facileness 
facileness (fas'il-nes), w. The state or quality 
of being facile, or easy or compliant. [Rare.] 
Alas, 
That facil hearts should to themselves be foes, 
When others they vtithfacilness befriend. 
J. Beaumont, Psyche, xvii. 197. 
facile princeps (fas'i-le prin'seps). [L. : fa- 
cile, easily, < facilis, easy ; princeps, chief, first : 
see/aci/, and princeps, prince.'] Easily the first 
or best ; the acknowledged chief. 
facilitate (fa-sil'i-tat), v. t. ; pret. and pp. fa- 
cilitated, ppr. facilitating. [With suffix -ate 2 , 
< F. faciliter (= Sp. Pg. facilitar = It. facili- 
tare), make easy, < L. facilitates, facility: see 
facility.] To make easy; render less difficult ; 
free wholly or partially from difficulty or im- 
pediment; lessen the labor of : as, to facilitate 
learning by suitable appliances. 
Every new attempt serves . . . to facilitate . . . future 
invention. Qoldmnth, The Bee, No. 4. 
Some acquaintance with that language may facilitate 
the study of Spanish. Lathrop, Spanish Vistas, p. 194. 
The easy navigation of the river James and its depen- 
dencies greatly facilitated the efforts of the British. 
Lecky, Eng. in 18th Cent., xiv. 
facilitation (fa-sil-i-ta'shon), n. [= Sp. (obs.) 
facilitacion = It. facilitazione ; as facilitate + 
-ion.] The act of facilitating or making easy. 
It becomes obvious that when they [men] co-operate, 
there must not only be no resulting hindrance, but there 
must be facilitation ; since in the absence of facilitation 
there can be no motive to co-operate. 
H. Spencer, Data of Ethics, p. 139. 
It may perhaps be made a question which of the two uses 
of speech, communication or the facilitation of thought, is 
the higher. Whitney, Eucyc. Brit., XVIII. 76. 
facility (fa-sil'i-ti), .; pi. facilities (-tiz). [< 
Tf . facilite' =: Sp. facilidad = Pg. facilidade = 
It.facilita, < L. facilita(t-)s, easiness, ease, fa- 
cility, <. faeilis, easy : see facile.'] 1. The qual- 
ity of being easily done or performed ; freedom 
from difficulty ; ease : as, the facility of an op- 
eration. 
More than half the pleasure of building a literal house 
of cards, unlike its metaphorical namesake, consists in 
ihe facility of throwing it down when it is built. 
H. A". Oxenham, Short Studies, p. 19. 
2. Ease in doing or performance; readiness 
proceeding from skill or practice; dexterity: 
as, he performed the work with great facility. 
Cos. Is your Englishman so exquisite in his drinking? 
logo. Why, he drinks you, with facility, your Dane dead 
drunk. Shak., Othello, ii. 3. 
The facility which we get of doing things by a custom 
of doing makes them often pass in us without notice. 
Lot-lie. 
3. Easiness to be moved or persuaded; readi- 
ness of compliance; pliancy; specifically, in 
Scots law, a degree of mental weakness short 
of idiocy, but justifying legal intervention. 
Seek the good of other men, but be not in bondage to 
their faces or fancies ; for that is but facility or softness, 
which taketh an honest mind prisoner. 
Bacon, Goodness, and Goodness of Nature (ed. 1887). 
It is a great error to take facility for good nature : ten- 
derness without discretion is no better than a more par- 
donable folly. Sir R. L' Estrange. 
In order to support the reduction of the deed of a facile 
person, there must be evidence of circumvention and of 
imposition in the transaction, as well as facility in the 
party, and lesion. But, "where lesion in the deed and 
facility in the granter concur, the most slender circum- 
stances of fraud or circumvention are sufficient to set it 
aside." Bell's Law Diet. 
4. Easiness of access ; complaisance ; affabil- 
ity; urbanity. 
He ... offers himself to the visits of a friend with fa- 
cility. South, Sermons. 
5. The means by which the performance of 
anything is rendered more easy ; convenience ; 
assistance ; advantage : usually in the plural : 
as, facilities for traveling or for study. 
The Casina is by no means one of his [Plautus'sJ best 
plays ; nor is it one which offers great facilities to an imi- 
tator. Macaulay, Machiavelli. 
So far from imposing artificial restrictions upon the ac- 
quirement of knowledge by women, throw every facility 
in their way. Huxley, Lay Sermons, p. 25. 
Law Of facility, a law of mental suggestion proposed by 
Hamilton, to the effect that a thought easier to suggest 
will be roused rather than a more difficult one. The ap- 
parent tautology of this statement was never cleared up 
by Hamilton. = Syn. 1. Easiness, etc. See ease. 2. Ex- 
pertness, Knack, etc. (see readiness), ability, quickness. 
4. Civility. 
facinerious (fas-i-ne'ri-us), a. Same as facino- 
rous. 
Par. He's of a most facinerioiis spirit that will not ac- 
knowledge it to be the 
Laf. Very hand of heaven. 
Shak., All's Well, ii. 3 (Victoria ed.). 
facing (fa'sing), n. [Verbal n. of /ace 1 , .] 1. 
A covering in front for ornament, distinction, 
2112 
protection, or other purpose, (a) in arc*., a thin 
covering of hewn or polished stone over an inferior stone, 
or a stratum of plaster or cement on a brick or rough stone 
wall. (b) In joinery, the woodwork fixed round apertures 
in interiors, to ornament them or to protect the plaster 
from injury, (c) In enyin., a layer of earth, turf, or stone 
laid upon the bottom and the sloping sides of a canal, 
railroad, reservoir, etc., to protect the exposed surface or 
to give it a steeper slope than is natural, (d) In clothing : 
(1) That part of the lining of any garment which covers 
those parts that are turned over or in any way exposed to 
view ; hence, such a covering when not really a part of the 
general lining : as, the silk facing of a dress-coat. (2) A 
similar covering used to protect a part of a garment which 
is peculiarly exposed to wear, or the edge of such a gar- 
ment, as of a skirt which is not to be hemmed, trousers 
around the ankle, etc. ; in military uniforms, in the plural, 
the cuffs and collar, when, as is often the case, they are 
of a different color from that of the coat. 
Or do you think 
Your tawny coats with greasy facings here 
Shall conquer it? L. Barry, Ram Alley, iii. 1. 
2. In founding, fine sand or powder applied to 
the face of a mold which receives the metal, 
to give a smooth surface to the casting. 3. 
A mode of preparing tea for the market by 
treating it with coloring matter and other sub- 
stances, so as to imitate tea of better quality 
and higher value ; also, the materials used in 
this process of adulteration. 
That tea is said to be adulterated with prussic acid, 
arose from the use of prnssian blue in the faring. 
Science, VI. 208. 
4. Milit., the movement of a soldier in turn- 
ing on the heel to the right, left, right about, 
left about, etc. : as, to put a recruit through 
his facings. 5f. Boasting; swaggering. 
Leave facing, 'twill not serve you : 
This impudence becomes thee worse than lying. 
Fletcher (and Massingerf), Lovers' Progress, iii. 0. 
6. The process of joining two pieces of timber 
by a rabbet. 7. In chess, the way or direction 
in which a piece should face. 
If he [a pawn] takes diagonally, that decides his facing. 
and he must contiuue to move that way [in four-handed 
chess]. Verney, Chess Eccentricities, p. 23. 
8. In brickmaking, the opening through which 
the bricks are wheeled into the kiln and hauled 
out afterburning. Also called abutment. 9. 
The process of preparing the face or working- 
surface of a millstone Facing up. (a) In brick- 
waking, covering up the face of the raw bricks with boards 
on end. C. T. Davis, Bricks and Tiles, p. 142. (6) In con- 
fectionery, giving a smooth finish to the surface of the 
paste for lozenges, by strewing it with starch-powder and 
fine sugar and nibbing them in by hand. 
facingly (fa'sing-li), adr. In a fronting posi- 
tion. 
facing-machine (fa'sing-ma-shen"), n. A ma- 
chine for dressing millstones. 
facing-sand (fa'sing-sand), n. In molding, a 
mixture generally composed of pulverized bi- 
tuminous coal and common molding-sand, used 
to form the surface of molds. 
facinoroust (fa-sin'6-rus), . [Early mod. E. 
also facinorns; < OF. facinoreux, facinereux = 
Sp. facineroso = Pg. It. faeinoroso, < L. facino- 
rosus, criminal, atrocious, < facinus (facinor-), 
a deed, esp. a bad deed, crime, villainy, <. faeere, 
do: see fact."] Atrociously wicked. 
He was of such stowte stomack and haute courage, yt 
at the same time yt he was drawen on the herdle toward 
his death, he sayd (as men do reporte) that for this mys- 
cheuous andfacinorus acte he should haue a name per- 
petual and a fame permanent and immortal. 
Hall, Hen. VII., an. 7. 
It were a vengeance centuple, for all facinoroits acts 
that could be named. B. Jonson, Epiccene, ii. 1. 
facinorousnesst (fa-sin'o-rus-nes), n. [</ncm- 
orous + -wess.] Extreme or atrocious wicked- 
ness. Bailey, 1727. 
fack 1 t, n. An obsolete form of fake 1 . 
fack 2 t, fackst, n. [Also feck, fecks, fags, and 
fucking, fackings, etc., all being perversions of 
faith, in the oath by my faith or in faith (f faith, 
and so ' facks, i' fackins, etc.).] Perverted 
forms of faith, used in oaths. 
fackeltan'z (fa'kl-tants), n. [G., < fackel, a 
torch (< L. facula, dim. of fax, a torch), + tarn 
= E. dance.'] 1. A torchlight procession, a sur- 
vival from medieval tournaments, which is cel- 
ebrated at some of the German courts on the 
marriage of a member of the royal family. 2. 
A musical composition designed for the above 
procession. It is written for a military band, and is a 
polonaise in march-time (|), having usually a loud first 
and last part and a soft trio. 
fackinst, fackingst, fackst. See/acfc2. 
By my fackings, but I will, by your leave. 
/;. Jonson, Every Man in his Humour, i. 2. 
facon, n. An obsolete form of falcon. 
facoundt, a. A Middle English form atfacund. 
fact 
facreret, [ME. (only in the following ex- 
tract) ; origin unknown, perhaps a corruption 
of a Rom. word.] Dissimulation. 
They |the Lombards] over i\ll 
Where that they thenkeu for to dwelle, 
Among hem self, so as they telle, 
First ben enformed for to lere 
A craft, which cleped isfacrere; 
For is facrere come about 
Than afterward hem stant no doubt 
To voide with a subtil honde 
The beste goodes of the londe, 
And bringe chaffe and take corne, 
Where as facrere goth beforne; 
In all his waie he lint no lette. 
Gower, Conf. Amant., I. 230. 
facsimile (fak-sim'i-le), n. and a. [Short for L. 
factum simile, made like : factum, neut. of fac- 
tus, pp. otfacere, make; simile, neut. of similis, 
like.] I. n. An exact copy /r counterpart ; an 
imitation of an original in all its proportions, 
qualities, and peculiarities: as, engraved or 
lithographed facsimiles of old manuscripts, of 
autographs, of a drawing, etc. ; & facsimile of a 
coin or a medal. [Sometimes erroneously writ- 
ten as two words, fac simile, or with a hyphen, 
facsimile.] 
The image must be a facsimile of the real object, for 
the apparent object will be & facsimile of the image. 
Le Conte, Sight, p. 2ft. 
II. a. 1 . Having the character of a facsimile 
or counterpart; exactly corresponding or re- 
produced: aSj tifacsim He reprint of an old book; 
a facsimile picture. 2. Producing or adapted 
to produce facsimiles.- Facsimile engraving. See 
engraving. Facsimile telegraph, one which reproduces 
at the receiving end of the line an autographic message 
prepared at the transmitting end. 
facsimile (fak-sim'i-le), v. t. [< facsimile, .] 
To make a facsimile or exact counterpart of ; 
copy exactly. [Bare.] 
The illustrations of a missal preserved at Munich . . . 
have been fairly facsimiled. Rtukin, Lectures on Art, { 144. 
facsimilist (fak-sim'i-list), n. [< facsimile + 
-ist.] The producer of a facsimile. 
A new quarterly whose interest and importance will be 
apparent when its title is named the Fac-similist. 
The Nation, Nov. 4, 1875, p. 29S. 
fact (fakt), . [< L. factum, a deed, act, exploit, 
ML. also state, condition, circumstance (> It. 
fatto = Sp. hecho = Pg. feito = OF. fait, faiet, 
feet, fet (> ME.faite,feit,feet, E. fcafl), F. fait, 
fact, deed, etc.), neut. of factus, pp. of facert 
(> It. fare, far = Sp. hacer = Pg. fazer = Pr 
far = OF. faire, F. faire), do, make, pass, fieri. 
become, be. The word is of very wide use in 
L., but has no certain connection with words 
in other tongues. In one view the c is an ex- 
tension or formative, the -\/ "fa being = Skt. 
V/ dlid = Gr. / "Be in TiSivcu =E. rfl, put (fact 
being thus ult. nearly identical with E. deed) : 
see rfo 1 , deed. The E. words derived from or in- 
volving the L. faeere are many : see faction = 
fashion^, factor, factory, facture = feature, man- 
ufacture, factitious, facile, faculty, difficile, diffi- 
cult, feat*, feat'*, featous, fetish, defeat, benefit, 
comfit, counterfeit, forfeit, surfeit, affair, affect, 
confect, defect, effect, infect, perfect, prefect, etc., 
artifice, edifice, office, orifice, sacrifice, etc., suf- 
fice, efficient, proficient, sufficient, affection, con- 
fection, effection, etc., benefic, malefic, horrific, 
beneficent, maleficent, magnificent, amplify, hor- 
rify, benefaction, calefaction, and many other 
words in -fie, -ficent, -ficient, -fy. In some words, 
as chafe, chaffp, etc., traces of the root faeere 
are almost obliterated.] 1 . Anything done ; an 
act ; a deed ; a feat. [Obsolete or archaic.] 
How he [David] no Law, but Gods drad Law enacts: 
How He respects not persons, but their Facts. 
Sylvester, tr. of Du Bartas's Weeks, ii., The Trophies. 
"Their fact it is so clear ; 
I tell to thee, they hanged must be. " 
Robin Hood and the Beggar (Child's Ballads, V. 256). 
He who most excels in fact of arms. 
Milton, P. L., ii. 124. 
A good time after the Indians brought another Indian 
whom they charged to have committed that fact. 
Winthrop, Hist. New England, II. 232. 
2. A real state of things, as distinguished from 
a statement or belief; that in the real world 
agreement or disagreement with which makes 
a proposition true or false; a real inherence 
of an attribute in a substance, corresponding 
to the relation between the predicate and the 
subject of a proposition. By a few writers things 
in the concrete and the universe in its entirety are spoken 
of us facts; but according to the almost universal accepta- 
tion, a fact is not the whole concrete reality in any case, 
but an abstract element of the reality. Thus, Julius Csesar 
is not called a fact; but that Julius Caesar invaded Britain 
is said to have been A fact, or to be tifact. To this extent, 
the use of the word fact implies the reality of abstractions. 
