<B>family room,</B><DL COMPACT><DD> (U.S.) an informal room for general family use. </DL>
<A NAME="familysize">
<B>family-size, </B>adjective.<DL COMPACT><DD> of a large size suitable for a family. <BR> <I>Ex. family-size bottles of soda, a family-size car.</I> </DL>
<A NAME="familyskeleton">
<B>family skeleton,</B><DL COMPACT><DD> a cause of shame that a family tries to keep secret. </DL>
<A NAME="familystyle">
<B>family-style, </B>adjective.<DL COMPACT><DD><B> 1. </B>appealing to or suitable for the whole family. <BR> <I>Ex. a family-style humorist.</I> <DD><B> 2. </B>(of a meal) served from dishes at the table. </DL>
<A NAME="familytree">
<B>family tree,</B><DL COMPACT><DD><B> 1. </B>a diagram showing how all the members and ancestors of a family are related; genealogical tree. <DD><B> 2. </B>all the members of a family line; line of descent; lineage; genealogy. <BR> <I>Ex. Even today surprisingly little is known of man's own family tree (Walter Sullivan).</I> </DL>
<A NAME="famine">
<B>famine, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD><B> 1. </B>lack of food in a place; time of starving. <BR> <I>Ex. Many people died during the famine in India.</I> <DD><B> 2. </B>starvation. <BR> <I>Ex. Many people died of famine.</I> <DD><B> 3. </B>(Figurative.) a very great lack of anything; scarcity; shortage. <BR> <I>Ex. a coal famine.</I> (SYN) insufficiency, deficiency, dearth. </DL>
<A NAME="faminefever">
<B>famine fever,</B> <B>=typhus.</B></DL>
<A NAME="famish">
<B>famish, </B>transitive verb.<DL COMPACT><DD><B> 1. </B>to make extremely hungry; starve. <BR> <I>Ex. He hadn't eaten for ten hours and said he was famished.</I> <DD><B> 2. </B>to starve to death; kill with hunger. <BR> <I>Ex. to famish to death.</I> <DD><I>v.i. </I> <B>1. </B>to be very hungry. <BR> <I>Ex. I am famished.</I> <DD><B> 2. </B>to die of starvation. </DL>
<A NAME="famishment">
<B>famishment, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> (Obsolete.) the pain of extreme hunger or thirst. </DL>
<A NAME="famous">
<B>famous, </B>adjective.<DL COMPACT><DD><B> 1. </B>very well known; much talked about or written about; noted; celebrated. <BR> <I>Ex. a region famous for its scenery. A great crowd of people greeted the famous hero.</I> <DD><B> 2. </B>(Informal.) first-rate; excellent. <BR> <I>Ex. That wooded park would be a famous place for a picnic.</I> <DD><B> 3. </B>(Archaic.) notorious. adv. <B>famously.</B> noun <B>famousness.</B> </DL>
<A NAME="famulus">
<B>famulus, </B>noun, pl. <B>-li.</B><DL COMPACT><DD> an attendant or servant, especially of a scholar or magician. </DL>
<A NAME="fan">
<B>fan</B> (1), noun, verb, <B>fanned,</B> <B>fanning.</B><DL COMPACT><DD><I>noun </I> <B>1. </B>a hand implement for producing a current of air to cool the face and body. A fan is often made so that it can be folded or spread out into part of a circle. <DD><B> 2. </B>anything that is flat and spread out like an open fan, such as the tail of a bird. <DD><B> 3. </B>(Machinery.) <DD><B> a. </B>any one of various devices consisting essentially of a series of radiating flat or curved blades attached to and revolving with a central hublike part. <DD><B> b. </B>such a device turned by a belt from the crankshaft for cooling the radiator of an automobile. <DD><B> c. </B>such a device turned by an electric motor for cooling a room. <DD><B> 4. </B>a small guiding vane or combination of vanes used to keep the large sails of a windmill pointed into the wind. <DD><B> 5a. </B>a machine for winnowing grain. <DD><B> b. </B>a shallow basket or broad shovel formerly used to fling grain into the air so that the chaff, being much lighter, might be blown away. <DD><B> 6. </B>(Geology.) <B>=fan delta.</B> <DD><I>v.t. </I> <B>1. </B>to stir (the air) with a fan. <DD><B> 2. </B>to direct a current of air toward with a fan or anything like a fan. <BR> <I>Ex. She fanned herself with a newspaper to keep from fainting. Fan the fire to make it burn faster.</I> <DD><B> 3. </B>to drive away with a fan or anything like a fan. <BR> <I>Ex. She fanned the flies from the sleeping child with her hand.</I> <DD><B> 4. </B>(Figurative.) to stir up; arouse. <BR> <I>Ex. Bad treatment fanned their dislike into hate.</I> <DD><B> 5. </B>to spread out like an open fan. <BR> <I>Ex. He fanned the cards.</I> <DD><B> 6. </B>to blow gently and refreshingly upon; cool. <BR> <I>Ex. The breeze fanned their hot faces.</I> <DD><B> 7. </B>to winnow (grain). <DD><B> 8. </B>(Baseball.) to strike out (a batter). <DD><B> 9. </B>(Rare.) to breathe upon. <DD><I>v.i. </I> <B>1. </B>(Baseball.) to strike out or to be struck out. <BR> <I>Ex. Andy Carey had fanned and Yogi Berra had flied out to Johnny Groth, retiring the side (New York Times).</I> <DD><B> 2. </B>to assume a fanlike shape. <BR><I>expr. <B>fan out,</B> </I>to spread out or be spread out like an open fan. <BR> <I>Ex. The posse fanned out to cover several hundred yards.</I> adj. <B>fanlike.</B> </DL>
<A NAME="fan">
<B>fan</B> (2), noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> (Informal.) <DD><B> 1. </B>a person extremely interested in something, such as a sport, the movies, radio, or television. A baseball fan thinks, talks, and reads about baseball besides seeing as many games as he can. <DD><B> 2. </B>an enthusiastic admirer, as of an actor or writer. (SYN) devotee. </DL>
<A NAME="fan">
<B>Fan, </B>noun, pl. <B>Fans</B> or <B>Fan.</B> <B>=Fang.</B></DL>
<A NAME="fanakolo">
<B>Fanakolo, </B>noun, pl. <B>-los.</B><DL COMPACT><DD> a mixed form of Bantu, with a much-simplified grammar, used as a lingua franca by the natives of different Bantu tribes who work on the gold mines of South Africa. </DL>
<A NAME="fanatic">
<B>fanatic, </B>noun, adjective.<DL COMPACT><DD><I>noun </I> a person who is carried away beyond reason by his feelings or beliefs. <BR> <I>Ex. My friend was such a fanatic about fresh air that he would not stay in any room with the windows closed.</I> (SYN) zealot. <DD><I>adj. </I> enthusiastic or zealous beyond reason, especially in religion or politics. <BR> <I>Ex. a fanatic follower of some leader or belief.</I> </DL>
<B>fanaticism, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> excessive or unreasonable enthusiasm; extreme zeal, especially in matters of religion or politics. </DL>
<A NAME="fanaticize">
<B>fanaticize, </B>verb, <B>-cized,</B> <B>-cizing.</B><DL COMPACT><DD><I>v.t. </I> to make a fanatic of. <DD><I>v.i. </I> to act like a fanatic. </DL>
<A NAME="fanbelt">
<B>fan belt,</B><DL COMPACT><DD> a reinforced rubber belt behind the radiator of an automobile engine that is rotated by the crankshaft and serves to turn the generator and radiator fan. </DL>
<A NAME="fancied">
<B>fancied, </B>adjective.<DL COMPACT><DD><B> 1. </B>imagined; imaginary. <BR> <I>Ex. a fancied insult.</I> <DD><B> 2. </B>liked. <BR> <I>Ex. He beat the two most fancied runners (London Times).</I> </DL>
<A NAME="fancier">
<B>fancier, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD><B> 1. </B>a person who has a liking for or is especially interested in something. <BR> <I>Ex. an art fancier. A dog fancier is interested in breeding and raising dogs.</I> <DD><B> 2. </B>a person who fancies or imagines. <BR> <I>Ex. those people who in their speculations on politics, are not reasoners but fanciers (Macaulay).</I> </DL>
<A NAME="fanciful">
<B>fanciful, </B>adjective.<DL COMPACT><DD><B> 1. </B>showing fancy; quaint; odd; fantastic. <BR> <I>Ex. Fanciful decorations are made up, not patterned after something.</I> (SYN) curious. <DD><B> 2. </B>led by fancy; using fancies; imaginative. <BR> <I>Ex. Hans Christian Andersen was a fanciful writer.</I> (SYN) whimsical. <DD><B> 3. </B>suggested by fancy; imaginary; unreal. <BR> <I>Ex. A story about fairyland is fanciful.</I> adv. <B>fancifully.</B> noun <B>fancifulness.</B> </DL>
<A NAME="fancify">
<B>fancify, </B>transitive verb, intransitive verb, <B>-fied,</B> <B>-fying.</B><DL COMPACT><DD> to make fanciful; embellish. </DL>
<A NAME="fanciless">
<B>fanciless, </B>adjective.<DL COMPACT><DD> lacking in fancy; unimaginative. </DL>
<A NAME="fancily">
<B>fancily, </B>adverb.<DL COMPACT><DD> in a fancy manner. <BR> <I>Ex. He back-pedaled fancily, like a young acrobat giving out with the footwork before actually stepping on the tight wire (Harper's).</I> </DL>
<A NAME="fanciness">
<B>fanciness, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> the fact of being fancy, especially in ornamentation or decorativeness. </DL>
<A NAME="fanclub">
<B>fan club,</B><DL COMPACT><DD> a club organized by the admirers of a celebrity and usually named after him. </DL>
<A NAME="fanconisanemia">
<B>Fanconi's anemia,</B><DL COMPACT><DD> a constitutional anemia of children, resembling pernicious anemia. </DL>
