fichu

[Fr.) A light article of dre worn by ladies over the neck, throat, and shoulders. fi-çi-nīte, s . [From Ficinus, who analyzed it.] Min.: A monoclinic, black, sub translucent mineral, of waxy or pearly luster. Its hardne , 5 to 5.5; specific gravity, 34 to 3.5. Composition: Phosphoric acid, 12.82; sulphuric acid, 407; protoxide of iron, 58.85; protoxide of manganese, 6'82; water, 16-87, . Found near Bodenmais. (Dana. ) sin, as; expect, Xenophon, exist. ph = f. 3. That which is feigned, imagined, or invented; a feigned, fictitious, or invented story or account; a fabrication, a fable. "When it could no longer be denied that her flight had been voluntary, numerous fictions were invented to ac- count for it." -Macaulay : Hist . Eng ., ch. ix. 4. Romance. "For us the stream of fiction ceased to flow." Words worth: White Doe of Rylstone. (Introd.) 5. Fictitious literature; the literary productions of the imagination, whether prose or verse, narra- tive or dramatic; more specifically applied to prose romances or novels. "Such anecdotes are apt to be looked upon not as genu- just because they do occur in ine illustrations poetry or fiction ."-Lindsay: Mind in the Lower Animals, 1. 27. II. Law : Any point or thing a umed for the pur- poses of justice or convenience, even though it can- not be proved, and may even be absolutely opposed to the fact. rication, and falsehood : " Fiction and fabrication both require invention: falsehood_consists of sim- ple contradiction. The fables of Esop are fictions of the simplest kind, but yet such as required a peculiarly lively fancy and inventive genius to pro- duce. The fabrication of a play, as the production of Shakespeare's pen, was once executed with suf- credulity ficient skill to impose for a time upon the public fiction , it approaches still nearer to the sense of fabricate , when said of the fictions of the ancients, which were delivered as truth, although admitted now to be false the motive of the narrator is what here constitutes the difference-namely, that in the former case he believes what he relates to be true, in the latter he knows it to be false. The heathen mythology consists principally of the fictions of the poets; newspapers commonly abound in fabric a- tions.' (Crabb: Eng. Synon.) IMG:content-1589.png:[blocks in formation] fid, fidd, s . [Etym. doubtful.] I. Ordinary Language : 1. Feigned, imaginary, not real, fabulous. "They hold the ten Sibylls to be fictitious and fab up ointed peen to act as a fid. [II. 1.] lous." Howell: Letters , bk. iv., lett. 43. 2. Counterfeit, false; not genuine or real. "Duty, love, and honor, fail to sway Fictitious bonds." Goldsmith: Traveler. fic-ti-tious-ne , s. [Eng. fictitious ; -ne .] The quality or state of being fictitious, feigned, or counterfeit. fic-tive, a . [Lat. fict ( us ), pa. par. of fin go =to feign, and Eng. adj. suff. -ive .] 1. Feigned, fictitious, imaginary. 2. Of or pertaining to fiction; sham, counterfeit. fic-tor, s . [Lat., from fictus , pa. par. of fin go .] An artist in wax, clay, or other plastic material, marble, or other solid material. as distinguished from one who works in bronze, 1. Lit .: In the same sense as II. 1. *2. Fig .: A fool, a trifler. "He may be but a foole, and she a fiddle." Breton: Pasquil's Madcappe , p. 9. horse, and used to drag loose straw or hay on the ground, or hay-cocks to the place of stacking. 4. Naut .: A frame of bars and strings, to keep things from rolling off the cabin-table in bad weather. IMG:content-1590.png:[blocks in formation] somewhat like the scroll a fiddle. *fiddle-lipped, a . Bot .: Having a fiddle-shaped lip.