Emily Dickinson Lexicon

FID'DLE-WOOD, n.

A plant of the genus Citharexylon.

FID'DLING, n.

The act of playing on a fiddle. – Bacon.

FID'DLING, ppr.

Playing on a fiddle.

FI'DE-JUS-SION, n.

Suretyship; the act of being bound as surety for another.

FI'DE-JUS-SOR, n. [L.]

A surety; one bound for another. – Blackstone.

FI-DEL'I-TY, n. [L. fidelitas, from fides, faith, fido, to trust. See Faith.]

1. Faithfulness; careful and exact observance of duty, or performance of obligations. We expect fidelity in a public minister, in an agent or trustee, in a domestic servant, in a friend. The best security for the fidelity of men, is to make interest coincide with duty. – Federalist, Hamilton.
2. Firm adherence to a person or party with which one is united, or to which one is bound; loyalty; as, the fidelity of subjects to their king or government; the fidelity of a tenant or liege to his lord.
3. Observance of the marriage covenant; as the fidelity of a husband or wife.
4. Honesty; veracity; adherence to truth; as, the fidelity of a witness.

FIDGE, or FIDG'ET, v.i. [allied probably to fickle.]

To move one way and the other; to move irregularly or in fits and starts. [A low word.] – Swift.

FIDG'ET, n.

Irregular motion; restlessness. [Vulgar.]

FIDG'ET-Y, a.

Restless; uneasy. [Vulgar.]

FI-DU'CIAL, a. [from L. fiducia, from fido, to trust.]

1. Confident; undoubting; firm; as, a fiducial reliance on the promises of the Gospel.
2. Having the nature of a trust; as, fiducial power. Spelman.

FI-DU'CIAL-LY, adv.

With confidence. – South.

FI-DU'CIA-RY, a. [L. fiduciarius, from fido, to trust.]

1. Confident; steady; undoubting; unwavering; firm. – Wake.
2. Not to be doubted; as, fiduciary obedience. – Howell.
3. Held in trust. – Spelman.

FI-DU'CIA-RY, n.

1. One who holds a thing in trust; a trustee.
2. One who depends on faith for salvation, without works; an antinomian. – Hammond.

FIE, exclam. [pronounced fi.]

An exclamation denoting contempt or dislike.

FIEF, n. [Fr. fief, probably a compound word, consisting of fe, faith, and a word I do not understand. See Fee, Feoff, and Feud.]

A fee; a feud; an estate held of a superior on condition of military service.

FIELD, n. [Sax. feld; G. feld; D. veld; Sw. and Dan. felt; probably level land, a plain, from D. vellen, to fell, to lay or throw down.]

1. A piece of land inclosed for tillage or pasture; any part of a farm, except the garden and appurtenances of the mansion; properly, land not covered with wood, and more strictly applicable to tillage land than to mowing land, which is often called meadow. But we say, the master of the house is in the field with his laborers, when he is at a distance from his house on his farm. He is in the field, plowing, sowing, reaping or making hay.
2. Ground not inclosed. Mortimer.
3. The ground where a battle is fought. We say, the field of battle; these veterans are excellent soldiers in the field.
4. A battle; action in the field. What though the field be lost.
5. To keep the field, is to keep the campaign open; to live in tents, or to be in a state of active operations. At the approach of cold weather, the troops, unable to keep the field, were ordered into winter quarters.
6. A wide expanse. Ask of yonder a great field above. Pope.
7. Open space for action or operation; compass; extent. This subject opens a wide field for contemplation.
8. A piece or tract of land. The field I give thee and the cave that is therein. Gen. xxiii.
9. The ground or blank space on which figures are drawn; as, the field or ground of a picture. Dryden.
10. In heraldry, the whole surface of the shield, or the continent. Encyc.
11. In Scripture, field often signifies the open country ground not inclosed, as it may in some countries in modern times.
12. A field of ice, a large body of floating ice.

FIELD-BAS-IL, n.

A plant. [Applied to various plants.]

FIELD-BED, n.

A bed for the field. Shak.

FIELD-BOOK, n.

A book used in surveying, in which are set down the angles, stations, distances, &c. Encyc.

FIELD-COL-ORS, n. [plur.]

In war, small flags of about a foot and a half square, carried along with the quarter-master general, for marking out the ground for the squadrons and battalions. Encyc.

FIELD-DUCK, n.

A species of bustard, nearly as large as a pheasant; found chiefly in France. Dict. of Nat. Hist.

FIELD-ED, a.

Being in the field of battle; encamped. Shak.

FIELD-FARE, n. [field and fare, wandering in the field. Sax. faran, to go.]

A bird of the genus Turdus, or thrush, about ten inches in length, the head ash-colored, the back and greater coverts of the wings, of a fine deep chestnut, and the tail black. These birds pass the summer in the northern parts of Europe, but visit Great Britain in winter. Encyc.

FIELD-MAR-SHAL, n.

The commander of an army, a military officer of high rank in France and Germany, and the highest military officer in England.

FIELD-MOUSE, n.

A species of mouse that lives in the field, burrowing in banks, &c. Mortimer.