<B>frame, </B>noun, verb, <B>framed,</B> <B>framing.</B><DL COMPACT><DD><I>noun </I> <B>1. </B>a support over which something is stretched or built; framework. <BR> <I>Ex. the frame of a house.</I> <DD><B> 2. </B>anything made of parts fitted and joined together; structure or system. <BR> <I>Ex. His [Milton's] death dissolved the whole frame of society (Macaulay).</I> <DD><B> 3. </B>the body; build of the body. <BR> <I>Ex. a man of heavy frame.</I> <DD><B> 4. </B>a skeleton. <DD><B> 5. </B>(Figurative.) <DD><B> a. </B>the way in which a thing is put together; structure; construction. <BR> <I>Ex. the frame of the Constitution.</I> <DD><B> b. </B>mental or emotional state. <DD><B> 6. </B>an established order or plan. <BR> <I>Ex. Should the whole frame of Nature round him break ... He, unconcerned, would hear the mighty crack (Joseph Addison).</I> <DD><B> 7. </B>shape or form. <BR> <I>Ex. Put your discourse into some frame (Shakespeare).</I> <DD><B> 8. </B>the border in which a thing is set. <BR> <I>Ex. a window frame, a picture frame.</I> <DD><B> 9. </B>one of the individual pictures on a strip of motion-picture film. <DD><B> 10. </B>one image transmitted by television. <DD><B> 11. </B>one of the units or steps in programmed instruction. Each frame requires some response from the student. <DD><B> 12. </B>a machine constructed on or within a framework. <DD><B> 13. </B>any one of the ten small squares for recording the score for each turn at bowling. <DD><B> 14. </B>one turn at bowling, or one tenth of the game. <DD><B> 15. </B>(Informal.) an inning in baseball. <DD><B> 16a. </B>the triangular form used to arrange the balls at the start of a game of pool. <DD><B> b. </B>the triangle of balls thus placed. <DD><B> c. </B>the period of play between the placing of the balls. <DD><B> 17. </B>one of the ribs forming the framework of a ship's hull, extending from the bilge or from the keel to the gunwale on either side. A square frame crosses each deck in a perpendicular plane; a cant frame crosses each deck in an oblique plane. <DD><B> 18. </B>a box with a glass cover, used to protect seeds and young plants from cold; cold frame. <DD><B> 19. </B>(U.S. Slang.) <B>=frame-up.</B> <DD><I>v.t. </I> <B>1. </B>to shape or form. <BR> <I>Ex. to frame one's life according to a noble pattern. Nature hath framed strange fellows in her time (Shakespeare).</I> (SYN) fashion. <DD><B> 2. </B>to put together; plan; make. <BR> <I>Ex. to frame an answer to a difficult question. James Madison helped to frame the Constitution.</I> (SYN) devise, fabricate. <DD><B> 3. </B>to put a border around. <BR> <I>Ex. to frame a picture.</I> <DD><B> 4. </B>(Slang.) to make seem guilty by some false arrangement. <BR> <I>Ex. to frame an innocent person.</I> <DD><B> 5. </B>(Archaic.) to direct (one's steps). <DD><I>v.i. </I> (Dialect.) <B>1. </B>to prepare, attempt, or manage to do something. <DD><B> 2. </B>to succeed; do well. <DD><B> 3. </B>to betake oneself; go. adj. <B>framable,</B> <B>frameable.</B> adj. <B>frameless.</B> noun <B>framer.</B> </DL>
<A NAME="framehouse">
<B>frame house,</B><DL COMPACT><DD> a house made of a wooden framework covered with boards. </DL>
<A NAME="frameofmind">
<B>frame of mind,</B><DL COMPACT><DD> way of thinking or feeling; disposition; mood. </DL>
<A NAME="frameofreference">
<B>frame of reference,</B><DL COMPACT><DD><B> 1. </B>the standards by which a person compares something to form an attitude or make a judgment or analysis. <BR> <I>Ex. ... the inability of the Congressional Committee, with its domestic orientationand limited frame of reference, to read the larger questions of international reality (Bulletin of Atomic Scientists).</I> <DD><B> 2. </B>(Mathematics.) a set of lines or planes used as a reference for describing position, as of a point or line. </DL>
<A NAME="framesaw">
<B>frame saw,</B><DL COMPACT><DD> a thin saw stretched in a frame to give it sufficient rigidity for working. </DL>
<A NAME="frameshift">
<B>frameshift, </B>adjective.<DL COMPACT><DD> (Genetics.) having to do with or causing an insertion or deletion in a codon that results in an incorrect genetic message. <BR> <I>Ex. a frameshift mutation, a frameshift mutagen.</I> </DL>
<A NAME="frameup">
<B>frame-up, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> (Informal.) <DD><B> 1. </B>a secret and dishonest arrangement made beforehand. <DD><B> 2. </B>an arrangement made to have a person falsely accused. </DL>
<A NAME="framework">
<B>framework, </B>noun, verb,<DL COMPACT><DD><I>noun </I> <B>1. </B>a support or skeleton; stiff part that gives shape to a thing; frame. <BR> <I>Ex. The bridge had a steel framework.</I> <DD><B> 2. </B>(Figurative.) the way in which a thing is put together; structure or system. <BR> <I>Ex. the framework of government.</I> <DD><B> 3. </B>the branches of a fruit tree. <DD><I>v.t. </I> to graft by inserting cuttings on the branches of (a fruit tree). </DL>
<A NAME="framing">
<B>framing, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD><B> 1. </B>framed work; a frame or system of frames. <DD><B> 2. </B>the way in which a thing is put together; framework. <DD><B> 3. </B>the action or process of making or shaping. <BR> <I>Ex. The framing of this letter calls for considerable diplomacy.</I> </DL>
<A NAME="franc">
<B>franc, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD><B> 1. </B>the unit of money of France, Belgium, Switzerland, and some other European and African countries, equal to 100 centimes. <DD><B> 2. </B>a coin or note worth one franc. <DD><B> 3. </B>a former French silver coin. (Abbr:) fr. </DL>
<A NAME="franchisal">
<B>franchisal, </B>adjective.<DL COMPACT><DD> of or belonging to the franchise. </DL>
<A NAME="franchise">
<B>franchise, </B>noun, verb, <B>-chised,</B> <B>-chising.</B><DL COMPACT><DD><I>noun </I> <B>1. </B>a privilege or right, granted by a government. <BR> <I>Ex. The city granted the company a franchise to operate buses on the city streets.</I> <DD><B> 2. </B>the right to vote. <BR> <I>Ex. The United States granted women the franchise in 1920.</I> <DD><B> 3. </B>the privilege, often exclusive, of selling the products of a manufacturer in a given area. <DD><B> 4. </B>(Obsolete.) an asylum; sanctuary. <DD><I>v.t. </I> <B>1. </B>to grant a franchise to or for. <BR> <I>Ex. to franchise a retail outlet, a franchised car dealer. The brothers decided ... to franchise the establishment of miniature tracks where the public could pay to take part in the racing [of] cars (London Times).</I> <DD><B> 2. </B>to set free; enfranchise. </DL>
<A NAME="franchisee">
<B>franchisee, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> a person who is franchised by a company to operate a retail store or branch, a hotel, or other business. <BR> <I>Ex. Some [franchises] may require considerable capital on the part of the franchisee, as in setting up a hotel in the Holiday Inns chain, or none at all beyond one's time in becoming a franchisee of a hearing aid company (London Times).</I> </DL>
<A NAME="franchiser">
<B>franchiser, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD><B> 1. </B><B>=franchisee.</B> <DD><B> 2. </B>a person or company that grants a franchise. </DL>
<A NAME="franchisor">
<B>franchisor, </B>noun. =franchiser</DL>
<A NAME="franciscan">
<B>Franciscan, </B>adjective, noun.<DL COMPACT><DD><I>adj. </I> of Saint Francis of Assisi or the religious order founded by him in 1209. <BR> <I>Ex. Franciscan abstinence, Franciscan cloisters.</I> <DD><I>noun </I> a friar belonging to the Franciscan order; Gray Friar. </DL>
<A NAME="francistype">
<B>Francis-type, </B>adjective.<DL COMPACT><DD> having spirally curved vanes. <BR> <I>Ex. a Francis-type reaction turbine.</I> </DL>
<A NAME="francium">
<B>francium, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> a rare radioactive chemical element produced artificially from actinium or thorium. It is one of the alkali metals. </DL>
<A NAME="francization">
<B>Francization, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> the act or process of Francizing; Frenchification. </DL>
<A NAME="francize">
<B>Francize, </B>transitive verb, <B>-cized,</B> <B>-cizing.</B><DL COMPACT><DD> to make French, as in ideas, style, or manners; Frenchify. </DL>
<A NAME="franco">
<B>Franco-,</B><DL COMPACT><DD> (combining form.) <DD><B> 1. </B>of France; of the French. <BR> <I>Ex. Francophile = friend of France or the French.</I> <DD><B> 2. </B>French and ______. <BR> <I>Ex. Franco-German = French and German.</I> </DL>
<A NAME="francoamerican">
<B>Franco-American, </B>adjective, noun.<DL COMPACT><DD><I>adj. </I> <B>1. </B>of France and the United States; French and American. <BR> <I>Ex. Franco-American relations.</I> <DD><B> 2. </B>of or having to do with Americans of French descent. <DD><I>noun </I> an American of French descent. </DL>
<A NAME="francogerman">
<B>Franco-German, </B>adjective.<DL COMPACT><DD> of France and Germany; French and German. </DL>
<A NAME="francoism">
<B>Francoism, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> the policies of Francisco Franco, (1892-1975), dictator of Spain, associated with the Falange. </DL>
<A NAME="francoist">
<B>Francoist, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> a supporter of Francisco Franco or his policies. </DL>
<A NAME="francolin">
<B>francolin, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> a partridge found in Africa, southern Asia, and southern Europe. It has a very loud whistle, and its meat is considered a great delicacy. </DL>
<A NAME="francolite">
<B>francolite, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> a grayish-green or brown variety of apatite from Devonshire, England. It occurs in small rounded crystals grouped in stalactitic masses. </DL>
<A NAME="franconian">
<B>Franconian, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> the German dialect spoken by the Franks who lived along the Rhine. </DL>
