , an act, statement, or omission which operates as a fraud, although perhaps not intended to be such. Mozley & W. -- Pious fraud (Ch. Hist.) , a fraud contrived and executed to benefit the church or accomplish some good end, upon the theory that the end justified the means. -- Statute of frauds (Law) , an English statute (1676), the principle of which is incorporated in the legislation of all the States of this country, by which writing with specific solemnities (varying in the several statutes) is required to give efficacy to certain dispositions of property. Wharton.

Syn. -- Deception; deceit; guile; craft; wile; sham; strife; circumvention; stratagem; trick; imposition; cheat. See Deception .

Fraudful adjective Full of fraud, deceit, or treachery; trickish; treacherous; fraudulent; -- applied to persons or things. I. Taylor.

-- Fraud"ful*ly , adverb

Fraudless adjective Free from fraud. -- Fraud"less*ly , adverb -- Fraud"less*ness , noun

Fraudulence (?; 135), Fraud"u*len*cy noun [ Latin fraudulentia .] The quality of being fraudulent; deliberate deceit; trickishness. Hooker.

Fraudulent adjective [ Latin fraudulentus , from fraus , fraudis , fraud: confer French fraudulent .]
1. Using fraud; tricky; deceitful; dishonest.

2. Characterized by, founded on, or proceeding from, fraud; as, a fraudulent bargain.

He, with serpent tongue, . . .
His fraudulent temptation thus began.

Milton.

3. Obtained or performed by artifice; as, fraudulent conquest. Milton.

Syn. -- Deceitful; fraudful; guileful; crafty; wily; cunning; subtle; deceiving; cheating; deceptive; insidious; treacherous; dishonest; designing; unfair.

Fraudulently adverb In a fraudulent manner.

Fraught (frat) noun [ Middle English fraight , fraght ; akin to Danish fragt , Swedish frakt , Dutch vracht , German fracht , confer Old High German frēht merit, reward; perhaps from a prefix corresponding to English for + The root of English own . Confer Freight .] A freight; a cargo. [ Obsolete] Shak.

Fraught adjective Freighted; laden; filled; stored; charged.

A vessel of our country richly fraught .

Shak.

A discourse fraught with all the commending excellences of speech.

South.

Enterprises fraught with world-wide benefits.

I. Taylor.

Fraught transitive verb [ imperfect & past participle Fraughted or Fraught ; present participle & verbal noun Fraughting .] [ Akin to Danish fragte , Swedish frakta , Dutch bevrachten , German frachten , confer Old High German frēhtōn to deserve. See Fraught , noun ] To freight; to load; to burden; to fill; to crowd. [ Obsolete]

Upon the tumbling billows fraughted ride
The armed ships.

Fairfax.

Fraughtage noun Freight; loading; cargo. [ Obsolete] Shak.

Fraughting adjective Constituting the freight or cargo. [ Obsolete] "The fraughting souls within her." Shak.

Fraunhofer lines (Physics.) The lines of the spectrum; especially and properly, the dark lines of the solar spectrum, so called because first accurately observed and interpreted by Fraunhofer , a German physicist.

Fraxin noun [ From Fraxinus .] (Chemistry) A colorless crystalline substance, regarded as a glucoside, and found in the bark of the ash ( Fraxinus ) and along with esculin in the bark of the horse-chestnut. It shows a delicate fluorescence in alkaline solutions; -- called also paviin .

Fraxinus noun [ Latin , the ash tree.] (Botany) A genus of deciduous forest trees, found in the north temperate zone, and including the true ash trees.

» Fraxinus excelsior is the European ash; F. Americana , the white ash; F. sambucifolia , the black ash or water ash.

Fray (frā) noun [ Abbreviated from affray .] Affray; broil; contest; combat.

Who began this bloody fray ?

Shak.

Fray transitive verb [ imperfect & past participle Frayed (frād); present participle & verbal noun Fraying .] [ See 1st Fray , and confer Affray .] To frighten; to terrify; to alarm. I. Taylor.

What frays ye, that were wont to comfort me affrayed?

Spenser.

Fray transitive verb [ Confer Old French fraier . See Defray , transitive verb ] To bear the expense of; to defray. [ Obsolete]

The charge of my most curious and costly ingredients frayed , I shall acknowledge myself amply satisfied.

Massinger.

Fray transitive verb [ Old French freier , fraier , froier , to rub. Latin fricare ; confer friare to crumble, English friable ; perhaps akin to Greek chri`ein to anoint, chri^sma an anointing, Sanskrit ghrsh to rub, scratch. Confer Friction .] To rub; to wear off, or wear into shreds, by rubbing; to fret, as cloth; as, a deer is said to fray her head.

Fray intransitive verb
1. To rub.

We can show the marks he made
When 'gainst the oak his antlers frayed .

Sir W. Scott.

2. To wear out or into shreads, or to suffer injury by rubbing, as when the threads of the warp or of the woof wear off so that the cross threads are loose; to ravel; as, the cloth frays badly.

A suit of frayed magnificience.

tennyson.

Fray noun A fret or chafe, as in cloth; a place injured by rubbing.

Fraying noun (Zoology) The skin which a deer frays from his horns. B. Jonson.

Frazzle transitive verb [ imperfect & past participle Frazzled ; present participle & verbal noun Frazzling .] [ Confer German faseln , and English fray .] To fray; to wear or pull into tatters or tag ends; to tatter; -- used literally and figuratively. [ Prov. Eng. & U. S.]

Her hair was of a reddish gray color, and its frazzled and tangled condition suggested that the woman had recently passed through a period of extreme excitement.

J. C. Harris.

Frazzle noun The act or result of frazzling; the condition or quality of being frazzled; the tag end; a frayed-out end. [ Prov. Eng. & U. S.]

My fingers are all scratched to frazzles .

Kipling.

Gordon had sent word to Lee that he "had fought his corps to a frazzle ."

Nicolay & Hay (Life of Lincoln).

Freak (frēk) transitive verb [ imperfect & past participle Freaked (frēkt); present participle & verbal noun Freaking .] [ Akin to Middle English frakin , freken , freckle, Icelandic freknur , plural, Swedish fräkne , Danish fregne , Greek perkno`s dark- colored, Sanskrit prçni variegated. Confer Freckle , Freck .] To variegate; to checker; to streak. [ R.]

Freaked with many a mingled hue.

Thomson.

Freak noun [ Prob. from Middle English frek bold, Anglo-Saxon frec bold, greedly; akin to Old High German freh greedly, German frech insolent, Icelandic frekr greedy, Goth. faíhufriks avaricious.] A sudden causeless change or turn of the mind; a whim of fancy; a capricious prank; a vagary or caprice.

She is restless and peevish, and sometimes in a freak will instantly change her habitation.

Spectator.

Syn. -- Whim; caprice; folly; sport. See Whim .

Freaking adjective Freakish. [ Obsolete] Pepys.

Freakish adjective Apt to change the mind suddenly; whimsical; capricious.

It may be a question whether the wife or the woman was the more freakish of the two.

L'Estrange.

Freakish when well, and fretful when she's sick.

Pope.

-- Freak"ish*ly , adverb -- Freak"ish*ness , noun

Freck transitive verb [ Confer Freak , transitive verb , Freckle .] To checker; to diversify. [ R. & Poet.]

The painted windows, frecking gloom with glow.

Lowell.

Freckle (frĕk"k'l) noun [ Dim., from the same root as freak , transitive verb ]
1. A small yellowish or brownish spot in the skin, particularly on the face, neck, or hands.

2. Any small spot or discoloration.

Freckle transitive verb [ imperfect & past participle Freckled (-k'ld); present participle & verbal noun Freckling (-klĭng).] To sprinkle or mark with freckles or small discolored spots; to spot.

Freckle (frĕk"k'l) intransitive verb To become covered or marked with freckles; to be spotted.

Freckled (frĕk"k'ld) adjective Marked with freckles; spotted. "The freckled trout." Dryden.

The freckled cowslip, burnet, and green clover.

Shak.

Freckledness (-k'ld*nĕs) noun The state of being freckled.

Freckly (-klȳ) adjective Full of or marked with freckles; sprinkled with spots; freckled.

Fred (frĕd) noun [ Anglo-Saxon frið peace. See Frith inclosure.] Peace; -- a word used in composition, especially in proper names; as, Al fred ; Fred eric.

Fredstole (-stōl`) noun [ Obsolete] See Fridstol . Fuller.

Free (frē) adjective [ Compar. Freer (-ẽr); superl. Freest (-ĕst).] [ Middle English fre , freo , Anglo-Saxon freó , frī ; akin to Dutch vrij , Old Saxon & Old High German frī , German frei , Icelandic frī , Swedish & Danish fri , Goth. freis , and also to Sanskrit prija beloved, dear, from prī to love, Goth. frijōn . Confer Affray , Belfry , Friday , Friend , Frith inclosure.]
1. Exempt from subjection to the will of others; not under restraint, control, or compulsion; able to follow one's own impulses, desires, or inclinations; determining one's own course of action; not dependent; at liberty.

That which has the power, or not the power, to operate, is that alone which is or is not free .

Locke.

2. Not under an arbitrary or despotic government; subject only to fixed laws regularly and fairly administered, and defended by them from encroachments upon natural or acquired rights; enjoying political liberty.

3. Liberated, by arriving at a certain age, from the control of parents, guardian, or master.

4. Not confined or imprisoned; released from arrest; liberated; at liberty to go.

Set an unhappy prisoner free .

Prior.

5. Not subjected to the laws of physical necessity; capable of voluntary activity; endowed with moral liberty; -- said of the will.

Not free , what proof could they have given sincere
Of true allegiance, constant faith, or love.

Milton.

6. Clear of offense or crime; guiltless; innocent.

My hands are guilty, but my heart is free .

Dryden.

7. Unconstrained by timidity or distrust; unreserved; ingenuous; frank; familiar; communicative.

He was free only with a few.

Milward.

8. Unrestrained; immoderate; lavish; licentious; -- used in a bad sense.

The critics have been very free in their censures.

Felton.

A man may live a free life as to wine or women.

Shelley.

9. Not close or parsimonious; liberal; open- handed; lavish; as, free with his money.

10. Exempt; clear; released; liberated; not encumbered or troubled with; as, free from pain; free from a burden; -- followed by from , or, rarely, by of .

Princes declaring themselves free from the obligations of their treaties.

Bp. Burnet.

11. Characteristic of one acting without restraint; charming; easy.

12. Ready; eager; acting without spurring or whipping; spirited; as, a free horse.

13. Invested with a particular freedom or franchise; enjoying certain immunities or privileges; admitted to special rights; -- followed by of .

He therefore makes all birds, of every sect,
Free of his farm.

Dryden.

14. Thrown open, or made accessible, to all; to be enjoyed without limitations; unrestricted; not obstructed, engrossed, or appropriated; open; -- said of a thing to be possessed or enjoyed; as, a free school.

Why, sir, I pray, are not the streets as free
For me as for you?

Shak.

15. Not gained by importunity or purchase; gratuitous; spontaneous; as, free admission; a free gift.

16. Not arbitrary or despotic; assuring liberty; defending individual rights against encroachment by any person or class; instituted by a free people; -- said of a government, institutions, etc.

17. (O. Eng. Law) Certain or honorable; the opposite of base ; as, free service; free socage. Burrill.

18. (Law) Privileged or individual; the opposite of common ; as, a free fishery; a free warren. Burrill.

19. Not united or combined with anything else; separated; dissevered; unattached; at liberty to escape; as, free carbonic acid gas; free cells.

Free agency , the capacity or power of choosing or acting freely, or without necessity or constraint upon the will. -- Free bench (Eng. Law) , a widow's right in the copyhold lands of her husband, corresponding to dower in freeholds. -- Free board (Nautical) , a vessel's side between water line and gunwale. -- Free bond (Chemistry) , an unsaturated or unemployed unit, or bond, of affinity or valence, of an atom or radical. -- Free-borough men (O.Eng. Law) . See Friborg . -- Free chapel (Eccles.) , a chapel not subject to the jurisdiction of the ordinary, having been founded by the king or by a subject specially authorized. [ Eng.] Bouvier. -- Free charge (Electricity) , a charge of electricity in the free or statical condition; free electricity. -- Free church . (a) A church whose sittings are for all and without charge. (b) An ecclesiastical body that left the Church of Scotland, in 1843, to be free from control by the government in spiritual matters. -- Free city , or Free town , a city or town independent in its government and franchises, as formerly those of the Hanseatic league. -- Free cost , freedom from charges or expenses. South. -- Free and easy , unconventional; unrestrained; regardless of formalities. [ Colloq.] "Sal and her free and easy ways." W. Black. -- Free goods , goods admitted into a country free of duty. -- Free labor , the labor of freemen, as distinguished from that of slaves. -- Free port . (Com.) (a) A port where goods may be received and shipped free of custom duty. (b) A port where goods of all kinds are received from ships of all nations at equal rates of duty. -- Free public house , in England, a tavern not belonging to a brewer, so that the landlord is free to brew his own beer or purchase where he chooses. Simmonds. -- Free school . (a) A school to which pupils are admitted without discrimination and on an equal footing. (b) A school supported by general taxation, by endowmants, etc., where pupils pay nothing for tuition; a public school. -- Free services (O.Eng. Law) , such feudal services as were not unbecoming the character of a soldier or a freemen to perform; as, to serve under his lord in war, to pay a sum of money, etc. Burrill. -- Free ships , ships of neutral nations, which in time of war are free from capture even though carrying enemy's goods. -- Free socage (O.Eng. Law) , a feudal tenure held by certain services which, though honorable, were not military. Abbott. -- Free States , those of the United States before the Civil War, in which slavery had ceased to exist, or had never existed. -- Free stuff (Carp.) , timber free from knots; clear stuff. -- Free thought , that which is thought independently of the authority of others. -- Free trade , commerce unrestricted by duties or tariff regulations. -- Free trader , one who believes in free trade. -- To make free with , to take liberties with; to help one's self to. [ Colloq.] -- To sail free (Nautical) , to sail with the yards not braced in as sharp as when sailing closehauled, or close to the wind.

Free adverb
1. Freely; willingly. [ Obsolete]

I as free forgive you
As I would be forgiven.

Shak.

2. Without charge; as, children admitted free .

Free transitive verb [ imperfect & past participle Freed ; present participle & verbal noun Freeing .] [ Middle English freen , freoien , Anglo-Saxon freógan . See Free , adjective ]
1. To make free; to set at liberty; to rid of that which confines, limits, embarrasses, oppresses, etc.; to release; to disengage; to clear; -- followed by from , and sometimes by off ; as, to free a captive or a slave; to be freed of these inconveniences. Clarendon.

Our land is from the rage of tigers freed .

Dryden.

Arise, . . . free thy people from their yoke.

Milton.

2. To remove, as something that confines or bars; to relieve from the constraint of.

This master key
Frees every lock, and leads us to his person.

Dryden.

3. To frank. [ Obsolete] Johnson.

Free coinage In the fullest sense, the conversion of bullion (of any specified metal) into legal-tender coins for any person who chooses to bring it to the mint; in a modified sense, such coinage when done at a fixed charge proportionate to the cost of the operation.

Free silver The free coinage of silver; often, specif., the free coinage of silver at a fixed ratio with gold, as at the ratio of 16 to 1, which ratio for some time represented nearly or exactly the ratio of the market values of gold and silver respectively.

Free will
1. A will free from improper coercion or restraint.

To come thus was I not constrained, but did
On my free will .

Shak.

2. The power asserted of moral beings of willing or choosing without the restraints of physical or absolute necessity.

Freebooter noun [ Dutch vrijbuiter , from vrijbuiten to plunder; vrij free + buit booty, akin to English booty . See Free , and Booty , and confer Filibuster .] One who plunders or pillages without the authority of national warfare; a member of a predatory band; a pillager; a buccaneer; a sea robber. Bacon.

Freebootery noun The act, practice, or gains of a freebooter; freebooting. Booth.

Fräulein noun sing. & plural [ G., dim. of frau woman. See Frau .] In Germany, a young lady; an unmarried woman; -- as a title, equivalent to Miss .