Emily Dickinson Lexicon

FAWN'ING-LY, adv.

In a cringing, servile way; with mean flattery.

FAX'ED, a. [Sax. feax, hair.]

Hairy. [Not in use.] Camden.

FAY, n. [Fr. fée.]

A fairy; an elf. Milton. Pope.

FAY, v.i. [Sax. fægan; Sw. foga; D. voegen. See Fadge.]

To fit; to suit; to unite closely with. [This is a contraction of the Teutonic word, and the same as Fadge, – which see. It is not an elegant word.]

FAZ-ZO-LET', n. [fatsolet; It.]

A handkerchief. Percival.

FEA-BER-RY, n.

A gooseberry.

FEAGUE, v.t. [feeg; G. fegen.]

To beat or whip. [Not in use.] Buckingham.

FE'AL, a.

Faithful. [Infra.]

FE'AL-TY, n. [Fr. feal, trusty, contracted from L. fidelis; It. fedeltà; Fr. fidelité; Sp. fe, faith, contracted from fides; hence, fiel, faithful; fieldad, fidelity.]

Fidelity to a lord; faithful adherence of a tenant or vassal to the superior of whom he holds his lands; loyalty. Under the feudal system of tenures, every vassal or tenant was bound to be true and faithful to his lord, and to defend him against all his enemies. This obligation was called his fidelity or fealty, and an oath of fealty was required to be taken by all tenants to their landlords. The tenant was called a liege man; the land a liege fee; and the superior, liege lord. [See Liege.]

FEAR, n. [Sax. fera, gefera.]

A companion. [Not in use. See Peer.] Spenser.

FEAR, n. [See the Verb.]

1. A painful emotion or passion excited by an expectation of evil, or the apprehension of impending danger. Fear expresses less apprehension than dread, and dread less than terror and fright. The force of this passion, beginning with the most moderate degree, may be thus expressed, fear, dread, terror, fright. Fear is accompanied with a desire to avoid or ward off the expected evil. Fear is an uneasiness of mind, upon the thought of future evil likely to befall us. Watts. Fear is the passion of our nature which excites us to provide for our security, on the approach of evil. Rogers.
2. Anxiety; solicitude. The principal fear was for the holy temple. Maccabees.
3. The cause of fear. Thy angel becomes a fear. Shak.
4. The object of fear. Except the God of Abraham, and the fear of Isaac, had been with me. Gen. xxxi.
5. Something set or hung up to terrify wild animals, by its color or noise. Is. xxiv. Jer. xlviii.
6. In Scripture, fear is used to express a filial, or a slavish passion. In good men, the fear of God is a holy awe or reverence of God and his laws, which springs from a just view and real love of the divine character, leading the subjects of it to hate and shun every thing that can offend such a holy being, and inclining them to aim at perfect obedience. This is filial fear. I will put my fear in their hearts. Jer. xxxii. Slavish fear is the effect or consequence of guilt; it is the painful apprehension of merited punishment. Rom. viii. The love of God casteth out fear. I John iv.
7. The worship of God. I will teach you the fear of the Lord. Ps. xxxiv.
8. The law and word of God. The fear of the Lord is clean, enduring forever. Ps. xix.
9. Reverence; respect; due regard. Render to all their dues; fear to whom fear. Rom. xiii.

FEAR, v.i.

To be in apprehension of evil; to be afraid; to feel anxiety on account of some expected evil. But I fear, lest by any means, as the serpent beguiled Eve through his subtility, so your minds should be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ. 2 Cor. xi. Fear not, Abram: I am thy shield, and thy exceeding great reward. Gen. xv.

FEAR, v.t. [Sax. færan, afæran, to impress fear, to terrify; D. vaaren, to put in fear, to disorder, to derange; L. vereor. In Sax. and Dutch, the verb coincides in elements with fare, to go or depart, and the sense seems to be to scare or drive away. Qu. Syr. and Ar. نَفَرَ nafara, to flee or be fearful. See Class Br, No. 46, 33.]

1. To feel a painful apprehension of some impending evil; to be afraid of; to consider or expect with emotions of alarm or solicitude. We fear the approach of an enemy or of a storm. We have reason to fear the punishment of our sins. I will fear no evil, for thou art with me. Ps. xxiii.
2. To reverence; to have a reverential awe; to venerate. This I do, and live, for I fear God. Gen. xlii.
3. To affright; to terrify; to drive away or prevent approach by fear, or by a scare-crow. [This seems to be the primary meaning, but now obsolete.] We must not make a scarecrow of the law, / Setting it up to fear the birds of prey. Shak.

FEAR-ED, pp.

Apprehended or expected with painful solicitude; reverenced.

FEAR-FUL, a.

1. Affected by fear; feeling pain in expectations of evil; apprehensive with solicitude; afraid. I an fearful of the consequences of rash conduct. Hence,
2. Timid; timorous; wanting courage. What man is there that is fearful and faint-hearted? Deut xx.
3. Terrible; impressing fear; frightful; dreadful. It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God. Heb. x.
4. Awful; to be reverenced. O Lord, who is like thee, glorious in holiness, fearful in praises? Ex. xv. That thou mayest fear this glorious and fearful name, Jehovan, thy God. Deut. xxviii.

FEAR-FUL-LY, adv.

1. Timorously; in fear. In such a night / Did Thisbe fearfully o'ertrip the dew. Shak.
2. Terribly; dreadfully; in a manner to impress tenor. There is a cliff, whose high and bending head / Looks fearfully on the confined deep. Shak.
3. In a manner to impress admiration and astonishment. I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Ps. cxxxix.

FEAR-FUL-NESS, n.

1. Timorousness; timidity.
2. State of being afraid; awe; dread. A third thing that makes a government despised, is fearfulness of, and mean compliances with, bold popular offenders. South.
3. Terror; alarm; apprehension of evil. Fearfulness hath surprised the hypocrites. Is. xxxiii.

FEAR-LESS, a.

1. Free from fear; as, fearless of death; fearless of consequences.
2. Bold; courageous; intrepid; undaunted; as, a fearless hero; a fearless foe.

FEAR-LESS-LY, adv.

Without fear; in a bold or courageous manner; intrepidly. Brave men fearlessly expose themselves to the most formidable dangers.

FEAR-LESS-NESS, n.

Freedom from fear; courage; boldness; intrepidity. He gave instances of an invincible courage and fearlessness in danger. Clarendon.

FEAS-I-BIL'I-TY, n. [s as z. See Feasible.]

The quality of being capable of execution; practicability. Before we adopt a plan, let us consider its feasibility.

FEAS-I-BLE, a. [s as z. Fr. faisable, from faire, to make, L. facere; It. fattibile; Sp. factible.]

1. That may be done, performed, executed or effected; practicable. We say a thing is feasible when it can he effected by human means or agency. A thing may be possible, but not feasible.
2. That may be used or tilled, as land. B. Trumbull.

FEAS-I-BLE, n.

That which is practicable; that which can be performed by human means.

FEAS-I-BLE-NESS, n.

Feasibility; practicability. Bp. Hall.

FEAS-I-BLY, adv.

Practicably.