Chapter Fourierists to Frangipani of F by Brewer's Phrase & Fable

a fox." The usual derivation is the Latin falx, French fauchon, our falchion.

"O signieur Dew, thou diest on point of fox,
Except, O signieur, thou do give to me
Egregious ransom."
Shakespeare: Henry V., iv. 4.

"I had a sword, ay, the flower of Smithfield for a sword, a right fox i' faith." - Two Angry Women of Abington (1599).

Fox (To). To steal or cheat; to fub; also "to shadow" a suspect; to watch without seeming so to do. A dog, a fox, and a weasel sleep, as they say, "with one eye open."

Fox-fire - i.e. fause or "false fire," the phosphoric light, without heat, which plays round decaying matter.

Fox-tail I gave him a flap with a fox-tail. I cajoled him; made a fool of him. The fox-tail was one of the badges of the motley, and to flap with a fox-tail is to treat one like a fool.

Fox's Sleep (A). A sleep with one eye on the qui vive. Assumed indifference to what is going on. (See above.)

Foxed A book stained with reddish-brown marks is said to be foxed. Of course, the stain is so called because it is of the colour of a fox.

Foxglove called by the Welsh Fairy's glove and by the Irish Fairy-bells, is either a corruption of Folk's glove - i.e. the glove of the good folks or fairies, or else of the Saxon fox[es]glofa, red or fox-coloured glove. (French, gants de Notre Dame.)

Foxites (2 syl.). The Quakers. So called from George Fox, who organised the sect (1624-1690).

"His muzzle, formed of opposition stuff,
Firm as a Foxite, would not lose its ruff."
Dr. Wolcott [Peter Pindar]:The Razor Seller.

Foxy Strong-smelling, or red-haired; like a fox.

Fra Diavolo (Michele Pozza). A celebrated brigand and renegade monk, who evaded pursuit for many years amidst the mountains of Calabria. (1760-1806.) Auber has made him the subject of an opera.

Fracassus Father of Ferragas, the giant, and son of Morgante.

"Primus erat quidam Fracassus prole gigantis,
Cujus stirps olim Morganto venit ab illo,
Qui bacchioconem campanæ ferre solebat,
Cum quo mille hominum colpos fracasset in uno."
Merlin Cocaius (i.e. Théophile Folengo):
Histoire Macaronique (1606).

Fradubio [Brother Doubt ], says Spenser, wooed and won Duessa (False-faith); but one day, while she was bathing, discovered her to be a "filthy old hag," and resolved to leave her. False-faith instantly metamorphosed him into a tree, and he will never be relieved till "he can be bathed from the well of living water." (Faërie Queene, book i. 2.)

Frame of Mind Disposition. A printer's frame is a stand on which the type is disposed; a founder's frame is a mould into which molten metal is disposed or poured; a weaver's frame is a loom where the silk or thread is disposed or stretched for quilting, etc.; a picture frame is an ornamental edging within which the picture is disposed; a mental frame, therefore, is the boundary within which the feelings of the mind are disposed. (Anglo-Saxon, fremm-an.)

France The heraldic device of the city of Paris is a ship. As Sauval says. "L'ile de la cité est faite comme un grand navire enfoncé dans la vase, et échoué au fil de l'eau vers le milieu de la Seine. " This form of a ship struck the heraldic scribes, who in the latter part of the Middle Ages emblazoned a ship on the shield of Paris.

Francesca A Venetian maiden, daughter of Minotti, governor of Corinth. She loved Alp, and tried to restore him to his country and faith; but, as he refused to recant, gave him up, and died broken-hearted. (Byron: Siege of Corinth.)