Emily Dickinson Lexicon

FISH'WIFE, n.

A woman that cries fish for sale. Beaum.

FISH'WO-MAN, n.

A woman who sells fish.

FISH'Y, a.

1. Consisting of fish.
2. Inhabited by fish; as, the fishy flood. Pope.
3. Having the qualities of fish; like fish; as, a fishy form; a fishy taste or smell.

FIS'SILE, a. [L. fissilis, from fissus, divided, from findo, to split.]

That may be split, cleft or divided in the direction of the grain, or of natural joints. This crystal is a pellucid fissile stone. Newton.

FIS-SIL'I-TY, n.

The quality of admitting to be cleft.

FIS'SI-PED, a. [L. fissus, divided, and pes, foot.]

Having separate toes.

FIS'SI-PED, n.

An animal whose toes are separate, or not connected by a membrane. Brown.

FIS'SURE, n. [fish'ure; Fr. from L. fissura, from findo, to split.]

1. A cleft; a narrow chasm made by the parting of any substance; a longitudinal opening; as, the fissure of a rock.
2. In surgery, a crack or slit in a bone, either transversely or longitudinally, by means of external force. Encyc.
3. In anatomy, a deep, narrow sulcus, or depression, dividing the anterior and middle lobes of the cerebrum on each side. Coxe.

FIS'SURE, v.t.

To cleave; to divide; to crack or fracture. Wiseman.

FIS'SUR-ED, pp.

Cleft; divided; cracked.

FIST, n. [Sax. fyst; D. vuist; G. faust; Russ. piast; Bohem. bost. Qu. is it from the root of fast?]

The hand clenched; the hand with the fingers doubled into the palm.

FIST, v.t.

1. To strike with the fist. Dryden.
2. To gripe with the fist. [Little used.] Shak.

FIST'I-CUFFS, n. [fist and cuff.]

Blows or a combat with the fist; a boxing. Swift.

FIS'TU-LA, n. [L.; Eng. whistle.]

1. Properly, a pipe; a wind instrument of music, originally a reed.
2. In surgery, a deep, narrow and callous ulcer, generally arising from abscesses. It differs from a sinus, in being callous. Fistula lachrymalis, a fistula of the lachrymal sac, a disorder accompanied with the flowing of tears. Coxe. Sharp.

FIS'TU-LAR, a.

Hollow, like a pipe or reed.

FIS'TU-LAR, or FIS'TU-LOUS, a.

Hollow, like a pipe or reed.

FIS'TU-LATE, v.i.

To become a pipe or fistula.

FIS'TU-LATE, v.t.

To make hollow like a pipe. [Little used.]

FIS-TU-LI'DAN, n. [L. fistula, a pipe.]

An echinodermatous animal, having an elongated, cylindrical, tube-like body.

FIS'TU-LI-FORM, a. [fistula and form.]

Being in round hollow columns, as a mineral. Stalactite often occurs fistuliform. Phillips.

FIS'TU-LOUS, a.

Having the form or nature of a fistula; as, a fistulous ulcer. Wiseman.

FIT, a. [Flemish, vitten; G. pass, fit, and a pace; passen, to be fit, suitable, right. This is from the root of Eng. pass; D. pas, time, season; van pas, fitting, fit, convenient; Eng. pat; Dan. passer, to be fit. In L. competo, whence compatible, signifies properly to meet or to fall on, hence to suit or be fit, from peto. This is probably the same word. The primary sense is to come to, to fall on, hence to meet, to extend to, to be close, to suit. To come or fell, is the primary sense of time or season, as in the Dutch. See Class Bd, No. 45, 64, and Class Bz, No. 52, 53, 70.]

1. Suitable; convenient; meet; becoming. Is it fit to say to a king, thou art wicked? Job xxxiv. Wives, submit yourselves to your husbands, as it is fit in the Lord. Col. iii.
2. Qualified; as, men of valor fit for war. No man having put his hand to the plow, and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God. Luke ix.

FIT, n. [Qu. W. fith, a gliding or darting motion. The French express the sense of this word by boutade, from bout, the primary sense of which is to shoot or push out. It seems to be allied to L. peto, impeto, to assault, or to Eng. pet, and primarily to denote a rushing on or attack, or a start. See Fit, suitable.]

1. The invasion, exacerbation or paroxysm of a disease. We apply the word to the return of an ague, after intermission; as, a cold fit. We apply it to the first attack, or to the return of other diseases; as, a fit of the gout or stone: and in general, to a disease however continued; as, a fit of sickness.
2. A sudden and violent attack of disorder, in which the body is often convulsed, and sometimes senseless; as, a fit of apoplexy or epilepsy; hysteric fits.
3. Any short return after intermission; a turn; a period or interval. He moves by fits and starts. By fits my swelling grief appears. Addison.
4. A temporary affection or attack; as, a fit of melancholy, or of grief; a fit of pleasure.
5. Disorder; distemperature. Shak.
6. [Sax. fitt, a song.] Anciently, a song, or part of a song, a strain; a canto. Lye. Johnson.

FIT, v.i.

1. To be proper or becoming. Nor fits it to prolong the feast. Pope.
2. To suit or be suitable; to be adapted. His coat fits very well. But this is an elliptical phrase.

FIT, v.t.

1. To adapt; to suit; to make suitable. The carpenter – marketh it out with a line, he fitteth it with planes. Is. xliv.
2. To accommodate a person with any thing; as, the tailor fits his customer with a coat. The original phrase is, he fits a coat to his customer. But the phrase implies also furnishing, providing a thing suitable for another.
3. To prepare; to put in order for; to furnish with things proper or necessary; as, to fit a ship for a long voyage. Fit yourself for action or defense.
4. To qualify; to prepare; as, to fit a student for college. To fit out, to furnish; to equip; to supply with necessaries or means; as, to fit out a privateer. To fit up, to prepare; to furnish with things suitable; to make proper for the reception or use of any person; as, to fit up a house for a guest.