Wear thy good rapier bare, and put it home:

  Quick, quick; fear nothing, I’ll be at thy elbow. Shak. Othel.

  To Élbow. v.n. To jut out in angles. Dict. Eléctre. n.s. [electrum, Latin.]

  1. Amber; which, having the quality when warmed by friction of attracting bodies, gave to one species of attraction the name of electricity, and to the bodies that so attract the epithet electrick.

  2. A mixed metal.

  Change silver plate or vessel into the compound stuff, being a kind of silver electre, and turn the rest into coin. Bacon.

  Eléctrical.

  Eléctrick.

  adj. [from electrum. See Electre.]

  1. Attractive without magnetism; attractive by a peculiar property, supposed once to belong chiefly to amber.

  By electrick bodies do I conceive not such only as take up light bodies, in which number the ancients only placed jett and amber; but such as, conveniently placed, attract all bodies palpable. Brown’s Vulgar Errours, b. ii. c. 4.

  An electrick body can by friction emit an exhalation so subtile, and yet so potent, as by its emission to cause no sensible diminution of the weight of the electrick body, and to be expanded through a sphere, whose diameter is above two feet, and yet to be able to carry up lead, copper, or leaf-gold, at the distance of above a foot from the electrick body. Newton.

  2. Produced by an electrick body.

  If that attraction were not rather electrical than magnetical, it was wonderous what Helmont delivereth concerning a glass, wherein the magistery of loadstone was prepared, which retained an attractive quality. Brown’s Vulgar Errours.

  If a piece of white paper, or a white cloath, or the end of one’s finger, be held at about a quarter of an inch from the glass, the electrick vapour, excited by friction, will, by dashing against the white paper, cloth, or finger, be put into such an agitation as to emit light. Newton’s Opt.

  F

  A consonant generally reckoned by authors, and admitted by Scaliger, among the semi-vowels, and according to that opinion distinguished in the enumeration of the alphabet by a name beginning with a vowel, yet has so far the nature of a mute, that it is easily pronounced before a liquid in the same syllable. It has in English an invariable sound, formed by compression of the whole lips and a forcible breath. Its kindred letter is V, which, in the Islandick alphabet, is only distinguished from it by a point in the body of the letter. Fabáceous. adj. [fabaceus, Latin.] Having the nature of a bean. Dict.

  Fáble. n.s. [fable, French; fabula, Latin.]

  1. A feigned story intended to enforce some moral precept.

  Jotham’s fable of the bees is the oldest extant, and as beautiful as any made since. Addison’s Spectator.

  2. A fiction in general.

  Triptolemus, so sung the nine,

  Strew’d plenty from his cart divine;

  But, spite of all those fable makers,

  He never sow’d on Almaign acres. Dryden.

  3. A vitious or foolish fiction.

  But refuse profane and old wives fables. 1 Tim. iv. 7.

  4. The series or contexture of events which constitute a poem epick or dramatick.

  The moral is the first business of the poet: this being formed, he contrives such a design or fable as may be most suitable to the moral. Dryden’s Dufresnoy.

  The first thing to be considered in an epick poem is the fable, which is perfect or imperfect, according as the action, which it relates, is more or less so. Addison’s Spectator.

  5. A lye. This sense is merely familiar.

  To Fáble. v.a. To feign; to tell of falsety.

  We mean to win,

  Or turn this heav’n itself into the hell

  Thou fablest. Milton’s Paradise Lost, b. vi. l. 292.

  Ladies of th’ Hesperides, that seem’d

  Fairer than feign’d of old, or fabl’d since

  Of fair damsels met in forest wide,

  By knights. Milton’s Parad. Lost.

  To Fáble. v.n. [from the noun.]

  1. To feign; to write not truth but fiction.

  That Saturn’s sons receiv’d the three-fold reign

  Of heav’n, of ocean, and deep hell beneath,

  Old poets mention, fabling. Prior.

  Vain now the tales which fabling poets tell,

  That wav’ring conquest still desires to rove!

  In Marlbro’s camp the goddess knows to dwell. Prior.

  2. To tell falsehoods; to lye.

  He fables not: I hear the enemy. Shakesp. Henry VI.

  Fábled. adj. [from fable.] Celebrated in fables.

  Hail, fabled grotto! hail, Elysian soil!

  Thou fairest spot of fair Britannia’s isle! Tickell.

  Fábler. n.s. [from fable.] A dealer in fiction; a writer of feigned stories. To Fábricate. v.a. [fabricor, Latin.]

  1. To build; to construct.

  2. To forge; to devise falsely. This sense is retained among the Scottish lawyers; for when they suspect a paper to be forged, they say it is fabricate.

  Fabricátion n.s. [from fabricate.] The act of building; construction.

  This fabrication of the human body is the immediate work of a vital principle, that formeth the first rudiments of the human nature. Hale’s Origin of Mankind.

  Fábrick. n.s. [fabrica, Latin.]

  1. A building; an edifice.

  There must be an exquisite care to place the columns, set in several stories, most precisely one over another, that so the solid may answer to the solid, and the vacuities to the vacuities, as well for beauty as strength of the fabrick. Wotton.

  2. Any system or compages of matter; any body formed by the conjunction of dissimilar parts.

  Still will ye think it strange,

  That all the parts of this great fabrick change;

  Quit their old station and primeval frame. Prior.

  To Fábrick. v.a. [from the noun.] To build; to form; to construct.

  Shew what laws of life

  The cheese inhabitants observe, and how

  Fabrick their mansions. Philips.

  Fábulist. n.s. [fabuliste, French.] A writer of fables.

  Quitting Esop and the fabulists, he copies from Boccace. Croxal.

  Our bard’s a fabulist, and deals in fiction. Garrick.

  Fabulósity. n.s. [fabulositas, Latin.] Lyingness; fulness of stories; fabulous invention.

  In their fabulosity they would report, that they had observations for twenty thousand years. Abbot’s Description of the World.

  Fábulous. adj. [fabulosus, Latin.] Feigned; full of fables, or invented tales.

  A person terrified with the imagination of spectres, is more reasonable than one who thinks the appearance of spirits fabulous and groundless. Addison’s Spectator, № 110.

  Fábulously. adv. [from fabulous.] In fiction; in a fabulous manner.

  There are many things fabulously delivered, and are not to be accepted as truths. Brown’s Vulgar Errours, b. vi. c. 8.

  Face. n.s. [face, French, from facies, Latin.]

  1. The visage.

  The children of Israel saw the face of Moses, that the skin of Moses’s face shone. Exod. xxxiv. 35.

  A man shall see faces, which, if you examine them part by part, you shall never find good; but take them together, are not uncomely. Bacon, Essay 44.

  From beauty still to beauty ranging,

  In ev’ry face I found a dart. Addison’s Spectator.

  2. Countenance; cast of the features; look; air of the face.

  Seiz’d and ty’d down to judge, how wretched I!

  Who can’t be silent, and who will not lye:

  To laugh, were want of goodness and of grace;

  And to be grave, exceeds all pow’r of face. Pope’s Epistles.

  3. The surface of any thing.

  A mist watered the whole face of the ground. Gen. ii. 6.

  4. The front or forepart of any thing.

  The breadth of the face of the house, towards the East, was an hundred cubits. Ezek. xli. 14.

  5. State of affairs.

  He look’d, and saw the face of things quite chang’d,

  The brazen throat of war had ceas’d to roar;

  All now was turn’d to jollity and game,

  To luxury and riot, feast and dances. Milton’s Par. Lost.

  This would produce a new face of things in Europe. Addis.

  6. Appearance; resemblance.

  Keep still your former face, and mix again

  With these lost spirits; run all their mazes with ‘em;

  For such are treasons. Ben. Johnson.

  At the first shock, with blood and powder stain’d,

  Nor heav’n, nor sea, their former face retain’d;

  Fury and art produce effects so strange,

  They trouble nature, and her visage change. Waller.

  His dialogue has so much the face of probability, that some have mistaken it for a real conference. Baker.

  7. Presence; sight.

  Ye shall give her unto Eleazar, and one shall slay her before his face. Numb. xix. 3.

  Jove cannot fear; then tell me to my face,

  That I of all the gods am least in grace. Dryden’s Iliad.

  8. Confidence; boldness.

  Thinking, by this face,

  To fasten in our thoughts that they have courage;

  But ’tis not so. Shakespeare’s Julius Cæsar.

  How many things are there which a man cannot, with any face or comliness, say or do himself? A man can scarce allege his own merits with modesty, much less extol them: a man cannot sometimes brook to supplicate or beg. Bacon, Essay 28.

  You’ll find the thing will not be done

  With ignorance and face alone. Hudibras, p. ii.

  You, says the judge to the wolf, have the face to challenge that which you never lost; and you, says he to the fox, have the confidence to deny that which you have certainly stolen. L’Estrange, Fable 415.

  This is the man that has the face to charge others with false citations. Tillotson, Preface.

  9. Distortion of the face.

  Shame itself!

  Why do you make such faces? Shakespeare’s Macbeth.

  To Face. v.a.

  1. To meet in front; to oppose with confidence and firmness.

  I’ll face

  This tempest, and deserve the name of king. Dryden.

  We get intelligence of the force of the enemy, and cast about for a sufficient number of troops to face the enemy in the field of battle. Addison on War.

  They are as loth to see the fires kindled in Smithfield as his lordship; and, at least, as ready to face them under a popish persecution. Swift.

  2. To oppose with impudence.

  We trapann’d the state, and fac’d it down

  With plots and projects of our own. Hudibras, p. iii. c. 2.

  Because he walk’d against his will,

  He fac’d men down that he stood still. Prior.

  3. To stand opposite to.

  On one side is the head of the emperor Trajan; the reverse has on it the circus Maximus, and a view of the side of the Palatine mountain that faces it. Addison on Italy.

  The temple is described to be square, and the four fronts with open gates, facing the different quarters of the world. Pope’s Temple of Fame.

  4. To cover with an additional superficies; to invest with a covering.

  The whole fortification of Soleurre is faced with marble. Addison’s Remarks on Italy.

  Where your old bank is hollow, face it with the first spit of earth that you dig out of the ditch. Mortimer’s Husbandry.

  To Face. v.n. [from the noun.]

  1. To carry a false appearance; to play the hypocrite.

  Thou needs must learn to laugh, to lye,

  To face, to forge, to scoff, to company. Hubberd’s Tale.

  2. To turn the face; to come in front.

  Face about, man; you a soldier, and afraid of the enemy! Dryden’s Spanish Fryar.

  Then thrice the mounted squadrons ride around

  The fire, and Arcite’s name they thrice resound;

  Hail and farewel they shouted thrice amain,

  Thrice facing to the left, and thence they turn’d again. Dry.

  Face to Face. [An adverbial expression.]

  1. When both parties are present.

  It is not the manner of the Romans to deliver any man to die, before that he which is accused have his accusers face to face. Acts xxv. 16.

  2. Nakedly; without the interposition of other bodies.

  Now we see through a glass darkly; but then face to face. 1 Cor. xiii. 12.

  Fáceless. adj. [from face.] Without a face. Bailey.

  G

  G has two sounds, one from the Greek Γ, and the Latin, which is called that of the hard G, because it is formed by a pressure somewhat hard of the forepart of the tongue against the upper gum. This sound G retains before a, o, u, l, r; as, gate, go, gull. The other sound, called that of the soft G, resembles that of J, and is commonly, though not always, found before e, i; as, gem, gibbet. Before u, at the end of a word, g is commonly melted away; as in the French, from which these words are commonly derived: thus, for benign, malign, condign, we pronounce benine, maline, condine. It is often silent in the middle of words before h; as, might. The Saxon G, ʒ, seems to have had generally the sound y consonant; whence gate is by rusticks still pronounced yate.

  Gábardine. n.s. [gavardina, Italian.] A coarse frock; any mean dress.

  My best way is to creep under his gabardine; there is no other shelter hereabout. Shakespeare’s Tempest.

  You call me misbeliever, cut-throat dog,

  And spit upon my Jewish gabardine. Shakes. Mer. of Venice.

  The knight did straight submit,

  And laid his weapons at her feet:

  Next he disrob’d his gabardine,

  And with it did himself resign. Hudibras, b. i.

  Gábble. n.s. [from the verb.]

  1. Inarticulate noise like that of brute animals.

  Not to know what we speak one to another, so we seem to know, is to know straight our purpose: chough’s language, gabble enough, and good enough. Shak. All’s well that ends well.

  2. Loud talk without meaning.

  Forthwith a hideous gabble rises loud

  Among the builders; each to other calls,

  Not understood. Milton’s Paradise Lost, b. xii.

  To Gábble. v.n. [gabbare, Italian; gabberen, Dutch.]

  1. To make an inarticulate noise.

  When thou could’st not, savage,

  Shew thine own meaning, but would’st gabble like

  A thing most brutish, I endow’d thy purposes

  With words that made them known. Shakesp. Tempest.

  Flocks of fowl, that when the tempests roar,

  With their hoarse gabbling seek the silent shoar. Dryd. Æn.

  2. To prate loudly without meaning.

  Have you no wit, manners, nor honesty, but to gabble like tinkers at this time of night? Do ye make an alehouse of my lady’s house? Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night.

  Which made some think, when he did gabble,

  Th’ had heard three labourers of Babel. Hudibras, p. i.

  Such a rout, and such a rabble,

  Run to hear Jack Pudding gabble. Swift.

  Gábbler. n.s. [from gabble.] A prater; a chattering fellow. Gábel. n.s. [gabelle, French; gabello, Italian; ʒafel, Saxon, a tribute.] An excise; a tax.

  The gabels of Naples are very high on oil, wine, and tobacco. Addison’s Remarks on Italy.

  Gábion. n.s. [French.] A wicker basket which is filled with earth to make a fortification or intrenchment.

  His battery was defended all along with gabions, and casks filled with sand. Knolles’s History of the Turks.

  Gáble. n.s. [gaval, Welsh; gable, French.] The sloping roof of a building.

  Take care that all your brick-work be covered with the tiling, according to the new way of building, without gable ends, which are very heavy, and very apt to let the water into the brick-work. Mortimer’s Husbandry.

  Gad. n.s. [ʒad, Saxon; gaddur, Islandick, a club.]

  1. A wedge or ingot of steel.

  Flemish steel is brought down the Rhine to Dort, and other parts of Holland and Flanders, some in bars, and some in gads; and therefore called Flemish steel, and sometimes gad steel. Moxon’s Mech. Exer.

  2. It seems to be used by Shakespeare for a stile or graver, [from ʒad, Saxon, a goad.]

  I will go get a leaf of brass,

  And with a gad of steel will write these words. Shakespeare.

  To Gad. v.n. [Derived by Skinner from gadfly; by Junius from gadaw, Welsh, to forsake.] To ramble about without any settled purpose; to rove loosely and idly.

  How now, my headstrong, where have you been gadding?

  — Where I have learnt me to repent. Shakes. Rom. and Jul.

  Give the water no passage, neither a wicked woman liberty to gad abroad. Ecclus. xxv. 25.

  The lesser devils arose with ghastly rore,

  And thronged forth about the world to gad;

  Each land they fill’d, river, stream and shore. Fairfax, b. iv.

  Envy is a gadding passion, and walketh the streets, and doth not keep home. Bacon, Essay 9.

  Gad not abroad at ev’ry quest and call

  Of an untrained hope or passion;

  To court each place or fortune that doth fall,

  Is wantonness in contemplation. Herbert.

  Thee, shepherd, thee the woods and desart caves,

  With wild thyme and the gadding vine o’ergrown,

  And all their echo’s moan. Milton.

  A fierce loud buzzing breeze; their stings draw blood,

  And drive the cattle gadding through the wood. Dryd. Virg.

  She wreaks her anger on her rival’s head;

  With furies frights her from her native home,

  And drives her gadding, round the world to roam. Dryden.

  Gull ’em with freedom,

  And you shall see ’em toss their tails, and gad

  As if the breeze had stung them. Dryd. and Lee’s Oedipus.

  There’s an ox lost, and this coxcomb runs a gadding after wild fowl. L’Estrange.

  No wonder their thoughts should be perpetually shifting from what disgusts them, and seek better entertainment in more pleasing objects, after which they will unavoidably be gadding. Locke.

  Gádder. n.s. [from gad.] A rambler; one that runs much abroad without business.

 

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