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F — Femeral to Feoff (Part 4 of 6)

Fencing
(Fen"cing) n.

1. The art or practice of attack and defense with the sword, esp. with the smallsword. See Fence, v. i., 2.

2. Disputing or debating in a manner resembling the art of fencers. Shak.

3. The materials used for building fences. [U.S.]

4. The act of building a fence.

5. The aggregate of the fences put up for inclosure or protection; as, the fencing of a farm.

Fen cricket
(Fen" crick`et) (Zoöl.) The mole cricket. [Prov. Eng.]

Fend
(Fend) n. A fiend. [Obs.] Chaucer.

Fend
(Fend) v. t. [imp. & p. p. Fended; p. pr. & vb. n. Fending.] [Abbrev. fr. defend.] To keep off; to prevent from entering or hitting; to ward off; to shut out; — often with off; as, to fend off blows.

With fern beneath to fend the bitter cold.
Dryden.

To fend off a boat or vessel (Naut.), to prevent its running against anything with too much violence.

Fend
(Fend), v. i. To act on the defensive, or in opposition; to resist; to parry; to shift off.

The dexterous management of terms, and being able to fend . . . with them, passes for a great part of learning.
Locke.

Fender
(Fen"der) n. [From Fend, v. t. & i., cf. Defender.] One who or that which defends or protects by warding off harm; as: (a) A screen to prevent coals or sparks of an open fire from escaping to the floor. (b) Anything serving as a cushion to lessen the shock when a vessel comes in contact with another vessel or a wharf. (c) A screen to protect a carriage from mud thrown off the wheels: also, a splashboard. (d) Anything set up to protect an exposed angle, as of a house, from damage by carriage wheels.

Fendliche
(Fend"liche) a. Fiendlike. [Obs.] Chaucer.

Fenerate
(Fen"er*ate) v. i. [L. faeneratus, p. p. of faenerari lend on interest, fr. faenus interest.] To put money to usury; to lend on interest. [Obs.] Cockeram.

Feneration
(Fen`er*a"tion) n. [L. faeneratio.] The act of fenerating; interest. [Obs.] Sir T. Browne.

Fenes-tella
(||Fen`es-tel"la) n. [L., dim. of fenestra window.] (Arch.) Any small windowlike opening or recess, esp. one to show the relics within an altar, or the like.

Fenestra
(||Fe*nes"tra) n.; pl. Fenestræ [L., a window.] (Anat.) A small opening; esp., one of the apertures, closed by membranes, between the tympanum and internal ear.

Fenestral
(Fe*nes"tral) a. [L. fenestra a window.]

1. (Arch.) Pertaining to a window or to windows.

2. (Anat.) Of or pertaining to a fenestra.

Fenestral
(Fe*nes"tral), n. (Arch.) A casement or window sash, closed with cloth or paper instead of glass. Weale.