<HEAD><TITLE>DICTIONARY: fon - foofaraw</TITLE></HEAD>
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<A NAME="fon">
<B>Fon, </B>noun, pl. <B>Fon.</B><DL COMPACT><DD><B> 1. </B>a member of a West African people of Benin. <DD><B> 2. </B>the Kwa language of this people. </DL>
<A NAME="fonctionnaire">
<B>fonctionnaire, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> (French.) a civil servant or government official. <BR> <I>Ex. The fonctionnaires, as they retired on pension, took to farming (New Yorker).</I> </DL>
<A NAME="fond">
<B>fond</B> (1), adjective.<DL COMPACT><DD><B> 1. </B>loving; affectionate; tender. <BR> <I>Ex. a fond look.</I> (SYN) amorous. <DD><B> 2. </B>cherished or entertained strongly or unreasoningly. <BR> <I>Ex. fond hopes.</I> <DD><B> 3. </B>loving foolishly or too much; over-affectionate; doting. <BR> <I>Ex. She was fond and foolish of the cat carrying it everywhere.</I> <DD><B> 4. </B>(Archaic.) foolishly ready to believe or hope; foolish. <BR><I>expr. <B>fond of,</B> </I>having a liking for. <BR> <I>Ex. fond of children. I am not fond of uttering platitudes In stained-glass attitudes (William S. Gilbert).</I> </DL>
<A NAME="fond">
<B>fond</B> (2), noun.<DL COMPACT><DD><B> 1. </B>a background or foundation. <BR> <I>Ex. There is no early French literature of any value in which the Teutonic blood did not supply the fond (James Russell Lowell).</I> <DD><B> 2. </B>a stock; fund. </DL>
<A NAME="fonda">
<B>fonda, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> (Spanish.) an inn or hotel. </DL>
<A NAME="fondant">
<B>fondant, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD><B> 1. </B>a creamy confection used as a filling or coating for other candies. <DD><B> 2. </B>a candy consisting mainly of fondant. </DL>
<A NAME="fondle">
<B>fondle, </B>verb, <B>-dled,</B> <B>-dling.</B><DL COMPACT><DD><I>v.t. </I> <B>1. </B>to handle or treat with fondness; pet; caress. <BR> <I>Ex. The mother fondled her baby.</I> <DD><B> 2. </B>(Obsolete.) to coddle; pamper. <DD><I>v.i. </I> to behave, play, or speak fondly. noun <B>fondler.</B> </DL>
<A NAME="fondling">
<B>fondling, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD><B> 1. </B>a person or thing treated fondly; pet. <DD><B> 2. </B>(English Dialect.) a fool; simpleton. </DL>
<A NAME="fondly">
<B>fondly, </B>adverb.<DL COMPACT><DD><B> 1. </B>affectionately; lovingly; tenderly. <BR> <I>Ex. The mother murmured fondly to her baby.</I> <DD><B> 2. </B>with self-pleasing or affectionate credulity. <DD><B> 3. </B>(Obsolete.) foolishly. </DL>
<A NAME="fondness">
<B>fondness, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD><B> 1. </B>strong inclination, desire, or liking. <BR> <I>Ex. a fondness for travel. She has a fondness for sweets.</I> <DD><B> 2. </B>affectionateness; tenderness. <DD><B> 3. </B>foolish affection; unreasoning tenderness <DD><B> 4. </B>(Obsolete.) foolishness; folly. </DL>
<B>fondu, </B>adjective.<DL COMPACT><DD><B> 1. </B>blended; softened. <DD><B> 2. </B>characterized by the blending of colors, one into another, through delicate gradations. </DL>
<A NAME="fondue">
<B>fondue, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD><B> 1. </B>a dish chiefly made of melted cheese, eggs, butter, etc., into which crackers or small pieces of toast are dipped before eating them. <DD><B> 2. </B>any dish of heated sauce into which small pieces of food are dipped before eating. <BR> <I>Ex. beef fondue, chocolate fondue.</I> </DL>
<A NAME="fonio">
<B>fonio, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> a crab grass whose seeds are used as a cereal in Upper Volta. </DL>
<A NAME="font">
<B>font</B> (1), noun.<DL COMPACT><DD><B> 1. </B>a basin holding water for baptism. <DD><B> 2. </B>a basin for holy water; stoup. <DD><B> 3. </B>a fountain; source. (SYN) fount, spring. <DD><B> 4. </B>the reservoir for oil in a lamp. </DL>
<A NAME="font">
<B>font</B> (2), noun.<DL COMPACT><DD><B> 1. </B>(Printing.) a complete set of type of one size and style. <DD><B> 2. </B>the act or process of founding or casting. Also, (especially British,) <B>fount.</B> </DL>
<A NAME="fontal">
<B>fontal, </B>adjective.<DL COMPACT><DD> having to do with a font, fountain, source, or origin. </DL>
<A NAME="fontanel">
<B>fontanel</B> or <B>fontanelle, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD><B> 1. </B>one of the soft spots, closed by membrane and later to be filled by bone, on the head of an infant or fetus. <DD><B> 2. </B>(Obsolete.) an opening for the discharge of pus. </DL>
<A NAME="fontange">
<B>fontange, </B>noun, pl. <B>-tanges.</B> <B>=commode </B>(def. 4).</DL>
<A NAME="fontechevademan">
<B>Fontechevade man,</B><DL COMPACT><DD> an early form of Homo sapiens who presumably lived about 100,000 years ago, according to the evidence of fossil remains found in France. </DL>
<A NAME="fontina">
<B>fontina, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> a soft, creamy Italian cheese with a nutty flavor, usually made from sheep's milk. </DL>
<A NAME="fontinal">
<B>fontinal, </B>adjective.<DL COMPACT><DD> growing in or about springs, as certain plants. </DL>
<A NAME="food">
<B>food, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD><B> 1. </B>anything that animals or people eat or drink that makes them live and grow; nourishment. <BR> <I>Ex. Milk and green vegetables are valuable foods for young people.</I> <DD><B> 2. </B>what is eaten. <BR> <I>Ex. Give him food and drink.</I> <DD><B> 3. </B>anything that plants take in that enables them to live and grow. <DD><B> 4. </B>a particular kind or article of food. <BR> <I>Ex. breakfast foods.</I> <DD><B> 5. </B>(Figurative.) anything that causes growth. <BR> <I>Ex. Books are food for the mind.</I> <DD><B> 6. </B>(Figurative.) anything that sustains or serves for consumption in any way. <BR> <I>Ex. food for thought. If music be the food of love, play on (Shakespeare).</I> adj. <B>foodless.</B> noun <B>foodlessness.</B> </DL>
<A NAME="foodadditive">
<B>food additive,</B><DL COMPACT><DD> any substance, natural or synthetic, that is added to food to preserve, enrich, or color it. <BR> <I>Ex. Benzoic acid and sodium benzoate [are] chemicals used as food additives (Wall Street Journal).</I> </DL>
<A NAME="foodaholic">
<B>foodaholic, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> a person having an obsessive need to eat; compulsive eater. <BR> <I>Ex. Lynn admits that she once had a weight problem. "At 23 ... I was a foodaholic," she said (New York Sunday News).</I> </DL>
<A NAME="foodchain">
<B>food chain,</B><DL COMPACT><DD><B> 1. </B>(Ecology.) a group of organisms so interrelated that each member of the group feeds upon the one below it and is in turn eaten by the organism above it. <DD><B> 2. </B>(Figurative:) <BR> <I>Ex. Metalheads may not rank very high on the socioeconomic food chain, but they are certainly not embarrassed (New York Times).</I> </DL>
<A NAME="foodcourt">
<B>food court,</B><DL COMPACT><DD> a section of a mall or other enclosed shopping area where fast-food shops or stands and tables for eating are located. <BR> <I>Ex. Inside the mall the atmosphere is enlivened by families eating lunch in the food court (Atlantic Monthly).</I> </DL>
<A NAME="foodcycle">
<B>food cycle,</B><DL COMPACT><DD> (Ecology.) a group of interrelated food chains in a particular community; food web. </DL>
<A NAME="foodfaddist">
<B>food faddist,</B><DL COMPACT><DD> a person who attributes special therapeutic properties to certain foods. </DL>
<A NAME="foodfish">
<B>food fish,</B><DL COMPACT><DD> a fish suitable for and used as food. </DL>
<A NAME="foodgatherer">
<B>food-gatherer, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> a primitive or prehistoric type of man who obtained food by gathering wild plants and fruits and hunting animals instead of raising crops or livestock. </DL>
<A NAME="foodgrain">
<B>foodgrain, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> wheat, corn, oats, and other grain grown for human consumption. </DL>
<A NAME="foodpoisoning">
<B>food poisoning,</B><DL COMPACT><DD> a poisoning caused by consuming foods that are poisonous or that contain certain bacteria or bacterial toxins, or certain chemicals. Botulism is a severe form of food poisoning. </DL>
<A NAME="foodprocessor">
<B>food processor,</B><DL COMPACT><DD><B> 1. </B>an individual or company that converts agricultural products into the form in which they are sold as food, or prepares them for sale, as by packing, canning, or freezing. <DD><B> 2. </B>an electric appliance that cuts slices, chops, shreds, minces, and otherwise processes food at high speed. <BR> <I>Ex. A food processor may be less expensive to manufacture than a blender, but the Cuisinart food processor does not come cheap (New York Daily News).</I> </DL>
<A NAME="foodpyramid">
<B>food pyramid,</B><DL COMPACT><DD> (Ecology.) the gradually narrowing structure representing the amount of food passed along a food chain, as at each upward step the quantity of food passed on becomes smaller. </DL>
<A NAME="foodscience">
<B>food science,</B><DL COMPACT><DD> the technical study of the preparation and processing of foods (sometimes including the science of nutrition and dietetics). </DL>
<A NAME="foodstamp">
<B>food stamp,</B><DL COMPACT><DD> a stamp to buy food with, issued by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, usually in return for some payment, to people without enough money to maintain the minimum standard of living set by the U.S. government. </DL>
<A NAME="foodstuff">
<B>foodstuff, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD><B> 1. </B>material for food. Grain and meat are foodstuffs. <DD><B> 2. </B>any nutritionally valuable element in food, such as protein. </DL>
<A NAME="foodvacuole">
<B>food vacuole,</B><DL COMPACT><DD> a vacuole containing food particles, found in certain protozoans such as amebas. It serves as a simple digestive system. </DL>
<A NAME="foodweb">
<B>food web,</B> <B>=food cycle.</B></DL>
<A NAME="foodyolk">
<B>food yolk,</B><DL COMPACT><DD> the portion of the yolk of an egg that nourishes the embryo, as distinguished from the germinative portion. </DL>
<A NAME="foofaraw">
<B>foofaraw</B> or <B>fooferaw, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD><B> 1. </B>ornaments, as fringes, knots, or frills. <DD><B> 2. </B>(Slang.) a noisy commotion over something unimportant. </DL>
