English Dictionary: facility | by the DICT Development Group |
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From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) [web1913]: | |
Facilitate \Fa*cil"i*tate\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. {Facilitated}; p. pr. & vb. n. {Facilitating}.] [Cf. F. faciliter. See {Facility}.] To make easy or less difficult; to free from difficulty or impediment; to lessen the labor of; as, to facilitate the execution of a task. To invite and facilitate that line of proceeding which the times call for. --I. Taylor. | |
From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) [web1913]: | |
Facilitate \Fa*cil"i*tate\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. {Facilitated}; p. pr. & vb. n. {Facilitating}.] [Cf. F. faciliter. See {Facility}.] To make easy or less difficult; to free from difficulty or impediment; to lessen the labor of; as, to facilitate the execution of a task. To invite and facilitate that line of proceeding which the times call for. --I. Taylor. | |
From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) [web1913]: | |
Facilitate \Fa*cil"i*tate\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. {Facilitated}; p. pr. & vb. n. {Facilitating}.] [Cf. F. faciliter. See {Facility}.] To make easy or less difficult; to free from difficulty or impediment; to lessen the labor of; as, to facilitate the execution of a task. To invite and facilitate that line of proceeding which the times call for. --I. Taylor. | |
From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) [web1913]: | |
Facilitation \Fa*cil`i*ta"tion\, n. The act of facilitating or making easy. | |
From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) [web1913]: | |
Facility \Fa*cil"i*ty\, n.; pl. {Facilities}. [L. facilitas, fr. facilis easy: cf. F. facilit[?]. See {Facile}.] 1. The quality of being easily performed; freedom from difficulty; ease; as, the facility of an operation. The facility with which government has been overturned in France. --Burke. 2. Ease in performance; readiness proceeding from skill or use; dexterity; as, practice gives a wonderful facility in executing works of art. 3. Easiness to be persuaded; readiness or compliance; -- usually in a bad sense; pliancy. It is a great error to take facility for good nature. --L'Estrange. 4. Easiness of access; complaisance; affability. Offers himself to the visits of a friend with facility. --South. 5. That which promotes the ease of any action or course of conduct; advantage; aid; assistance; -- usually in the plural; as, special facilities for study. Syn: Ease; expertness; readiness; dexterity; complaisance; condescension; affability. Usage: {Facility}, {Expertness}, {Readiness}. These words have in common the idea of performing any act with ease and promptitude. Facility supposes a natural or acquired power of dispatching a task with lightness and ease. Expertness is the kind of facility acquired by long practice. Readiness marks the promptitude with which anything is done. A merchant needs great facility in dispatching business; a banker, great expertness in casting accounts; both need great readiness in passing from one employment to another. [bd]The facility which we get of doing things by a custom of doing, makes them often pass in us without our notice.[b8] --Locke. [bd]The army was celebrated for the expertness and valor of the soldiers.[b8] [bd]A readiness to obey the known will of God is the surest means to enlighten the mind in respect to duty.[b8] | |
From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) [web1913]: | |
Facility \Fa*cil"i*ty\, n.; pl. {Facilities}. [L. facilitas, fr. facilis easy: cf. F. facilit[?]. See {Facile}.] 1. The quality of being easily performed; freedom from difficulty; ease; as, the facility of an operation. The facility with which government has been overturned in France. --Burke. 2. Ease in performance; readiness proceeding from skill or use; dexterity; as, practice gives a wonderful facility in executing works of art. 3. Easiness to be persuaded; readiness or compliance; -- usually in a bad sense; pliancy. It is a great error to take facility for good nature. --L'Estrange. 4. Easiness of access; complaisance; affability. Offers himself to the visits of a friend with facility. --South. 5. That which promotes the ease of any action or course of conduct; advantage; aid; assistance; -- usually in the plural; as, special facilities for study. Syn: Ease; expertness; readiness; dexterity; complaisance; condescension; affability. Usage: {Facility}, {Expertness}, {Readiness}. These words have in common the idea of performing any act with ease and promptitude. Facility supposes a natural or acquired power of dispatching a task with lightness and ease. Expertness is the kind of facility acquired by long practice. Readiness marks the promptitude with which anything is done. A merchant needs great facility in dispatching business; a banker, great expertness in casting accounts; both need great readiness in passing from one employment to another. [bd]The facility which we get of doing things by a custom of doing, makes them often pass in us without our notice.[b8] --Locke. [bd]The army was celebrated for the expertness and valor of the soldiers.[b8] [bd]A readiness to obey the known will of God is the surest means to enlighten the mind in respect to duty.[b8] | |
From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) [web1913]: | |
Facultative \Fac"ul*ta*tive\, a. [L. facultas, -atis, faculty: cf. F. facultatif, G. fakultativ.] 1. Having relation to the grant or exercise faculty, or authority, privilege, license, or the like hence, optional; as, facultative enactments, or those which convey a faculty, or permission; the facultative referendum of Switzerland is one that is optional with the people and is necessary only when demanded by petition; facultative studies; -- opposed to {obligatory} and {compulsory}, and sometimes used with to. 2. Of such a character as to admit of existing under various forms or conditions, or of happening or not happening, or the like; specif.: (Biol.) Having the power to live under different conditions; as, a facultative parasite, a plant which is normally saprophytic, but which may exist wholly or in part as a parasite; -- opposed to {obligate}. 3. (Physiol.) Pertaining to a faculty or faculties. In short, there is no facultative plurality in the mind; it is a single organ of true judgment for all purposes, cognitive or practical. --J. Martineau. | |
From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) [web1913]: | |
Faculty \Fac"ul*ty\, n.; pl. {Faculties}. [F. facult[?], L. facultas, fr. facilis easy (cf. facul easily), fr. fecere to make. See {Fact}, and cf. {Facility}.] 1. Ability to act or perform, whether inborn or cultivated; capacity for any natural function; especially, an original mental power or capacity for any of the well-known classes of mental activity; psychical or soul capacity; capacity for any of the leading kinds of soul activity, as knowledge, feeling, volition; intellectual endowment or gift; power; as, faculties of the mind or the soul. But know that in the soul Are many lesser faculties that serve Reason as chief. --Milton. What a piece of work is a man ! how noble in reason ! how infinite in faculty ! --Shak. 2. Special mental endowment; characteristic knack. He had a ready faculty, indeed, of escaping from any topic that agitated his too sensitive and nervous temperament. --Hawthorne. 3. Power; prerogative or attribute of office. [R.] This Duncan Hath borne his faculties so meek. --Shak. 4. Privilege or permission, granted by favor or indulgence, to do a particular thing; authority; license; dispensation. The pope . . . granted him a faculty to set him free from his promise. --Fuller. It had not only faculty to inspect all bishops' dioceses, but to change what laws and statutes they should think fit to alter among the colleges. --Evelyn. 5. A body of a men to whom any specific right or privilege is granted; formerly, the graduates in any of the four departments of a university or college (Philosophy, Law, Medicine, or Theology), to whom was granted the right of teaching (profitendi or docendi) in the department in which they had studied; at present, the members of a profession itself; as, the medical faculty; the legal faculty, ect. 6. (Amer. Colleges) The body of person to whom are intrusted the government and instruction of a college or university, or of one of its departments; the president, professors, and tutors in a college. {Dean of faculty}. See under {Dean}. {Faculty of advocates}. (Scot.) See under {Advocate}. Syn: Talent; gift; endowment; dexterity; expertness; cleverness; readiness; ability; knack. | |
From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) [web1913]: | |
Faculty \Fac"ul*ty\, n.; pl. {Faculties}. [F. facult[?], L. facultas, fr. facilis easy (cf. facul easily), fr. fecere to make. See {Fact}, and cf. {Facility}.] 1. Ability to act or perform, whether inborn or cultivated; capacity for any natural function; especially, an original mental power or capacity for any of the well-known classes of mental activity; psychical or soul capacity; capacity for any of the leading kinds of soul activity, as knowledge, feeling, volition; intellectual endowment or gift; power; as, faculties of the mind or the soul. But know that in the soul Are many lesser faculties that serve Reason as chief. --Milton. What a piece of work is a man ! how noble in reason ! how infinite in faculty ! --Shak. 2. Special mental endowment; characteristic knack. He had a ready faculty, indeed, of escaping from any topic that agitated his too sensitive and nervous temperament. --Hawthorne. 3. Power; prerogative or attribute of office. [R.] This Duncan Hath borne his faculties so meek. --Shak. 4. Privilege or permission, granted by favor or indulgence, to do a particular thing; authority; license; dispensation. The pope . . . granted him a faculty to set him free from his promise. --Fuller. It had not only faculty to inspect all bishops' dioceses, but to change what laws and statutes they should think fit to alter among the colleges. --Evelyn. 5. A body of a men to whom any specific right or privilege is granted; formerly, the graduates in any of the four departments of a university or college (Philosophy, Law, Medicine, or Theology), to whom was granted the right of teaching (profitendi or docendi) in the department in which they had studied; at present, the members of a profession itself; as, the medical faculty; the legal faculty, ect. 6. (Amer. Colleges) The body of person to whom are intrusted the government and instruction of a college or university, or of one of its departments; the president, professors, and tutors in a college. {Dean of faculty}. See under {Dean}. {Faculty of advocates}. (Scot.) See under {Advocate}. Syn: Talent; gift; endowment; dexterity; expertness; cleverness; readiness; ability; knack. | |
From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) [web1913]: | |
Advocate \Ad"vo*cate\, n. [OE. avocat, avocet, OF. avocat, fr. L. advocatus, one summoned or called to another; properly the p. p. of advocare to call to, call to one's aid; ad + vocare to call. See {Advowee}, {Avowee}, {Vocal}.] 1. One who pleads the cause of another. Specifically: One who pleads the cause of another before a tribunal or judicial court; a counselor. Note: In the English and American Law, advocate is the same as [bd]counsel,[b8] [bd]counselor,[b8] or [bd]barrister.[b8] In the civil and ecclesiastical courts, the term signifies the same as [bd]counsel[b8] at the common law. 2. One who defends, vindicates, or espouses any cause by argument; a pleader; as, an advocate of free trade, an advocate of truth. 3. Christ, considered as an intercessor. We have an Advocate with the Father. --1 John ii. 1. {Faculty of advocates} (Scot.), the Scottish bar in Edinburgh. {Lord advocate} (Scot.), the public prosecutor of crimes, and principal crown lawyer. {Judge advocate}. See under {Judge}. | |
From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) [web1913]: | |
Faculty \Fac"ul*ty\, n.; pl. {Faculties}. [F. facult[?], L. facultas, fr. facilis easy (cf. facul easily), fr. fecere to make. See {Fact}, and cf. {Facility}.] 1. Ability to act or perform, whether inborn or cultivated; capacity for any natural function; especially, an original mental power or capacity for any of the well-known classes of mental activity; psychical or soul capacity; capacity for any of the leading kinds of soul activity, as knowledge, feeling, volition; intellectual endowment or gift; power; as, faculties of the mind or the soul. But know that in the soul Are many lesser faculties that serve Reason as chief. --Milton. What a piece of work is a man ! how noble in reason ! how infinite in faculty ! --Shak. 2. Special mental endowment; characteristic knack. He had a ready faculty, indeed, of escaping from any topic that agitated his too sensitive and nervous temperament. --Hawthorne. 3. Power; prerogative or attribute of office. [R.] This Duncan Hath borne his faculties so meek. --Shak. 4. Privilege or permission, granted by favor or indulgence, to do a particular thing; authority; license; dispensation. The pope . . . granted him a faculty to set him free from his promise. --Fuller. It had not only faculty to inspect all bishops' dioceses, but to change what laws and statutes they should think fit to alter among the colleges. --Evelyn. 5. A body of a men to whom any specific right or privilege is granted; formerly, the graduates in any of the four departments of a university or college (Philosophy, Law, Medicine, or Theology), to whom was granted the right of teaching (profitendi or docendi) in the department in which they had studied; at present, the members of a profession itself; as, the medical faculty; the legal faculty, ect. 6. (Amer. Colleges) The body of person to whom are intrusted the government and instruction of a college or university, or of one of its departments; the president, professors, and tutors in a college. {Dean of faculty}. See under {Dean}. {Faculty of advocates}. (Scot.) See under {Advocate}. Syn: Talent; gift; endowment; dexterity; expertness; cleverness; readiness; ability; knack. | |
From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) [web1913]: | |
Fazzolet \Faz"zo*let`\, n. [It. fazzoletto.] A handkerchief. [R.] --percival. | |
From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) [web1913]: | |
Figulate \Fig"u*late\, Figulated \Fig"u*la`ted\, a. [L. figulatus, p. p. of figulare to shape, fr. figulus potter, fr. fingere to shape.] Made of potter's clay; molded; shaped. [R.] --Johnson. | |
From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) [web1913]: | |
Figulate \Fig"u*late\, Figulated \Fig"u*la`ted\, a. [L. figulatus, p. p. of figulare to shape, fr. figulus potter, fr. fingere to shape.] Made of potter's clay; molded; shaped. [R.] --Johnson. | |
From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) [web1913]: | |
Ladder \Lad"der\, n. [OE. laddre, AS. hl[?]der, hl[?]dder; akin to OFries. hladder, OHG. leitara, G. leiter, and from the root of E. lean, v. ([?]). See {Lean}, v. i., and cf. {Climax}.] 1. A frame usually portable, of wood, metal, or rope, for ascent and descent, consisting of two side pieces to which are fastened cross strips or rounds forming steps. Some the engines play, And some, more bold, mount ladders to the fire. --Dryden. 2. That which resembles a ladder in form or use; hence, that by means of which one attains to eminence. Lowliness is young ambition's ladder. --Shak. {Fish ladder}. See under {Fish}. {Ladder beetle} (Zo[94]l.), an American leaf beetle ({Chrysomela scalaris}). The elytra are silvery white, striped and spotted with green; the under wings are rose-colored. It feeds upon the linden tree. {Ladder handle}, an iron rail at the side of a vertical fixed ladder, to grasp with the hand in climbing. {Ladder shell} (Zo[94]l.), a spiral marine shell of the genus Scalaria. See {Scalaria}. | |
From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) [web1913]: | |
Fish \Fish\, n.; pl. {Fishes}, or collectively, {Fish}. [OE. fisch, fisc, fis, AS. fisc; akin to D. visch, OS. & OHG. fisk, G. fisch, Icel. fiskr, Sw. & Dan. fisk, Goth. fisks, L. piscis, Ir. iasg. Cf. {Piscatorial}. In some cases, such as fish joint, fish plate, this word has prob. been confused with fish, fr. F. fichea peg.] 1. A name loosely applied in popular usage to many animals of diverse characteristics, living in the water. 2. (Zo[94]l.) An oviparous, vertebrate animal usually having fins and a covering scales or plates. It breathes by means of gills, and lives almost entirely in the water. See {Pisces}. Note: The true fishes include the Teleostei (bony fishes), Ganoidei, Dipnoi, and Elasmobranchii or Selachians (sharks and skates). Formerly the leptocardia and Marsipobranciata were also included, but these are now generally regarded as two distinct classes, below the fishes. 3. pl. The twelfth sign of the zodiac; Pisces. 4. The flesh of fish, used as food. 5. (Naut.) (a) A purchase used to fish the anchor. (b) A piece of timber, somewhat in the form of a fish, used to strengthen a mast or yard. Note: Fish is used adjectively or as part of a compound word; as, fish line, fish pole, fish spear, fish-bellied. {Age of Fishes}. See under {Age}, n., 8. {Fish ball}, fish (usually salted codfish) shared fine, mixed with mashed potato, and made into the form of a small, round cake. [U.S.] {Fish bar}. Same as {Fish plate} (below). {Fish beam} (Mech.), a beam one of whose sides (commonly the under one) swells out like the belly of a fish. --Francis. {Fish crow} (Zo[94]l.), a species of crow ({Corvus ossifragus}), found on the Atlantic coast of the United States. It feeds largely on fish. {Fish culture}, the artifical breeding and rearing of fish; pisciculture. {Fish davit}. See {Davit}. {Fish day}, a day on which fish is eaten; a fast day. {Fish duck} (Zo[94]l.), any species of merganser. {Fish fall}, the tackle depending from the fish davit, used in hauling up the anchor to the gunwale of a ship. {Fish garth}, a dam or weir in a river for keeping fish or taking them easily. {Fish glue}. See {Isinglass}. {Fish joint}, a joint formed by a plate or pair of plates fastened upon two meeting beams, plates, etc., at their junction; -- used largely in connecting the rails of railroads. {Fish kettle}, a long kettle for boiling fish whole. {Fish ladder}, a dam with a series of steps which fish can leap in order to ascend falls in a river. {Fish line}, [or] {Fishing line}, a line made of twisted hair, silk, etc., used in angling. {Fish louse} (Zo[94]l.), any crustacean parasitic on fishes, esp. the parasitic Copepoda, belonging to {Caligus}, {Argulus}, and other related genera. See {Branchiura}. {Fish maw} (Zo[94]l.), the stomach of a fish; also, the air bladder, or sound. {Fish meal}, fish desiccated and ground fine, for use in soups, etc. {Fish oil}, oil obtained from the bodies of fish and marine animals, as whales, seals, sharks, from cods' livers, etc. {Fish owl} (Zo[94]l.), a fish-eating owl of the Old World genera {Scotopelia} and {Ketupa}, esp. a large East Indian species ({K. Ceylonensis}). {Fish plate}, one of the plates of a fish joint. {Fish pot}, a wicker basket, sunk, with a float attached, for catching crabs, lobsters, etc. {Fish pound}, a net attached to stakes, for entrapping and catching fish; a weir. [Local, U.S.] --Bartlett. {Fish slice}, a broad knife for dividing fish at table; a fish trowel. {Fish slide}, an inclined box set in a stream at a small fall, or ripple, to catch fish descending the current. --Knight. {Fish sound}, the air bladder of certain fishes, esp. those that are dried and used as food, or in the arts, as for the preparation of isinglass. {Fish story}, a story which taxes credulity; an extravagant or incredible narration. [Colloq. U.S.] --Bartlett. {Fish strainer}. (a) A metal colander, with handles, for taking fish from a boiler. (b) A perforated earthenware slab at the bottom of a dish, to drain the water from a boiled fish. {Fish trowel}, a fish slice. {Fish} {weir [or] wear}, a weir set in a stream, for catching fish. {Neither fish nor flesh} (Fig.), neither one thing nor the other. | |
From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) [web1913]: | |
Fissility \Fis*sil"i*ty\, n. Quality of being fissile. | |
From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) [web1913]: | |
Fizzle \Fiz"zle\ (f[icr]z"z'l), v. i. [imp. & p. p. {Fizzled} (-z'ld); p. pr. & vb. n. {Fizzling} (-zl[icr]ng).] [See {Fizz}.] 1. To make a hissing sound. It is the easiest thing, sir, to be done, As plain as fizzling. --B. Jonson. 2. To make a ridiculous failure in an undertaking. [Colloq. or Low] {To fizzle out}, to burn with a hissing noise and then go out, like wet gunpowder; hence, to fail completely and ridiculously; to prove a failure. [Colloq.] | |
From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) [web1913]: | |
Focal \Fo"cal\, a. [Cf. F. focal. See {Focus}.] Belonging to,or concerning, a focus; as, a focal point. {Focal distance, or length, of a lens or mirror} (Opt.), the distance of the focus from the surface of the lens or mirror, or more exactly, in the case of a lens, from its optical center. {Focal distance of a telescope}, the distance of the image of an object from the object glass. | |
From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) [web1913]: | |
Focal \Fo"cal\, a. [Cf. F. focal. See {Focus}.] Belonging to,or concerning, a focus; as, a focal point. {Focal distance, or length, of a lens or mirror} (Opt.), the distance of the focus from the surface of the lens or mirror, or more exactly, in the case of a lens, from its optical center. {Focal distance of a telescope}, the distance of the image of an object from the object glass. | |
From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) [web1913]: | |
Focillate \Foc"il*late\, v. t. [L. focilatus, p. p. of focillare.] To nourish. [Obs.] --Blount. | |
From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) [web1913]: | |
Focillation \Foc`il*la"tion\, n. Comfort; support. [Obs.] | |
From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) [web1913]: | |
Foozle \Foo"zle\, v. t. & i. [imp. & p. p. {Foozled}; p. pr. & vb. n. {Foozling}.] [Cf. G. fuseln to work badly or slowly.] To bungle; to manage awkwardly; to treat or play unskillfully; as, to foozle a stroke in golf. She foozles all along the course. --Century Mag. | |
From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) [web1913]: | |
Fossulate \Fos"su*late\, a. [L. fossula little ditch, dim. of fossa. See {Fosse}.] Having, or surrounded by, long, narrow depressions or furrows. | |
From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) [web1913]: | |
Foucault current \Fou`cault" cur`rent\ [After J. B. L. Foucault (1819-68), French physicist.] (Elec.) An eddy current. | |
From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) [web1913]: | |
Eddy current \Ed"dy cur"rent\ (Elec.) An induced electric current circulating wholly within a mass of metal; -- called also {Foucault current}. | |
From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) [web1913]: | |
Fusillade \Fu"sil*lade"\, n. [F. fusillade, cf. It. fucilata. See {Fusil} a firelock.] (Mil.) A simultaneous discharge of firearms. | |
From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) [web1913]: | |
Fusillade \Fu"sil*lade"\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. {Fusillader}; p. pr. & vb. n. {Fusillading}.] To shoot down of shoot at by a simultaneous discharge of firearms. | |
From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) [web1913]: | |
Fusillade \Fu"sil*lade"\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. {Fusillader}; p. pr. & vb. n. {Fusillading}.] To shoot down of shoot at by a simultaneous discharge of firearms. | |
From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) [web1913]: | |
Fusillade \Fu"sil*lade"\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. {Fusillader}; p. pr. & vb. n. {Fusillading}.] To shoot down of shoot at by a simultaneous discharge of firearms. |