He had famished Paris into a surrender.
Burke.
Fam"ish, v. i. 1. To die of hunger; to starve.
2. To suffer extreme hunger or thirst, so as to be exhausted in
strength, or to come near to perish.
You are all resolved rather to die than to famish?
Shak.
3. To suffer extremity from deprivation of anything essential or
necessary.
The Lord will not suffer the soul of the righteous to famish.
Prov. x. 3.
Fam"ish*ment (?), n. State of being famished.
Fa*mos"i*ty (?), n. [L. famositas infamy: cf. F. famositÈ. See Famous.]
The state or quality of being famous. [Obs.] Johnson.
Fa"mous (?), a. [L. famosus, fr. fama fame: cf. F. fameux. See Fame.]
Celebrated in fame or public report; renowned; mach talked of;
distinguished in story; -- used in either a good or a bad sense,
chiefly the former; often followed by for; as, famous for erudition,
for eloquence, for military skill; a famous pirate.
Famous for a scolding tongue.
Shak.
Syn. -- Noted; remarkable; signal; conspicuous; celebrated; renowned;
illustrious; eminent; transcendent; excellent. -- Famous, Renowned,
Illustrious. Famous is applied to a person or thing widely spoken of as
extraordinary; renowned is applied to those who are named again and
again with honor; illustrious, to those who have dazzled the world by
the splendor of their deeds or their virtues. See Distinguished.
Fa"moused (?), a. Renowned. [Obs.] Shak.
Fa"mous*ly (?), adv. In a famous manner; in a distinguished degree;
greatly; splendidly.
Then this land was famously enriched With politic grave counsel.
Shak.
Fa"mous*ness, n. The state of being famous.
Fam"u*lar (?), n. [Cf. L. famularis of servants.] Domestic; familiar.
[Obs.] Chaucer.
Fam"u*late (?), v. i. [L. famulatus, p. p. of famulari to serve, fr.
famulus servant.] To serve. [Obs.]
Fam"u*list (?), n. [L. famulus servant.] A collegian of inferior rank
or position, corresponding to the sizar at Cambridge. [Oxford Univ.,
Eng.]
Fan (?), n. [AS. fann, fr. L. vannus fan, van for winnowing grain; cf.
F. van. Cf. Van a winnowing machine, Winnow.] 1. An instrument used for
producing artificial currents of air, by the wafting or revolving
motion of a broad surface; as: (a) An instrument for cooling the
person, made of feathers, paper, silk, etc., and often mounted on
sticks all turning about the same pivot, so as when opened to radiate
from the center and assume the figure of a section of a circle. (b)
(Mach.) Any revolving vane or vanes used for producing currents of air,
in winnowing grain, blowing a fire, ventilation, etc., or for checking
rapid motion by the resistance of the air; a fan blower; a fan wheel.
(c) An instrument for winnowing grain, by moving which the grain is
tossed and agitated, and the chaff is separated and blown away. (d)
Something in the form of a fan when spread, as a peacock's tail, a
window, etc. (e) A small vane or sail, used to keep the large sails of
a smock windmill always in the direction of the wind.
Clean provender, which hath been winnowed with the shovel and with
the fan.
Is. xxx. 24.
2. That which produces effects analogous to those of a fan, as in
exciting a flame, etc.; that which inflames, heightens, or strengthens;
as, it served as a fan to the flame of his passion.