Defn: Little flowers of ornament introduced into a melody by a singer or player.
FIPPENNY BIT
Fip"pen*ny bit` ( or ). Etym: [Corruption of five penny bit.]
Defn: The Spanish half real, or one sixteenth of a dollar, — so called in Pennsylvania and the adjacent States. [Obs.]
Note: Before the act of Congress, Feb. 21, 1857, caused the adoption of decimal coins and the withdrawal of foreign coinage from circulation, this coin passed currently for 6fourpence ha'penny or fourpence; in New York a sixpence; in Pennsylvania, Virginia, etc., a fip; and in Louisiana, a picayune.
FIPPLE
Fip"ple (fer), n. Etym: [perh. fr. L. fibula a clasp, a pin; cf.
Prov. E. fible a stick used to stir pottage.]
Defn: A stopper, as in a wind instrument of music. [Obs.] Bacon.
FIR Fir, n. Etym: [Dan. fyr, fyrr; akin to Sw. furu, Icel. fura, AS. furh in furhwudu fir wood, G. föhre, OHG. forha pine, vereheih a sort of oak, L. quercus (Bot.)
Defn: A genus (Abies) of coniferous trees, often of large size and elegant shape, some of them valued for their timber and others for their resin. The species are distinguished as the balsam fir, the silver fir, the red fir, etc. The Scoth fir is a Pinus.
Note: Fir in the Bible means any one of several coniferous trees, including, cedar, cypress, and probably three species of pine. J. D. Hooker.
FIRE
Fire, n. Etym: [OE. fir, fyr, fur AS. fr; akin to D. vuur, OS. & OHG.
fiur, G. feuer, Icel. f, f, Gr. purus pure, E. pure Cf. Empyrean,
Pyre.]