fabulate 
fabulate (fab'u-lat), v. i. ; pret. and pp. fabii- 
lated, ppr. fubulating. [< L. fuliulatiiy, pp. of 
fabulari, fable: see fable, v.'] To fable. [Bare.] 
[The tongue is] so guarded . . . as if it were with giants 
in an enchanted tower, as they fabulate, that no man may 
tame it. Rev. T. Adatuf, Works, I. 10. 
fabulise, v. i. SeefabulL'c. 
fabulist (fab'u-list), . [= F. fabuliste = Sp. 
Pg. fabiilista (the L. term being fabulator), < 
L. fabula, a fable.] An inventor or a writer of 
fables ; a fabler ; a maker of fictions. 
They come in lamely, with their mouldy tales out of 
Boccacio, like stale Tabarine, the fabulist. 
B. Jonson, Volpone. 
Fabulists always endow their animals with the passions 
and desires of men. 
Lowell, Among my Books, 1st ser., p. 372. 
.So this easy-going fabulist passes on to the 17th of De- 
cember. 1799, again without a reference. 
Gladstone, Nineteenth Century, XXII. 4<y. 
fabulize (fab'u-liz), v. i. ; pret. and pp.fabulized, 
ppr. fdbuliziiiij. [< L. fabula, fable, + -ize.~\ 
To invent, compose, or relate fables or stories. 
Also spelled fabulise. 
Then endlessly among themselves they fabulize, nourish 
the mistery, laugh, play, jeast, dance, leap, skip. 
Benvenuto, Passengers' Dialogues (1612). 
fabulosity (fab-u-los'i-ti), n. ; pi. fabulosities 
(-tiz). [= F. fabulosity = Sp. fabulosidad, < 
L. as if *fabulosita(t-)s, < fabulosus, fabulous: 
see fabulous.] 1. The quality of being fabu- 
lous; fabulousness. [Bare.] 
Now, as by his history he means this book of Job, it is 
evident he supposed the fabulosity of the book concluded 
against the existence of the patriarch. 
Warburton, Divine Legation, iv. 2. 
2f. A feigned or fictitious story ; a fable. 
Herodotus hath besprinkled his work with many fabu- 
losities. Sir T. Browne, Vulg. Err., i. 8. 
fabulous (fab'u-lus), a. [= F. fabuleux, OF. 
fableux = Sp. tg. It. fabuloso, < L. fabulosus, 
fabulous, celebrated in fable, < fabula, fable : 
see fable.'] 1. Feigned or invented, as a story; 
fictitious ; not true or real : as, a fabulous de- 
scription or hero ; the fabulous exploits of Her- 
cules. 
Howsoeuer, it is more than apparant that the booke bear- 
ing Enochs name is very fabulous. 
Purchas, Pilgrimage, p. 36. 
The Europeans reproach us with false history and/aim - 
low chronology. Goldsmith, Citizen of the World, xvi. 
The total expulsion of the Shepherds at any one time by 
any King of Egypt, or at any one place, must be fabulous, 
as they have remained in their ancient seats, and do re- 
main to this day. Bruce, Source of the Nile, I. 397. 
2. Exceeding the bounds of probability or rea- 
son ; not to be received as truth ; incredible ; 
hence, enormous; immense; amazing: as, a 
fabulous price ; fabulous magnificence. 
He found that the waste of the servants' hall was almost 
fabulous. Macaulay, Misc., II. 372. 
A man of fabulous leanness arose, and began a kind of 
dance. T. B. Aldrich, Ponkapog to Pesth, p. 229. 
3. Fabling ; addicted to telling fables. 
The fabulous voices of some few 
Poor brain-sick men, styled poets. 
B. Jonson, Masque of Blackness. 
What different Faults corrupt our Muses thus ? 
Wanton as Girls, as Old Wives Fabulous ! 
Cowley, Death of Crashaw. 
Fabulous age, that period in the early history of a coun- 
try of which the accounts are mostly mythical or legen- 
dary, recording chiefly the fabulous achievements of he- 
roes : as, the/aMoiu age of Greece or Rome. 
fabulously (fab'u-lus-li), adv. 1. In a fabu- 
lous manner; in fable or fiction: as, it isfabti- 
lously related. 
These things are uncertain and fabulously augmented. 
Qrenewly, Annals of Tacitus, p. 131. 
2. Incredibly ; to such extent as to exceed 
probability; hence, enormously; amazingly: 
as, fabulously rich. 
fabulousness (fab'u-lus-nes), . The quality 
of being fabulous or fictitious. 
His [Boe'thina's] history is written with elegance and vig- 
our, but his fabulous-ness and credulity are justly blamed. 
Johnson, Jour, to Western Isles. 
faburdent, faburthent, n. and a. [Also fabour- 
don; a partial accom. of OF. faux-bourdon: 
see faux-bourdon, and burden? burthen^. "\ I. 
n. In medieval music: (a) The rudest kind of 
polyphony, consisting of a melody or cantus 
firmus with the third and sixth added to each 
tone : not radically different from organum. 
In modulation hard I play and sing 
Fabourdoun, pricksang, discant, countering. 
damn Dour/las, Palace of Honour, i. 42. 
(6) Later, the process or act of adding a sim- 
ple counterpoint to a cantus, especially by im- 
2109 
provisation. (c) A drone-bass or a refrain; a 
burden. 
But I let that passe lest thou come in againe with thy 
faburthen. Lyly, Euphues. 
I could not make my verses iet vpon the stage in tragi- 
call buskins, euerie worde filling the mouth like the fa- 
burden of Bo- Bell. 
Greene, Perimedes, Address to Readers (1588). 
II. a. Monotonous. 
He condemneth all mens knowledge but his owne, rais- 
ing up a method of experience (with mirabile, miraculoso, 
stupendo, and such faburthen words, as Fierovanti doth) 
above all the learned Galienists of Italic, or Europe. 
Lodge, Wit's Misery (1596). 
fac (fak), n. [Abbr. of facsimile.] A combi- 
nation of flowers or ornamental types of deco- 
ration, in imitation of the engraved head-bands 
of the early printers: a typographic fashion 
in England in the seventeenth and eighteenth 
centuries. 
facade (fa-sad'), . [= D. G. Dan. facade, < F. 
facade, < It. faceiata, the front of a building 
(see faeiata, faciate), < faccia = F. face, < L. 
fades, the face : see /acl.] In arch., a front 
view or elevation ; the chief exterior face of a 
building, or any one of its principal faces if it 
has more than one : as, the facade of the Lou- 
vre; the facade of St. Peter's in Bome. 
Like so many of the finest churches, [the cathedral of 
Siena] was furnished with only a plain substantial front 
wall, intended to serve as the backing and support of an 
ornamental facade. 
C. E. Norton, Church-building in Middle Ages, p. 136. 
In Egypt the facades of their rock-cut tombs were . . . 
ornamented so simply and unobtrusively as rather to belie 
than to announce their internal magnificence. 
J. Ferguxson, Hist. Arch., I. 351. 
face 1 (fas), n. [< ME. face, rarely faas, faz, < 
OF. face, F.faee = Pi. fate = Sp. faz, haz = 
Pg. face = It. faccia, < L. fades, the face, vis- 
age, countenance, look, appearance, form, etc. ; 
prob. connected with fax (fac-), a torch, face- 
tus, elegant, polite, witty (see facete, etc.), fo- 
cus, a hearth (see focus, etc.), < y' fnc, *fa = 
Gr. -\/*0a = Skt. )/ bha, shine: see fable, fame! . 
fate, etc.] 1. The front part of the human 
head, and by extension of the head of any 
animal, made up of the forehead, eyes, nose, 
mouth, cheeks, and chin ; the visage ; the coun- 
tenance. 
Henry played with Lewis the Heir of France at Chess, 
and winning much Money of him, Lewis grew so choler- 
ick, that he threw the Chess-men at Henry's Face. 
Baker, Chronicles, p. 30. 
Is not the young heir 
Of that brave general's family, Giulio, 
So poor, he dares not show his face in Naples ? 
Sir R. Stapylton, Slighted Maid, p. 19. 
If to her share some female errors fall, 
Look on her/ac, and you'll forget them all. 
Pope, R. of the L., ii. 18. 
He would not, with a peremptory tone, 
Assert the nose upon his face his own. 
Cowper, Conversation, 1. 122. 
2. Aspect or expression of the face; look; 
countenance ; manner of regard, as implying 
approval or disapproval: as, he set his face 
against it. 
The Lord make his/ace shine upon thee. Num. vt 25. 
Keep still your former face, and mix again 
With these lost spirits. B. Jonson, Catiline, iii. 2. 
Some read the King's/ace, some the Queen's, and all 
Had marvel. Tennyson, Lancelot and Elaine. 
3. An expressive look ; an assumed facial as- 
pect indicative of some feeling, especially one 
of ridioule, disgust, or the like. See to make a 
face, below. 
"Could I have found a more respectable subject?" he 
inquired of her. "The adjective is excellent," she said, 
with a little face, as she put her violin into its case. 
Mrs. H. Ward, Robert Elsmere, xviii. 
4. Decent outward appearance ; aspect or sem- 
blance of propriety. 
How many things are there which a man cannot, with 
any face or comeliness, say or do himself ! 
Bacon, Friendship. 
They took him to set a face upon their own malignant 
designs. Milton. 
They [the priests] saw that the king was not inclined to 
advance money, and all of them knew perfectly, that, 
whatever face he put upon the matter, the Ras would not 
Rive an ounce of gold to prevent the Abuna from staying 
there [in confinement] all his life. 
Bruce, Source of the Nile, II. 646. 
5. Confidence, as indicated by the expression 
of the countenance ; effrontery; audacity; as- 
surance ; impudence. 
I cannot with any face ask you to trust me with any- 
thing in future. 
J. Bradford, Works (Parker Soc., 1853), II. 354. 
However I may set bface and talk, 
I am not valiant. 
Beau, and Ft., Maid's Tragedy, iii. L'. 
face 
I wonder you can have the face to follow me, 
That have so prosecuted things against me. 
Middleton (and others'), The Widow, v. 1. 
That his rise hath been by her and her husband's means, 
and that it is a most inconceivable thing how this man 
can have the face to use her and her family with the neg- 
lect that he do them. Pepys, Diary, III. 132. 
This gentleman ... is particularly remarkable for a 
becoming assurance ; . . . none are more blessed with the 
advantages otface. 
Goldsmith, Citizen of the World, Ixviii. 
6. Front; presence; sight: as in the phrases 
before the face, in the face, to the face, from the 
face. 
Honours, grace, and dignities he ever bestoweth upon 
those that have done him any memorable service in the 
face of his enemies. 
Capt. John Smith, True Travels, I. 40. 
The parson threatens him, if he does not mend his man- 
ners, to pray for him in the face of the whole congregation. 
Addison, Sir Roger at Church. 
Without any evidence, nay, in the face of the strongest 
evidence, he [Mr. Montagu] ascribes to the people of a 
former age a set of opinions which no people ever held. 
Macaulay, Lord Bacon. 
In face of you, as you entered the door, was the en- 
trance to the working-kitchen, or scullery. 
Mrs. GaskeU, Sylvia's Lovers, vi. 
7. In anat., technically, a part of the head or 
skull distinguished from the cranium proper or 
brain-box, the facial region or facies, contain- 
ing the eyes, nose, and mouth, but not the ears. 
See facial. 8. In entom., the front of an in- 
sects head between the compound eyes, in de- 
scriptions the term is applied to a more or less definite 
area, which varies for the different orders. 
9. Ln bot., the upper or inner or free surface of 
an organ, as opposed to the back. 
That part of the anther to which the filament is attach- 
ed, and which is generally towards the petals, is the back, 
the opposite being the face. Encyc. Brit., IV. 137. 
10. The front or the principal surface of any- 
thing; the surface presented to view, or the 
side or part of a side on which the use of the 
thing depends : as, the face of the earth or of 
the waters ; the face of a clock (the dial) ; of 
a plane (the sole), of a hammer (the striking- 
surface of the head), of a type (the surface giv- 
ing the impression), etc. 
Also the breadth of the face of the house, and of the 
separate place toward the east, an hundred cubits. 
Ezek. xli. 14. 
1 A generall rumour of a generall peace now spread it self 
over all the face of those tormented Countries. 
Capt. John Smith, True Travels, I. 10. 
An unusual light rested, to him, on the face of the 
world. W. M. Baker, New Timothy, p. 323. 
And now the only thing that had the springs of life 
within its bosom was the great, sweet-voiced clock, whose 
faithful face had kept unchanged amidst all the swift 
pageantry of changes. The Century, XXXV. 947. 
1 1 . A plane surface of a solid ; one of the sur- 
faces bounding a solid : as, the face of an arrow- 
head. Thus, a cube or die has six faces; an oc- 
tahedron has eight faces. 12. That part of the 
cog of a geared wheel which projects beyond 
the pitch-line. 13. The working or cutting 
portion of a grinding-wheel, or the edge of any 
cutting-tool. 14. That part of the surface of 
a valve which comes in contact with the seat. 
Rankine. 15. In mining, but chiefly in coal- 
mining: (a) Properly, the front of a working; 
that part of the coal-seam which is being mined. 
Sometimes also called the working-face. 
Tunnels of a large face are those whose height is six or 
seven feet, and are about eight feet wide. 
Eissler, Mod. High Explosives, p. 258. 
(ft) Sometimes, improperly, same as back or 
cleat. 16. The superficial appearance or seem- 
ing of anything ; observable state or condition ; 
aspect in general. 
His actions never carried any face 
Of change or weakness. 
B. Jonson, Case is Altered, i. 2. 
If all these were exemplary in the conduct of their 
lives, things would soon take a new face. 
Swift, Advancement of Religion. 
Truth and goodness and beauty are but different faces 
of the same All. Emerson, Misc., p. 28. 
Assyriology has considerably changed the face of He- 
brew etymology and lexicography. The American, VII. 24. 
17. In astral., one of thirty-six parts of the zo- 
diac formed by dividing each sign into three 
equal parts. Each face was assigned to one of the plan- 
etsnamely, the first face of Aries to Mars, who is the 
lord of that house, and all the following faces to the sun, 
Venus, Mercury, the moon, Saturn, Jupiter, and Mars, in 
regular rotation. 
Euery signe is departid in 3 euene parties by 10 degrees, 
and thilke porcioun they clepe &face. 
Chaucer, Astrolabe, ii. 4. 
