Fe*luc"ca (&?;), n. [It. feluca (cf. Sp. faluca, Pg. falua), fr. Ar.
fulk ship, or harrqah a sort of ship.] (Naut.) A small, swift-sailing
vessel, propelled by oars and lateen sails, -- once common in the
Mediterranean. Sometimes it is constructed so that the helm may be used
at either end.
Fel"wort` (?), n. [Probably a corruption of fieldwort.] (Bot.) A
European herb (Swertia perennis) of the Gentian family.
Fe"male (?), n. [OE. femel, femal, F. femelle, fr. L. femella, dim. of
femina woman. See Feminine.] 1. An individual of the sex which
conceives and brings forth young, or (in a wider sense) which has an
ovary and produces ova.
The male and female of each living thing.
Drayton.
2. (Bot.) A plant which produces only that kind of reproductive organs
which are capable of developing into fruit after impregnation or
fertilization; a pistillate plant.
Fe"male, a. 1. Belonging to the sex which conceives and gives birth to
young, or (in a wider sense) which produces ova; not male.
As patient as the female dove When that her golden couplets are
disclosed.
Shak.
2. Belonging to an individual of the female sex; characteristic of
woman; feminine; as, female tenderness. "Female usurpation.'b8 Milton.
To the generous decision of a female mind, we owe the discovery of
America.
Belknap.
3. (Bot.) Having pistils and no stamens; pistillate; or, in
cryptogamous plants, capable of receiving fertilization.
Female rhymes (Pros.), double rhymes, or rhymes (called in French
feminine rhymes because they end in e weak, or feminine) in which two
syllables, an accented and an unaccented one, correspond at the end of
each line.
A rhyme, in which the final syllables only agree (strain, complain) is
called a male rhyme; one in which the two final syllables of each verse
agree, the last being short (motion, ocean), is called female. Brande &
C.
-- Female screw, the spiral-threaded cavity into which another, or
male, screw turns. Nicholson. -- Female fern (Bot.), a common species
of fern with large decompound fronds (Asplenium FilixfÊmina), growing
in many countries; lady fern.
The names male fern and female fern were anciently given to two common
ferns; but it is now understood that neither has any sexual character.
Syn. -- Female, Feminine. We apply female to the sex or individual, as
opposed to male; also, to the distinctive belongings of women; as,
female dress, female form, female character, etc.; feminine, to things
appropriate to, or affected by, women; as, feminine studies,
employments, accomplishments, etc. "Female applies to sex rather than
gender, and is a physiological rather than a grammatical term. Feminine
applies to gender rather than sex, and is grammatical rather than
physiological." Latham.