Fermeture, fer′me-tūr, n. a mechanism for closing the chamber of a breech-loading gun. [Fr.,—L. firmāre, to make fast.]
Fern, fern, n. one of the beautiful class of higher or vascular cryptogamous plants—the natural order Filices.—ns. Fern′ery, a place for rearing ferns; Fern′-owl, the European goatsucker or night-jar; Fern′-seed, the spores of ferns, which, properly gathered, render the bearers invisible; Fern′shaw, a thicket of ferns; Fern′ticle, a freckle.—adjs. Fern′ticled; Fern′y. [A.S. fearn; Ger. farn.]
Ferocious, fe-rō′shus, adj. savage, fierce: cruel.—adv. Ferō′ciously.—ns. Ferō′ciousness; Feroc′ity, savage cruelty of disposition: untamed fierceness. [L. ferox, ferocis, wild—ferus, wild.]
Ferrandine, fer′an-din, n. a silk and wool or silk and hair cloth.—Also Farr′andine. [Fr.]
Ferrara, fer-ä′ra, n. a make of sword-blade highly esteemed in Scotland from about the close of the 16th century—often Andrea Ferrara—said to have been made at Belluno in Venetia by Cosmo, Andrea, and Gianantonio Ferrara. [Perh. a native of Ferrara, or prob. merely the It. ferrajo, a cutler—L. ferrarius, a smith.]
Ferreous, fer′e-us, adj. pertaining to, or made of, iron. [L. ferreus—ferrum, iron.]
Ferret, fer′et, n. ribbon woven from spun silk. [Corr. from It. fioretto—L. flos, floris, a flower.]
Ferret, fer′et, n. a half-tamed albino variety of the polecat, employed in unearthing rabbits.—v.t. to drive out of a hiding-place: to search out cunningly:—pr.p. ferr′eting; pa.p. ferr′eted.—n. Ferr′eter, one who uses a ferret to catch rabbits, &c.: one who searches minutely. [O. Fr. furet, a ferret—Low L. furon-em, robber—L. fur, a thief.]
Ferriage, fer′ri-āj, n. See Ferry.
Ferric, fer′ik, adj. pertaining to or obtained from iron: noting an acid compounded of iron and oxygen.—ns. Ferr′ate, a salt formed by the union of ferric acid with a base; Ferrocyanogen (fer-o-sī-an′ō-jen), a compound radical supposed by chemists to exist in ferrocyanic acid and the ferrocyanides, the chief of which is potassium ferrocyanide, yielding Prussian blue; Ferr′otype, a photographic process in which the negative was developed by a saturated solution of protosulphate of iron. [L. ferrum, iron.]