Fish"-tac`kle (?), n. A tackle or purchase used to raise the flukes of
the anchor up to the gunwale. The block used is called the fish-block.
Fish"-tail` (?), a. Like the of a fish; acting, or producing something,
like the tail of a fish.
Fish-tail burner, a gas burner that gives a spreading flame shaped
somewhat like the tail of a fish. -- Fish-tail propeller (Steamship), a
propeller with a single blade that oscillates like the tail of a fish
when swimming.
Fish"wife` (?), n. A fishwoman.
Fish"wom`an (?), n.; pl. Fishwomen (&?;). A woman who retails fish.
Fish"y (?), a. 1. Consisting of fish; fishlike; having the qualities or
taste of fish; abounding in fish. Pope.
2. Extravagant, like some stories about catching fish; improbable;
also, rank or foul. [Colloq.]
Fisk (?), v. i. [Cf. Sw. fjeska to bustle about.] To run about; to
frisk; to whisk. [Obs.]
He fisks abroad, and stirreth up erroneous opinions.
Latimer.
Fis`si*gem*ma"tion (?), n. [L. fissus (p. p. of findere to split) + E.
gemmation.] (Biol.) A process of reproduction intermediate between
fission and gemmation.
Fis"sile (?), a. [L. fissilis, fr. fissus, p. p. of findere to split.
See Fissure.] Capable of being split, cleft, or divided in the
direction of the grain, like wood, or along natural planes of cleavage,
like crystals.
This crystal is a pellucid, fissile stone.
Sir I. Newton.
Fis`si*lin"gual (?), a. [L. fissus (p. p. of findere to split) + E.
lingual.] (Zoˆl.) Having the tongue forked.
||Fis`si*lin"gui*a (?), n. pl. [NL., fr. L. fissus (p. p. o f findere
||to split) + lingua tongue.] (Zoˆl.) A group of Lacertilia having the
||tongue forked, including the common lizards. [Written also
||Fissilingues.]
Fis*sil"i*ty (?), n. Quality of being fissile.
Fis"sion (?), n. [L. fissio. See Fissure.] 1. A cleaving, splitting, or
breaking up into parts.
2. (Biol.) A method of asexual reproduction among the lowest
(unicellular) organisms by means of a process of self-division,
consisting of gradual division or cleavage of the into two parts, each
of which then becomes a separate and independent organisms; as when a
cell in an animal or plant, or its germ, undergoes a spontaneous
division, and the parts again subdivide. See Segmentation, and Cell
division, under Division.
3. (Zoˆl.) A process by which certain coral polyps, echinoderms,
annelids, etc., spontaneously subdivide, each individual thus forming
two or more new ones. See Strobilation.
Fis`si*pal"mate (?), a. [L. fissus (p. p. of findere to split) + palma
palm.] (Zoˆl.) Semipalmate and loboped, as a grebe's foot. See Illust.
under Aves.
||Fis*sip"a*ra (?), n. pl. [NL. See Fissiparous.] (Zoˆl.) Animals which
||reproduce by fission.
Fis*sip"a*rism (?), n. [See Fissiparous.] (Biol.) Reproduction by
spontaneous fission.
Fis`si*par"i*ty (?), n. (Biol.) Quality of being fissiparous;
fissiparism.
Fis*sip"a*rous (?), a. [L. fissus (p. p. of findere to split) + parere
to bring forth: cf. F. fissipare.] (Biol.) Reproducing by spontaneous
fission. See Fission. -- Fis*sip"a*rous*ly, adv.
Fis`si*pa"tion (?), n. (Biol.) Reproduction by fission; fissiparism.
{ Fis"si*ped (?), Fis*sip"e*dal (?) }, a. [Cf. F. fissipËde.] (Zoˆl.)
Having the toes separated to the base. [See Aves.]
Fis"si*ped, n. (Zoˆl.) One of the Fissipedia.
||Fis`si*pe"di*a (?), n. pl. [NL., fr. L. fissus (p. p. of findere to
||cleave) + pes, pedis, a foot.] (Zoˆl.) A division of the Carnivora,
||including the dogs, cats, and bears, in which the feet are not
||webbed; -- opposed to Pinnipedia.
Fis`si*ros"tral (?), a. [Cf. F. fissirostre.] (Zoˆl.) Having the bill
cleft beyond the horny part, as in the case of swallows and
goatsuckers.
||Fis`si*ros"tres (?), n. pl. [NL., fr. L. fissus (p. p. of findere to
||cleave) + rostrum beak.] (Zoˆl.) A group of birds having the bill
||deeply cleft.
Fis"sur*al (?), a. Pertaining to a fissure or fissures; as, the
fissural pattern of a brain.
Fis`su*ra"tion (?), n. (Anat.) The act of dividing or opening; the
state of being fissured.
Fis"sure (?), n. [L. fissura, fr. findere, fissum, to cleave, split;
akin to E. bite: cf. F. fissure.] A narrow opening, made by the parting
of any substance; a cleft; as, the fissure of a rock.
Cerebral fissures (Anat.), the furrows or clefts by which the surface
of the cerebrum is divided; esp., the furrows first formed by the
infolding of the whole wall of the cerebrum. -- Fissure needle (Surg.),
a spiral needle for catching together the gaping lips of wounds.
Knight. -- Fissure of rolando (Anat.), the furrow separating the
frontal from the parietal lobe in the cerebrum. -- Fissure of Sylvius
(Anat.), a deep cerebral fissure separating the frontal from the
temporal lobe. See Illust. under Brain. -- Fissure vein (Mining), a
crack in the earth's surface filled with mineral matter. Raymond.
Fis"sure (?), v. t. To cleave; to divide; to crack or fracture.
||Fis`su*rel"la (?), n. [NL., dim. of L. fissura a fissure.] (Zoˆl.) A
||genus of marine gastropod mollusks, having a conical or limpetlike
||shell, with an opening at the apex; -- called also keyhole limpet.
Fist (fst), n. [OE. fist, fust, AS. fst; akin to D. vuist, OHG. fst, G.
faust, and prob. to L. pugnus, Gr. pygmh` fist, py`x with the fist. Cf.
Pugnacious, Pigmy.] 1. The hand with the fingers doubled into the palm;
the closed hand, especially as clinched tightly for the purpose of
striking a blow.
Who grasp the earth and heaven with my fist.
Herbert.