Emily Dickinson Lexicon

FLY-TREE, n.

A tree whose leaves are said to produce flies, from a little bag on the surface. – Encyc.

FLY-WHEEL, n.

A wheel in machinery that equalizes its movements.

FOAL, n. [Sax. fola, fole; G. füllen; D. veulen; Dan. föl; Sw. fåla; Fr. poulain; Arm. poull, pull or heubeul; W. ebawl; Corn. ebol; L. pullus; Gr. πωλος; Ch. פולא; Ar. طَفَلَ tafala, to rise or to set as the sun, to bear young, and طُفِلٌ, tofilon, pullus. The primary sense of the verb is to shoot, to cast or throw, to fall. The same verb in Heb. and Ch. signifies to unite, to fasten; in Syr. to foul, to defile; both senses from that of putting or throwing on. The verb belongs probably to the root of Eng. fall and foul, that is with a different prefix. Foal is literally a shoot, issue, or that which is cast, or which falls.]

The young of the equine genus of quadrupeds, and of either sex; a colt; a filly.

FOAL, v.i.

To bring forth young, as a mare and certain other beasts.

FOAL, v.t.

To bring forth a colt or filly; to bring forth young, as a mare or a she-ass.

FOAL-BIT, n.

A plant.

FOAL-ED, pp.

Disburdened of a foal, as a mare.

FOAL-FOOT, a.

The colt's-foot, Tussilago.

FOAL-ING, ppr.

Bringing forth a colt.

FOAM, n. [Sax. fæm, fam; G. faum, foam; L. fumo, to smoke, to foam.]

Froth; spume; the substance which is formed on the surface of liquors by fermentation or violent agitation, consisting of bubbles.

FOAM, v.i.

1. To froth; to gather foam. The billows foam. A horse foams at the mouth, when violently heated.
2. To be in a rage; to be violently agitated. He foameth and gnasheth with his teeth. Mark ix.

FOAM, v.t.

To throw out with rage or violence; with out. Foaming out their own shame. Jude 13.

FOAM'-CREST-ED, a.

Crested with foam.

FOAM-ED, pp.

Thrown out with rage or violence.

FOAM-ING, ppr.

Frothing; fuming.

FOAM-ING-LY, adv.

Frothily.

FOAM'LESS, a.

Having no foam.

FOAM-Y, a.

Covered with foam; frothy. Behold how high the foamy billows ride. Dryden.

FOB, n. [Qu. G. fuppe. I have not found the word.]

A little pocket for a watch.

FOB, v.t. [G. foppen.]

To cheat; to trick; to impose on. To fob off, to shift off by an artifice; to put aside; to delude with a trick. [A low word.] Shak.

FOB'BED, pp.

Cheated; imposed on.

FOB'BING, ppr.

Cheating; imposing on.

FO'CAL, a. [from L. focus.]

Belonging to a focus: as, a focal point; focal distance.

FO'CIL, n. [Fr. focile.]

The greater focil is the ulna or tibia, the greater hone of the fore-arm or leg. The lesser focil is the radius or fibula, the lesser bone of the fore-arm or leg. Coxe. Wiseman.

FO'CUS, n. [plur. Focuses or Foci. L. focus, a fire, the hearth; Sp. fuego; Port. fogo; It. fuoco; Fr. feu; Arm. fo.]

1. In optics, a point in which any number of rays of light meet, after being reflected or refracted; as, the focus of a lens. Encyc. Newton.
2. In geometry and conic sections, a certain point in the parabola, ellipsis and hyperbola, where rays reflected from all parts of these curves, concur or meet. Encyc. The focus of an ellipsis, is a point toward each end of the longer axis, from which two right lines drawn to any point in the circumference, shall together be equal to the longer axis. Harris. The focus of a parabola, is a point in the axis within the, figure, and distant from the vertex by the fourth part of the parameter. Harris. The focus of a hyperbola, is a point in the principle axis, within the opposite hyperbolas, from which if any two lines are drawn, meeting in either of the opposite hyperbolas, the difference will be equal to the principal axis. Dict.
3. A central point; point of concentration.