ferdelance (fardel ons)

[F., lit. lance head, iron of the lance: fer, If by some rare chance you encounter [in the island of Martin i que] a person who has lost an arm or a leg, you can be almost certain you are looking at a victim of the fer-de- lance -the serpent whose venom putrefies living ti ue. Harper's Mag . , LXXVII. 328. fer de mouline (far de mö-lēn'). [F.: fer, iron; de, of; mouline, mill: see mill1.] In her., the iron let into the millstone. Also called mill rine. ferdigewt, n. [See farthingale.] A farthingale. In our tricke ferdegews and billiments of golde. Udall , Roister Doister, ii. 3. [ME. ferdnes , fear, ferd , fered , pp. (see ferd1 , feard ), + -nes,-ne .] The state of being afraid; fearfulne . (b) The conveyance of land by investiture, or words of donation, accompanied by livery of seizin; also, the document making such conveyance. Thanne Symonye and Cyuyle stoden forth bot he, And vnfeelde the feffement that Fals hadde maked. Piers Plowman (C), iii. 73. He has a quarrel to carry, and has caused A deed of feoffment of his whole estate To be drawn yonder: he has 't within; and you Only he means to make feoffee. In Paraguay and in Cir ca ia it has been noticed that feral horses of the same colour and size usually breed to gether. A. R. Wallace , in Fortnightly Rev., N. Š., XL. 315. In New Zealand, according to Dieffenbach, the feral cats a ume a streaky grey colour like that of wild cats. Darwin, Var. of Animals and Plants, p. 49. 3. Like a wild beast; characteristic of wild beasts; brutal; savage.-4. In astrol., said of a planet which has no significant relation to any other. feral2 (fe'ral), a. [= Sp. Pg. feral = It. ferale, The proce of conveying land by the combined effect of a deed and livery of seisin was called a feoffment ; the deed was first executed, and then livery of seisin was given, and a memorandum of this was indorsed on the deed, and usually attested by the same witne es. F. Pollock , Land Laws, p. 72. (c) A like transfer or creation of any corporeal hereditament or freehold estate. Could his grants, if not in themselves null, avail against his posterity, heirs like himself under the great feoffment of creation? Hallam . erence to the carrying of the dead in funeral proce ion; cf. E. bier, ult. For ferdnes he turned ogayne And durst do no thing at the kyrk. Holy Rood (E. E. T. S.), p. 122. ferdwitt (fèrd'wit), n. [The form in old law books (Law L. ferdwita ) of ME. ferdwite , AS. ferdwite , fyrdwite , a fine for neglecting the mil i- tary service, fyrd , also written ferd , fierd , fird , an army, the military array of the whole coun- try, an expedition (see ferd2 ), + wite , punish- ment, fine: see wite .] In Anglo - Saxon law , a fine imposed on persons for not going forth in a military expedition. ferelt, n. and v. A Middle English form of fear1 . fere2t, n. See feer1 . Burton , Anat. of Mel., p. 148. fere3t, n. A rare Middle English form of fire . See fear3 . festival in honor of the dead, held in February. The most characteristic observance consisted in the car rying of food by the people to the tombs of relatives or ancestors, for the use of their shades.