<B>fess</B> (2) or <B>'fess, </B>transitive verb, intransitive verb.<DL COMPACT><DD> (Slang.) to confess. <BR><I>expr. <B>fess up,</B> </I>to admit the truth of something. <BR> <I>Ex. The joke is on him and he may as well fess up to it (Randolph Enterprise).</I> </DL>
<A NAME="fesspoint">
<B>fess point</B> or <B>fesse point,</B><DL COMPACT><DD> (Heraldry.) the exact center of a shield; heart point. </DL>
<A NAME="fesswise">
<B>fesswise</B> or <B>fessewise, </B>adverb.<DL COMPACT><DD> (Heraldry.) horizontally. </DL>
<A NAME="fest">
<B>-fest,</B><DL COMPACT><DD> (combining form.) meeting, occasion, contest, or game, characterized by ______, as in <I>songfest, slugfest, talkfest.</I> </DL>
<A NAME="festa">
<B>festa, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> (Italian.) <DD><B> 1. </B>holiday; festival. <DD><B> 2. </B>party; feast. <BR> <I>Ex. The linen and silver were their best ... and would be saved for priests, festas, wayfarers, and perhaps victims (New Yorker).</I> </DL>
<A NAME="festal">
<B>festal, </B>adjective.<DL COMPACT><DD> of or having to do with a feast, festival, or holiday; gay; festive; joyous. <BR> <I>Ex. A wedding or a birthday is a festal occasion.</I> adv. <B>festally.</B> </DL>
<A NAME="fester">
<B>fester, </B>verb, noun.<DL COMPACT><DD><I>v.i. </I> <B>1. </B>to form pus; suppurate. <BR> <I>Ex. The neglected wound festered and became very painful.</I> <DD><B> 2. </B>to poison or inflame the surrounding parts progressively, as a disease does. <DD><B> 3. </B>(Figurative.) to cause soreness or pain; rankle. <BR> <I>Ex. Resentment at the unkind remark festered in his mind.</I> <DD><B> 4. </B>to decay; rot. <BR> <I>Ex. Lilies that fester smell far worse than weeds (Shakespeare).</I> <DD><I>v.t. </I> <B>1. </B>to cause pus to form in. <DD><B> 2. </B>(Figurative.) to cause soreness or pain in; cause to rankle. <BR> <I>Ex. Time festered the insult to his pride.</I> <DD><I>noun </I> a sore that forms pus; small ulcer. </DL>
<A NAME="festinalente">
<B>festina lente,</B><DL COMPACT><DD> (Latin.) make haste slowly. </DL>
<B>festination, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD><B> 1. </B>(Medicine.) an involuntary hurrying in gait, such as observed in Parkinson's disease and other nervous diseases. <DD><B> 2. </B>(Obsolete.) haste. </DL>
<A NAME="festival">
<B>festival, </B>noun, adjective.<DL COMPACT><DD><I>noun </I> <B>1. </B>a day or special time of rejoicing or feasting, often in memory of some great happening. <BR> <I>Ex. Christmas and Easter are two festivals of the Christian Church; Purim andHanukkah are two festivals of the Jewish religion.</I> <DD><B> 2. </B>a celebration or entertainment, often at recurring periods. <BR> <I>Ex. a strawberry festival. Every year the city has a summer music festival. Just returned from a film festival in Acapulco, he sported a healthy bronze glow (Rex Reed).</I> <DD><B> 3. </B>merrymaking; revelry. <BR> <I>Ex. The morning trumpets festival proclaim'd through each high street (Milton).</I> <DD><I>adj. </I> <B>1. </B>of or having to do with a festival. <DD><B> 2. </B>(Obsolete.) joyful. </DL>
<A NAME="festivalgoer">
<B>festivalgoer, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> a person who attends a festival or festivals. </DL>
<A NAME="festivaloffreedom">
<B>Festival of Freedom,</B> =Passover.</DL>
<A NAME="festivaloflanterns">
<B>Festival of Lanterns,</B> =Bon.</DL>
<A NAME="festivaloflights">
<B>Festival of Lights,</B> =Hanukkah.</DL>
<A NAME="festivalseating">
<B>festival seating,</B><DL COMPACT><DD> (U.S.) unreserved seating, especially at a rock music concert. <BR> <I>Ex. How many lives before the punitive and inhuman policy of festival seating at rock concerts is outlawed? (Time).</I> </DL>
<A NAME="festive">
<B>festive, </B>adjective.<DL COMPACT><DD> of or suitable for a feast, festival, or holiday; gay; merry; joyous. <BR> <I>Ex. Her birthday was a festive occasion. Flags and flowers made the hall look festive.</I> (SYN) festal. adv. <B>festively.</B> noun <B>festiveness.</B> </DL>
<A NAME="festivity">
<B>festivity, </B>noun, pl. <B>-ties.</B><DL COMPACT><DD><B> 1. </B>the act of rejoicing and feasting; festive activity; thing done to celebrate. <BR> <I>Ex. The festivities on the Fourth of July included a parade and fireworks.</I> <DD><B> 2. </B>gaiety; merriment. <BR> <I>Ex. Come, join in the festivity!</I> <DD><B> 3. </B><B>=festival.</B> </DL>
<A NAME="festivous">
<B>festivous, </B>adjective. =festive.</DL>
<A NAME="festoon">
<B>festoon, </B>noun, verb.<DL COMPACT><DD><I>noun </I> a string or chain of flowers, leaves, ribbons, or the like, hanging in a curve between two points. <BR> <I>Ex. Bunting was draped on the walls in colorful festoons.</I> <DD><B> 1. </B>a carved or molded ornament like this on furniture, pottery, or a building. <BR> <I>Ex. a design of grape leaves in plaster festoons.</I> <DD><I>v.t. </I> <B>1. </B>to decorate with or as if with festoons. <BR> <I>Ex. The Christmas tree was festooned with tinsel.</I> <DD><B> 2. </B>to form into festoons; hang in curves like festoons. <BR> <I>Ex. Draperies were festooned over the windows.</I> <DD><B> 3. </B>to connect by festoons. <BR> <I>Ex. Growths of jasmine turned their humid arms festooning tree to tree (Tennyson).</I> </DL>
<A NAME="festoonery">
<B>festoonery, </B>noun, pl. <B>-eries.</B><DL COMPACT><DD><B> 1. </B>a decoration of festoons; festoonlike arrangement. <DD><B> 2. </B>festoons collectively. </DL>
<A NAME="festschrift">
<B>Festschrift</B> or <B>festschrift, </B>noun, pl. <B>-schriften,</B> <B>-schrifts.</B><DL COMPACT><DD> a volume usually containing original essays by several different students or colleagues of a scholar, published in his honor, and often formally presented to him. </DL>
<B>FET</B> (no periods),<DL COMPACT><DD> field effect transistor. </DL>
<A NAME="feta">
<B>feta, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> a Greek cheese made from sheep's or goat's milk, cured in brine. Also, <B>fetta.</B> </DL>
<A NAME="fetal">
<B>fetal, </B>adjective.<DL COMPACT><DD><B> 1. </B>of or having to do with a fetus. <BR> <I>Ex. Fetal hemoglobin differs chemically from normal hemoglobin.</I> <DD><B> 2. </B>like that of a fetus. <BR> <I>Ex. a rolled-up, fetal posture.</I> <DD> Also, <B>foetal.</B> </DL>
<A NAME="fetalalcoholsyndrome">
<B>fetal alcohol syndrome,</B><DL COMPACT><DD> a group of physical and mental defects in a newborn, including retardation, resulting from the consumption of too much alcohol by the mother during pregnancy. <BR> <I>Ex. French researchers first identified what has come to be called the "fetal alcohol syndrome" (malformations and behavioral damage) (New Scientist).</I> </DL>
<A NAME="fetation">
<B>fetation, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> the formation of a fetus; pregnancy. </DL>
<A NAME="fetch">
<B>fetch</B> (1), verb, noun.<DL COMPACT><DD><I>v.t. </I> <B>1. </B>to go and get; bring. <BR> <I>Ex. Please fetch me my glasses.</I> <DD><B> 2. </B>to cause to come; succeed in bringing. <BR> <I>Ex. Her call fetched him at once.</I> <DD><B> 3. </B>to be sold for. <BR> <I>Ex. These eggs will fetch a good price.</I> <DD><B> 4. </B>(Informal.) to attract; charm. <BR> <I>Ex. A little flattery will fetch him.</I> <DD><B> 5. </B>(Informal.) to deal or strike (a blow, etc.); hit. <DD><B> 6a. </B>to draw or take (a breath). <BR> <I>Ex. to fetch a deep breath.</I> <DD><B> b. </B>to give (a groan, sigh, or other sign of emotion). <BR> <I>Ex. In answer he only fetched a sigh.</I> <DD><B> 7. </B>(of a ship) to arrive at; reach. <DD><B> 8. </B>to draw or derive (from or out of). <BR> <I>Ex. to fetch examples from history.</I> <DD><I>v.i. </I> <B>1a. </B>to go and bring a thing or things back. <DD><B> b. </B>(of hunting dogs) to retrieve killed or wounded game. <DD><B> 2. </B>of ships: <DD><B> a. </B>to take or hold a course; move; go. <DD><B> b. </B>to veer. <DD><I>noun </I> <B>1. </B>an act of fetching. <DD><B> 2. </B>the distance something is fetched. <DD><B> 3. </B>the distance across which the wind blows with the same direction and speed. <DD><B> 4. </B>a long stretch. <BR> <I>Ex. The day was half gone and it was a far fetch to Stepney (Jack London).</I> <DD><B> 5. </B>a trick; stratagem. <BR> <I>Ex. This excuse ... though true in part, was principally a fetch (James Fenimore Cooper).</I> <BR><I>expr. <B>fetch and carry,</B> </I>to do small jobs. <BR> <I>Ex. All he's good for is to fetch and carry.</I> <BR><I>expr. <B>fetch up,</B> (Informal.) <DD><B> a. </B>to arrive; stop. </I> <I>Ex. We fetch up around three o'clock in a grimy cul-de-sac behind a prison (Manchester Guardian).</I> <DD><B> b. </B>(U.S.) to bring up or rear (a child). <BR> <I>Ex. I was fetchin' on her up to work for her livin' as I was fetched up (Harriet Beecher Stowe).</I> noun <B>fetcher.</B> </DL>
<A NAME="fetch">
<B>fetch</B> (2), noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> the apparition of a living person; wraith. <BR> <I>Ex. She believed she had seen his fetch as a forerunner of his death (Mary Leadbeater).</I> </DL>
<A NAME="fetching">
<B>fetching, </B>adjective.<DL COMPACT><DD> (Informal.) attractive; charming. <BR> <I>Ex. She wore a fetching hat.</I> adv. <B>fetchingly.</B> </DL>
<A NAME="fete">
<B>fete, </B>noun, verb, <B>feted,</B> <B>feting.</B><DL COMPACT><DD><I>noun </I> a festival or party, especially an elaborate one and often one held outdoors. <BR> <I>Ex. A large fete was given for the benefit of the town hospital.</I> <DD><I>v.t. </I> to give parties for; honor with a fete; entertain. <BR> <I>Ex. The bride-to-be was feted by her friends.</I> </DL>
<B>feterita, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> a tall, African variety of grain sorghum, related to durra, grown for fodder in the southwestern United States. </DL>
<A NAME="fetial">
<B>fetial, </B>adjective, noun.<DL COMPACT><DD><I>adj. </I> <B>1. </B>of or having to do with the fetiales. <DD><B> 2. </B>concerned with declarations of war and treaties of peace. <DD><B> 3. </B><B>=heraldic.</B> <DD><I>noun </I> one of the fetiales. </DL>
