<B>figure skate,</B><DL COMPACT><DD> an ice skate with a slight toothed curve on the point of the blade and a high shoe, used for figure skating. </DL>
<A NAME="figureskate">
<B>figure-skate, </B>intransitive verb, <B>-skated,</B> <B>-skating.</B><DL COMPACT><DD> to engage in figure skating. </DL>
<A NAME="figureskater">
<B>figure-skater, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> a person engaged in figure skating; a performer who figureskates. </DL>
<A NAME="figureskating">
<B>figure skating,</B><DL COMPACT><DD><B> 1. </B>the art or practice of describing certain figures and of performing feats of grace and agility to music on skates, somewhat resembling ballet. <DD><B> 2. </B>a competition in the display of this art. </DL>
<A NAME="figurestone">
<B>figure stone,</B> <B>=agalmatolite.</B></DL>
<A NAME="figurette">
<B>figurette, </B>noun. <B>=figurine.</B></DL>
<A NAME="figurine">
<B>figurine, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> a small ornamental figure made of stone, pottery, metal, or other material; statuette. </DL>
<A NAME="figwasp">
<B>fig wasp,</B><DL COMPACT><DD> a wasp that lives in caprifigs and carries pollen from the male flowers to the female flowers of the Smyrna figs. </DL>
<A NAME="figwort">
<B>figwort, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD><B> 1. </B>any one of a genus of tall, coarse herbs with small, greenish-purple or yellow, bell-shaped flowers, divided into two lips, that have a disagreeable odor. <DD><B> 2. </B>any similar plant. </DL>
<A NAME="figwortfamily">
<B>figwort family,</B><DL COMPACT><DD> a group of dicotyledonous herbs and shrubs or small trees having alternate leaves, bisexual flowers, and bearing (commonly) a capsule as the fruit. The family includes the toadflax, digitalis, snapdragon, and mullein. </DL>
<A NAME="fiji">
<B>Fiji, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> a native of the Fiji Islands in the South Pacific; Fijian. </DL>
<A NAME="fijian">
<B>Fijian, </B>adjective, noun.<DL COMPACT><DD><I>adj. </I> of or having to do with the Fiji Islands, their people, or their language. <DD><I>noun </I> <B>1. </B>a native or inhabitant of the Fiji Islands. <DD><B> 2. </B>the Melanesian language of the Fijians. </DL>
<A NAME="fike">
<B>fike</B> (1), noun, verb, <B>fiked,</B> <B>fiking.</B><DL COMPACT><DD> (Scottish.) <DD><I>noun </I> <B>1. </B>a restless movement. <DD><B> 2. </B>anxiety about what is trifling; fuss. <DD><I>v.i. </I> to fidget. </DL>
<B>filament, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD><B> 1. </B>a very fine thread; very slender part that is like a thread. <BR> <I>Ex. the delicate filaments of a spider's web.</I> <DD><B> 2. </B>the threadlike wire that gives off light in an electric light bulb. <DD><B> 3. </B>the heated wire that acts as a negative electrode in a vacuum tube. In some vacuum tubes, the filament also acts as the cathode. <DD><B> 4. </B>(Botany.) <DD><B> a. </B>the stalklike part of a stamen that supports the another, usually slender and threadlike, but quite variable in form. <DD><B> b. </B>a very long, thin cell or a series of very long, thin cells, especially in various algae and fungi. <DD><B> 5. </B>one of the fine barbs of a down feather. <DD><B> 6. </B>a continuous strand of yarn of a synthetic, such as acetate, which may be used in weaving without spinning. </DL>
<A NAME="filamentary">
<B>filamentary, </B>adjective.<DL COMPACT><DD> having to do with or of the nature of a filament or filaments. </DL>
<A NAME="filamented">
<B>filamented, </B>adjective.<DL COMPACT><DD> provided with a filament or filaments. </DL>
<B>filar, </B>adjective.<DL COMPACT><DD><B> 1. </B>of or having to do with a thread. <DD><B> 2. </B>having threads or wires across its field of view. <BR> <I>Ex. a filar microscope.</I> </DL>
<A NAME="filaria">
<B>filaria, </B>noun, pl. <B>-lariae.</B><DL COMPACT><DD> any one of a family of threadlike, parasitic nematode worms, whose larvae are transmitted by mosquitoes and other anthropods. The filariae live in the blood and tissues of man and other vertebrates, causing such diseases as elephantiasis and onchocerciasis. </DL>
<A NAME="filarial">
<B>filarial, </B>adjective.<DL COMPACT><DD><B> 1. </B>of or belonging to the filariae. <DD><B> 2. </B>of the nature of or caused by filariae. <BR> <I>Ex. filarial disease.</I> </DL>
<A NAME="filariasis">
<B>filariasis, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> a diseased condition caused by the presence of filariae in the blood, tissues, and especially lymph vessels. </DL>
<A NAME="filariid">
<B>filariid, </B>adjective, noun.<DL COMPACT><DD><I>adj. </I> of or caused by filariae. <DD><I>noun </I> <B>=filaria.</B> </DL>
<A NAME="filasse">
<B>filasse, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> vegetable fiber prepared for the process of manufacture. </DL>
<A NAME="filate">
<B>filate, </B>adjective.<DL COMPACT><DD> (Zoology.) straight and without a lateral bristle or process. <BR> <I>Ex. filate antennae.</I> </DL>
<A NAME="filature">
<B>filature, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD><B> 1. </B>the act or process of forming or spinning into threads. <DD><B> 2a. </B>a reel for drawing off silk from cocoons. <DD><B> b. </B>the reeling of silk from cocoons. <DD><B> c. </B>an establishment for reeling silk. </DL>
<A NAME="filbert">
<B>filbert, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD><B> 1. </B>a sweet, thick-shelled kind of cultivated hazelnut. <DD><B> 2. </B>the tree or shrub it grows on. Filberts belong to the birch family. </DL>
<A NAME="filch">
<B>filch, </B>transitive verb.<DL COMPACT><DD> to steal in small quantities; pilfer. <BR> <I>Ex. He filched apples from the pantry.</I> <I>adj. <B>filchable.</B> noun <B>filcher.</B> adv. <B>filcher,</B> filchingly.</I> </DL>
<A NAME="file">
<B>file</B> (1), noun, verb, <B>filed,</B> <B>filing.</B><DL COMPACT><DD><I>noun </I> <B>1a. </B>a place for keeping papers in order; container in or on which papers may be placed or arranged for convenient reference or storage. <BR> <I>Ex. Put this letter in the main file.</I> <DD><B> b. </B>a cabinet, shelves, or the like, for storing film or magnetic tape containing recorded information. <DD><B> 2a. </B>a set of papers kept in order. <BR> <I>Ex. a file of receipts.</I> <DD><B> b. </B>film or magnetic tape containing recorded information. <DD><B> 3. </B>a row of persons, animals, or things one behind another. <BR> <I>Ex. a file of soldiers marching in time. The hypocrite Days ... marching single in an endless file (Emerson).</I> <DD><B> 4. </B>(Military.) <DD><B> a. </B>a single line or row of men arranged one behind another from front to rear. <DD><B> b. </B>the man in front of, or the man behind, another, especially in a two-deep formation. <BR> <I>Ex. Always keep level with your file.</I> <DD><B> c. </B>a small detachment of soldiers. <DD><B> d. </B>a numerical position or order of preference on a promotion list. <DD><B> 5. </B>one of the lines of squares extending across a chessboard or checkerboard from player to player. <DD><B> 6. </B>a collection of news stories sent by wire. <DD><B> 7. </B>(Archaic.) a list; roll. <BR> <I>Ex. catalogued files of murders (Edmund Burke).</I> <DD><B> 8. </B>(Heraldry.) the label or mark of the eldest son. <DD><I>v.t. </I> <B>1. </B>to put away (papers, film, or magnetic tape) in order. <BR> <I>Ex. Please file those letters.</I> <DD><B> 2. </B>to place (a document) among the records of a court, public office, or legislature. <BR> <I>Ex. to file a petition, file a bill. The deed to our house is filed with the county clerk.</I> <DD><B> 3. </B>to send (a news story) by wire. <BR> <I>Ex. The reporter immediately filed his story of the explosion.</I> <DD><I>v.i. </I> <B>1. </B>to march or move in a file. <BR> <I>Ex. The pupils filed out of the room during the fire drill. A party of Americans filed into his studio (Hawthorne).</I> <DD><B> 2. </B>(U.S.) to make written application for a position, as a candidate, etc. <BR><I>expr. <B>file on</B> (or <B>upon</B>), </I>(U.S.) to enter on or occupy (unclaimed land). <BR> <I>Ex. Having filed on the quarter of vacant land adjoining me, of course I had to move over there (W. F. Drannan).</I> <BR><I>expr. <B>in file,</B> </I>one after another; in succession. <BR> <I>Ex. Ships sailing in file. The men were standing in silent file on each side of it (Elisha K. Kane). The ants ... changed their course, and in narrow file reascended the wall (Charles Darwin).</I> <BR><I>expr. <B>on file,</B> </I>in a file; put away and kept in order. <BR> <I>Ex. The principal keeps all our school reports on file.</I> </DL>
<A NAME="file">
<B>file</B> (2), noun, verb, <B>filed,</B> <B>filing.</B><DL COMPACT><DD><I>noun </I> a tool of steel or other metal with many small ridges or teeth on it. Its rough surface is used to smooth or wear away hard substances. <BR> <I>Ex. The carpenter's file made a pile of sawdust as he used it to smooth down the edge of a door.</I> <DD><I>v.t. </I> to smooth or wear away (hard substances) with a file. <BR> <I>Ex. to file the teeth of a saw, to file the fingernails.</I> </DL>
<B>file</B> (4), noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> a cunning, shrewd, or artful person. </DL>
<A NAME="fileclerk">
<B>file clerk,</B><DL COMPACT><DD> a person whose work is taking care of the files in an office. </DL>
<A NAME="filefish">
<B>filefish, </B>noun, pl. <B>-fishes</B> or (collectively) <B>-fish.</B><DL COMPACT><DD> a fish whose skin is covered with many very small spines instead of scales, and whose front dorsal fin is a long spine, such as the triggerfish and various related fishes. </DL>
<A NAME="filer">
<B>filer</B> (1), noun. <B>=file clerk.</B></DL>
<A NAME="filer">
<B>filer</B> (2), noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> a person who cuts,smooths, or polishes with a file. </DL>
<A NAME="filet">
<B>filet, </B>noun, verb.<DL COMPACT><DD><I>noun </I> <B>1. </B>a fillet of fish or meat. <DD><B> 2. </B>Also, <B>filet lace.</B> a net or lace having a square mesh. <DD><I>v.t. </I> to fillet (fish or meat). </DL>
<A NAME="file13">
<B>file 13,</B><DL COMPACT><DD> (U.S. Slang.) a wastebasket. </DL>
<A NAME="filetmignon">
<B>filet mignon, </B>pl. <B>filets mignons.</B><DL COMPACT><DD> a thick, round slice of beef tenderloin, often larded with bacon before cooking. </DL>
