Feasibility - Feces

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Feasibility (fēzĭbĭlĭt�) n.; pl. Feasibilities (fēzĭbĭlĭtiz). [from ] The quality of being feasible; practicability; also, that which is feasible; as, before we adopt a plan, let us consider its feasibility.
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Men often swallow falsities for truths, dubiosities for certainties, possibilities for feasibilities. Sir T. Browne.
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Feasible (fēzĭb'l) a. [F. faisable, fr. faire to make or do, fr. L. facere. See , .] 1. Capable of being done, executed, or effected; practicable.
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Always existing before their eyes as a thing feasible in practice. Burke.
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It was not feasible to gratify so many ambitions. Beaconsfield.
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2. Fit to be used or tilled, as land. [R.] R. Trumbull.

Feasibleness, n. --Feasibly, adv.
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Feast (fēst), n. [OE. feste festival, holiday, feast, OF. feste festival, F. fête, fr. L. festum, pl. festa, fr. festus joyful, festal; of uncertain origin. Cf. , n., , .] 1. A festival; a holiday; a solemn, or more commonly, a joyous, anniversary.
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The seventh day shall be a feast to the Lord. Ex. xiii. 6.
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Now his parents went to Jerusalem every year at the feast of the passover. Luke ii. 41.
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☞ An Ecclesiastical feast is called a immovable feast when it always occurs on the same day of the year; otherwise it is called a movable feast. Easter is a notable movable feast.
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2. A festive or joyous meal; a grand, ceremonious, or sumptuous entertainment, of which many guests partake; a banquet characterized by tempting variety and abundance of food.
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Enough is as good as a feast. Old Proverb.
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Belshazzar the King made a great feast to a thousand of his lords. Dan. v. 1.
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3. That which is partaken of, or shared in, with delight; something highly agreeable; entertainment.
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The feast of reason, and the flow of soul. Pope.
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Coloq. Feast day , a holiday; a day set as a solemn commemorative festival.

Syn. -- Entertainment; regale; banquet; treat; carousal; festivity; festival. -- , , , . A feast sets before us viands superior in quantity, variety, and abundance; a banquet is a luxurious feast; a festival is the joyful celebration by good cheer of some agreeable event. Carousal is unrestrained indulgence in frolic and drink.
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Feast, v. i. [imp. & p. p. Feasted; p. pr. & vb. n. Feasting.] [OE. festen, cf. OF. fester to rest from work, F. fêter to celebrate a holiday. See , n.] 1. To eat sumptuously; to dine or sup on rich provisions, particularly in large companies, and on public festivals.
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And his sons went and feasted in their houses. Job. i. 4.
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2. To be highly gratified or delighted.
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With my love's picture then my eye doth feast. Shak.
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Feast, v. t. 1. To entertain with sumptuous provisions; to treat at the table bountifully; as, he was feasted by the king. Hayward.
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2. To delight; to gratify; as, to feast the soul.
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Feast your ears with the music a while. Shak.
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Feaster (?), n. 1. One who fares deliciously.
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2. One who entertains magnificently. Johnson.
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Feastful (?), a. Festive; festal; joyful; sumptuous; luxurious. “Feastful days.” Milton.

-- Feastfully, adv.
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Feat (fēt), n. [OE. fet, OF. fet, fait, F. fait, factum, fr. L. facere, factum, to make or do. Cf. , , .] 1. An act; a deed; an exploit.
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The warlike feats I have done. Shak.
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2. A striking act of strength, skill, or cunning; a trick; as, feats of horsemanship, or of dexterity.
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Feat, v. t. To form; to fashion. [Obs.]
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To the more mature,
A glass that feated them. Shak.
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Feat, a. [Compar. Feater (?); superl. Featest.] [F. fait made, shaped, fit, p. p. of faire to make or do. See , n.] Dexterous in movements or service; skillful; neat; nice; pretty. [Archaic]
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Never master had a page . . . so feat. Shak.
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And look how well my garments sit upon me --
Much feater than before. Shak.
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Feat-bodied (?), a. Having a feat or trim body. [Obs.] Beau. & Fl.
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Feateous (?), a. [Cf. OF. faitis, faitice, fetis, well made, fine, L. facticius made by art.] Dexterous; neat. [Obs.] Johnson.

-- Feateously, adv.
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Feather (fĕ�ẽr), n. [OE. fether, AS. feðer; akin to D. veder, OHG. fedara, G. feder, Icel. fjöðr, Sw. fjäder, Dan. fjæder, Gr. pteron wing, feather, petesqai to fly, Skr. pattra wing, feather, pat to fly, and prob. to L. penna feather, wing. √76, 248. Cf. a feather.] 1. One of the peculiar dermal appendages, of several kinds, belonging to birds, as contour feathers, quills, and down.
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☞ An ordinary feather consists of the quill or hollow basal part of the stem; the shaft or rachis, forming the upper, solid part of the stem; the vanes or webs, implanted on the rachis and consisting of a series of slender laminæ or barbs, which usually bear barbules, which in turn usually bear barbicels and interlocking hooks by which they are fastened together. See , , .

2. Kind; nature; species; -- from the proverbial phrase, “Birds of a feather,” that is, of the same species. [R.]
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I am not of that feather to shake off
My friend when he must need me. Shak.
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3. The fringe of long hair on the legs of the setter and some other dogs.
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4. A tuft of peculiar, long, frizzly hair on a horse.
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5. One of the fins or wings on the shaft of an arrow.
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6. (Mach. & Carp.) A longitudinal strip projecting as a fin from an object, to strengthen it, or to enter a channel in another object and thereby prevent displacement sidwise but permit motion lengthwise; a spline.
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7. A thin wedge driven between the two semicylindrical parts of a divided plug in a hole bored in a stone, to rend the stone. Knight.
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8. The angular adjustment of an oar or paddle-wheel float, with reference to a horizontal axis, as it leaves or enters the water.
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☞ Feather is used adjectively or in combination, meaning composed of, or resembling, a feather or feathers; as, feather fan, feather-heeled, feather duster.
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Coloq. Feather alum (Min.), a hydrous sulphate of alumina, resulting from volcanic action, and from the decomposition of iron pyrites; -- called also halotrichite. Ure. -- Coloq. Feather bed , a bed filled with feathers. -- Coloq. Feather driver , one who prepares feathers by beating. -- Coloq. Feather duster , a dusting brush of feathers. -- Coloq. Feather flower , an artifical flower made of feathers, for ladies' headdresses, and other ornamental purposes. -- Coloq. Feather grass (Bot.), a kind of grass (Stipa pennata) which has a long feathery awn rising from one of the chaffy scales which inclose the grain. -- Coloq. Feather maker , one who makes plumes, etc., of feathers, real or artificial. -- Coloq. Feather ore (Min.), a sulphide of antimony and lead, sometimes found in capillary forms and like a cobweb, but also massive. It is a variety of Jamesonite. -- Coloq. Feather shot , or Coloq. Feathered shot (Metal.), copper granulated by pouring into cold water. Raymond. -- Coloq. Feather spray (Naut.), the spray thrown up, like pairs of feathers, by the cutwater of a fast-moving vessel. -- Coloq. Feather star . (Zoöl.) See . -- Coloq. Feather weight . (Racing) (a) Scrupulously exact weight, so that a feather would turn the scale, when a jockey is weighed or weighted. (b) The lightest weight that can be put on the back of a horse in racing. Youatt. (c) In wrestling, boxing, etc., a term applied to the lightest of the classes into which contestants are divided; -- in contradistinction to light weight, middle weight, and heavy weight. -- Coloq. A feather in the cap an honour, trophy, or mark of distinction. [Colloq.] -- Coloq. To be in full feather , to be in full dress or in one's best clothes. [Collog.] -- Coloq. To be in high feather , to be in high spirits. [Collog.] -- Coloq. To cut a feather . (a) (Naut.) To make the water foam in moving; in allusion to the ripple which a ship throws off from her bows. (b) To make one's self conspicuous. [Colloq.] -- Coloq. To show the white feather , to betray cowardice, -- a white feather in the tail of a cock being considered an indication that he is not of the true game breed.
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Feather (?), v. t. [imp. & p. p. Feathered (#); p. pr. & vb. n. Feathering.] 1. To furnish with a feather or feathers, as an arrow or a cap.
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An eagle had the ill hap to be struck with an arrow feathered from her own wing. L'Estrange.
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2. To adorn, as with feathers; to fringe.
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A few birches and oaks still feathered the narrow ravines. Sir W. Scott.
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3. To render light as a feather; to give wings to.[R.]
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The Polonian story perhaps may feather some tedious hours. Loveday.
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4. To enrich; to exalt; to benefit.
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They stuck not to say that the king cared not to plume his nobility and people to feather himself. Bacon. Dryden.
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5. To tread, as a cock. Dryden.
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Coloq. To feather one's nest , to provide for one's self especially from property belonging to another, confided to one's care; -- an expression taken from the practice of birds which collect feathers for the lining of their nests. -- Coloq. To feather an oar (Naut), to turn it when it leaves the water so that the blade will be horizontal and offer the least resistance to air while reaching for another stroke. -- Coloq. To tar and feather a person , to smear him with tar and cover him with feathers, as a punishment or an indignity.
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Feather, v. i. 1. To grow or form feathers; to become feathered; -- often with out; as, the birds are feathering out.
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2. To curdle when poured into another liquid, and float about in little flakes or “feathers;” as, the cream feathers. [Colloq.]
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3. To turn to a horizontal plane; -- said of oars.
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The feathering oar returns the gleam. Tickell.
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Stopping his sculls in the air to feather accurately. Macmillan's Mag.
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4. To have the appearance of a feather or of feathers; to be or to appear in feathery form.
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A clump of ancient cedars feathering in evergreen beauty down to the ground. Warren.
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The ripple feathering from her bows. Tennyson.
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featherbed n. 1. a mattress stuffed with feathers.
Syn. -- feather bed.
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Featherbone (?), n. A substitute for whalebone, made from the quills of geese and turkeys.
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featherbrained, feather-brained (?), a. Giddy; frivolous; lacking seriousness; given to frivolity; feather-headed. [Colloq.]
Syn. -- airheaded, dizzy, empty-headed, giddy, lightheaded, light-headed, silly.
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Feathered (?), a. 1. Clothed, covered, or fitted with (or as with) feathers or wings; as, a feathered animal; a feathered arrow.
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Rise from the ground like feathered Mercury. Shak.
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Nonsense feathered with soft and delicate phrases and pointed with pathetic accent. Dr. J. Scott.
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2. Furnished with anything featherlike; ornamented; fringed; as, land feathered with trees.
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3. (Zoöl.) Having a fringe of feathers, as the legs of certian birds; or of hairs, as the legs of a setter dog.
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4. (Her.) Having feathers; -- said of an arrow, when the feathers are of a tincture different from that of the shaft.
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Feather-edge (?), n. 1. (Zoöl.) The thin, new growth around the edge of a shell, of an oyster.
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2. Any thin, as on a board or a razor.
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Feather-edged (?), a. Having a feather-edge; also, having one edge thinner than the other, as a board; -- in the United States, said only of stuff one edge of which is made as thin as practicable.
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Feather-few (?), n. (Bot.) Feverfew.
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Feather-foil (?), n. [Feather + foil a leaf.] (Bot.) An aquatic plant (Hottonia palustris), having finely divided leaves.
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Feather-head (?), n. A frivolous or feather-brained person. [Colloq.] H. James.
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Feather-headed (?), a. Giddy; frivolous; foolish. [Colloq.] G. Eliot.
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Feather-heeled (?), a. Light-heeled; gay; frisky; frolicsome. [Colloq.]
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Featheriness (?), n. The state or condition of being feathery.
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Feathering, n. 1. (Arch.) Same as .
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2. The act of turning the blade of the oar, as it rises from the water in rowing, from a vertical to a horizontal position. See To feather an oar, under , v. t.
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3. A covering of feathers.
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Coloq. Feathering float (Naut.), the float or paddle of a feathering wheel. -- Coloq. Feathering screw (Naut.), a screw propeller, of which the blades may be turned so as to move edgewise through the water when the vessel is moving under sail alone. -- Coloq. Feathering wheel (Naut.), a paddle wheel whose floats turn automatically so as to dip about perpendicularly into the water and leave in it the same way, avoiding beating on the water in the descent and lifting water in the ascent.
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Featherless, a. Destitute of feathers.
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Featherly, a. Like feathers. [Obs.] Sir T. Browne.
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Feather-pated (?), a. Feather-headed; frivolous. [Colloq.] Sir W. Scott.
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Featherstitch (?), n. A kind of embroidery stitch producing a branching zigzag line.
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Feather-veined (?), a. (Bot.) Having the veins (of a leaf) diverging from the two sides of a midrib.
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Feathery (?), a. Pertaining to, or resembling, feathers; covered with, or as with, feathers; as, feathery spray or snow. Milton.
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Ye feathery people of mid air. Barry Cornwall.
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Featly (?), adv. [From , a.] Neatly; dexterously; nimbly. [Archaic]
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Foot featly here and there. Shak.
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Featness, n. Skill; adroitness. [Archaic] Johnson.
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Feature (?; 135), n. [OE. feture form, shape, feature, OF. faiture fashion, make, fr. L. factura a making, formation, fr. facere, factum, to make. See , , and cf. .] 1. The make, form, or outward appearance of a person; the whole turn or style of the body; esp., good appearance.
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What needeth it his feature to descrive? Chaucer.
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Cheated of feature by dissembling nature. Shak.
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2. The make, cast, or appearance of the human face, and especially of any single part of the face; a lineament. (pl.) The face, the countenance.
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It is for homely features to keep home. Milton.
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3. The cast or structure of anything, or of any part of a thing, as of a landscape, a picture, a treaty, or an essay; any marked peculiarity or characteristic; as, one of the features of the landscape.
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And to her service bind each living creature
Through secret understanding of their feature. Spenser.
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4. A form; a shape. [R.]
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So scented the grim feature, and upturned
His nostril wide into the murky air. Milton.
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Featured (?; 135), a. 1. Shaped; fashioned.
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How noble, young, how rarely featured! Shak.
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2. Having features; formed into features.
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The well-stained canvas or the featured stone. Young.
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Featureless (?; 135), a. Having no distinct or distinctive features.
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Featurely, a. Having features; showing marked peculiarities; handsome. [R.]
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Featurely warriors of Christian chivalry. Coleridge.
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Feaze (?), v. t. [imp. & p. p. Feazed (?); p. pr. & vb. n. Feazing.] [Cf. OE. faseln to ravel, fr. AS. fæs fringe; akin to G. fasen to separate fibers or threads, fasen, faser, thread, filament, OHG. faso.] To untwist; to unravel, as the end of a rope. Johnson.
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Feaze, v. t. [See .] To beat; to chastise; also, to humble; to harass; to worry. [Obs.] insworth.
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Feaze, n. A state of anxious or fretful excitement; worry; vexation. [Obs.]
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Feazings (?), n. pl. [See , v. t.] (Naut.) The unlaid or ragged end of a rope. Ham. Nav. Encyc.
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Febricitate (?), v. i. [L. febricitare, fr. febris. See .] To have a fever. [Obs.] Bailey.
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Febriculose (?), a. [L. febriculosus.] Somewhat feverish. [Obs.] Johnson.
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Febrifacient (?), a. [L. febris fever + faciens, p. pr. of facere to make.] Febrific. Dunglison.

-- n. That which causes fever. Beddoes.
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Febriferous (?), a. [L. febris fever + -ferous.] Causing fever; as, a febriferous locality.
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Febrific (?), a. [L. febris fever + ficare (in comp.) to make. See -.] Producing fever. Dunglison.
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Febrifugal (? or ?), a. [See .] Having the quality of mitigating or curing fever. Boyle.
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Febrifuge (?), n. [L. febris fever + fugare to put to flight, from fugere to flee: cf. F. fébrifuge. see , .] (Med.) A medicine serving to mitigate or remove fever. -- a. Antifebrile.
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Febrile (?; 277), a. [F. fébrile, from L. febris fever. See .] Pertaining to fever; indicating fever, or derived from it; as, febrile symptoms; febrile action. Dunglison.
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February (?), n. [L. Februarius, orig., the month of expiation, because on the fifteenth of this month the great feast of expiation and purification was held, fr. februa, pl., the Roman festival or purification; akin to februare to purify, expiate.] The second month in the year, said to have been introduced into the Roman calendar by Numa. In common years this month contains twenty-eight days; in the bissextile, or leap year, it has twenty-nine days.
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Februation (?), n. [L. februatio. See .] Purification; a sacrifice. [Obs.] Spenser.
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Fecal (fēk�l), a. [Cf. F. fécal. See .] Relating to, or containing, dregs, feces, or ordure; fæcal.
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Fecche (?), v. t. To fetch. [Obs.] Chaucer.
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Feces (?), n. pl. dregs; sediment; excrement. See .
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