Fives, fīvz, n. (Shak.) vives, a disease of horses.
Fives, fīvz, n.pl. a game of handball played in a roomy court against a wall, chiefly at the great public schools of England.
Fix, fiks, v.t. to make firm or fast: to establish: to drive into: to settle: to put into permanent form: to establish as a fact: to direct steadily: to regulate: to deprive of volatility.—v.i. to settle or remain permanently: to become firm: to congeal.—n. (coll.) a difficulty: a dilemma.—adj. Fix′able, capable of being fixed.—ns. Fixā′tion, act of fixing, or state of being fixed: steadiness, firmness: state in which a body does not evaporate; Fix′ative, that which fixes or sets colours; Fix′ature, a gummy preparation for fixing the hair.—adj. Fixed, settled: not apt to evaporate: steadily directed towards: fast, lasting, permanent: substantively for fixed stars (Par. Lost, III. 481).—adv. Fix′edly.—ns. Fix′edness; Fix′er; Fixid′ity, Fix′ity, fixedness.—n.pl. Fix′ings, things needed for putting in order, arrangement.—adj. Fix′ive.—ns. Fix′ture, a movable that has become fastened to anything, as to land or to a house: a fixed article of furniture: a fixed or appointed time or event, as a horse-race; Fix′ure (Shak.), stability, position, firmness.—Fixed air, the name given by Dr Joseph Black in 1756 to what in 1784 was named by Lavoisier carbonic acid; Fixed bodies (chem.), a term applied to those substances which remain fixed, and are not volatilised at moderately high temperatures; Fixed oils, those which, on the application of heat, do not volatilise without decomposition; Fixed stars, stars which appear always to occupy the same position in the heavens—opp. to Planets. [L., fixus, figĕre, to fix, prob. through O. Fr. fix, or Low L. fixāre.]
Fizgig, fiz′gig, n. a giddy girl: a firework of damp powder: a gimcrack: a crotchet.—Also Fis′gig.
Fizz, fiz, v.i. to make a hissing or sputtering sound.—n. any frothy drink, as soda-water, or esp. champagne.—adj. Fiz′zenless (Scot.), pithless—also Fū′sionless.—v.i. Fiz′zle, to hiss or sputter: to come to a sudden stop, to fail disgracefully.—n. a state of agitation or worry: an abortive effort.—adj. Fiz′zy, given to fizz. [Formed from the sound.]
Flabbergast, flab′ėrgast, v.t. (coll.) to stun, confound. [Prob. conn. with flabby, and gast, to astonish.]
Flabby, flab′i, adj. easily moved: soft, yielding: hanging loose.—n. Flabb′iness. [From flap.]
Flabellate, flä-bel′āt, adj. fan-shaped—also Flabell′iform.—ns. Flabellā′tion, the action of fanning; Flab′ellum (eccles.), a fan, anciently used to drive away flies from the chalice during the celebration of the eucharist. [L., a fan.]
Flaccid, flak′sid, adj. flabby: lax: easily yielding to pressure: soft and weak.—adv. Flac′cidly.—ns. Flac′cidness, Flaccid′ity, want of firmness. [Fr.,—L. flaccidus—flaccus, flabby.]
Flack, flak, v.i. (prov.), to flap, flutter.—v.t. to flap or flick with something.