faculty 
te = Pr. facitltat = Sp. facultad = P. fa- 
ruld<tde = lt.f{tcolta(='D.ftilciilt<'it, in all senses, 
= G. fucultiit = Dan. Sw. fakulti-l, in sense 3), < 
L. fitcMu(t-)s, capability, ability, skill, abun- 
dance, plenty, stock, goods, property, ML. also 
a body of teachers, another form otfacilit<t(t-)x, 
easiness, facility, etc., <facnl, another form of 
facilis, easy, facile: see facile.'] 1. A specific 
power, mental or physical ; a special capacity 
for any particular kind of action or affection ; 
natural capability: sometimes, but rarely, re- 
stricted to an active power: as, the faculty of 
perception or of speech ; a faculty for mimicry : 
sometimes extended to inanimate things : as, 
the family of a wedge ; ihe faculty of simples. 
See theory of faculties, below. 
Forget not to cull as well the Physician best acquainted 
with your body, as the best reputed of for lii&f acuity. 
Bacon, Regimen of Health (ed. 1887). 
To crave your favour with a begging knee, 
Were to distrust the writer's faculty. 
B. Jonson, Cynthia's Revels, Epil. 
How carelessly do you behave yourself 
When you should call all your best/cw./(ie 
To counsel iu you ! 
Fletcher and Rowley, Maid in the Mill, iv. 1. 
These powers of the mind, viz., of perceiving and of pre- 
ferring, are usually called . . . faculties of the mind. 
Locke, Human Understanding, II. xxi. 6. 
Oh! many are the Poets that are sown 
By nature ; Men endowed with highest gifts, 
The vision and the faculty divine, 
Yet wanting the accomplishment of verse. 
Wordsworth, Excursion, i. 
2. A power or privilege conferred; bestowed 
capacity for the performance of any act or 
function ; ability or authority acquired in any 
way. In Roman Catholic ecclesiastical law a faculty is 
specifically an authorization by a superior conferring cer- 
tain ecclesiastical rights upon a subordinate. The most 
important faculties are those conferred by the pope upon 
bishops. [Archaic except in the latter use.] 
This Duncan 
Hath borne his faculties so meek. 
Sha/r., Macbeth, i. 7. 
John de Burg, chancellor of Cambridge University, A. D. 
1385, tells us that all vestments are to be blessed either by 
the bishop, or by one having the faculty to do so. 
Rock, Church of our Fathers, ii. 265. 
Can the [royal] arms be legally removed, when a church 
is restored, or at any other time, at the will of the incum- 
bent? or is a. faculty required? 
A.'j. Bedell. N. and Q., 7th ser., VI. 89. 
3. A body of persons on whom are conferred 
specific professional powers; all the authorized 
members of a learned profession collectively, 
or a body associated or acting together in a 
particular place or institution ; when used ab- 
solutely (the faculty), the medical profession: 
as, the learned faculty of the law; the faculty 
of a college ; the Faculty of Advocates in Edin- 
burgh. 
Of all faculties they have great store of bookes iu that 
library, but especially of Divinity. 
Coryat, Crudities, I. 67. 
There I saw Dr. Gilbert, S' Wm Paddy's, and other pic- 
tures of men famous in their faculty. 
Eeelyn, Diary, Oct. S, 1662. 
In vain do they snuff and hot towels apply, 
And other means used by the faculty try. 
Barham, Ingoldsby Legends, I. 225. 
The obstinacy of Lord Chesterfield's deafness had in- 
duced him to yield to the repeated advice of the faculty 
to try whether any benefit could be obtained by a journey 
to Spa. Maty, Chesterfield, . 
4. Executive ability; skill in devising and ex- 
ecuting or supervising: applied usually to do- 
mestic affairs. [New Eng.] 
Faculty is Yankee for savoir faire, and the opposite vir- 
tue to shiftlessness. Faculty is the greatest virtue, and 
shiftlessness the greatest vice, of Yankee man or woman. 
To her who has faculty nothing shall be impossible. 
Mrs. II. B. Stowe, Minister's Wooing, i. 
Above all things, he [Theodore Winthrop] had what we 
Yankees call faculty the knack of doing everything. 
O. W. Curtis, Int. to Cecil Dreemc, p. 12. 
5. In colonial New England, a trade or profes- 
sion. Mass. Prov. Laws. 6. In the law of di- 
vorce (commonly in the plural), the pecuniary 
ability of the husband, in view of both his prop- 
erty and his capacity to earn money, with refer- 
ence to which the amount of the wife's alimony 
is fixed Acquisitive, appetitive, conservative, 
elaborative, etc., faculty. See the adjectives. Court 
Of Faculties, in the Ch. of Eng., an ecclesiastical court 
originally established in 1534 by Henry VIII. in con- 
nection with the archbishopric of Canterbury, and em- 
powered to grant faculties, dispensations, etc. The 
chief officer is called the master of the faculties, and his 
duties are now confined almost entirely to granting 
li.vuse to marry without proclamation of banns, for the 
ordination of a deacon under age, etc. Faculty Of Ad- 
vocates. See ndmrafe. Faculty Of arts. See art?. 
Faculty to burden, iu Scots lam, a power reserved 
2115 
in the disposition of a heritable subject to burden the 
disi ee with a payment. Moral faculty. See nwml 
x> n\ under iiK'i-id. Theory Of faculties, in psychol., 
the doctrine that there is a close correspondence between 
the powers of the mind (as the so-called faculties of sen- 
sation, memory, etc.) and its internal constitution. The 
meaning of the phrase is quite vague. It merely expresses 
the incautious tendency to reason from the logical anah sis 
of mental phenomena to the physiology of the soul which 
the older psychologists are accused of by Herbartian and 
other modern psyrliMlogi.sts. = Syn. 1. Aptitude, Capacity, 
etc. (st v <i< //''"..) ; aptness, capability, forte, turn, expert- 
ness, address, facility. 
facundt (fa-kund'), a. [WE.facound, < OF. /- 
conde = Sp. Pg. facundo = It. facondo, < L. /- 
cundnn, that speaks with ease, eloquent, </n, 
speak: see fable.'] Ready of speech ; eloquent ; 
fluent. Also facundious. 
Nature . . . 
With/rtcowwi voys seyde 
Holde your tonges. 
Chaucer, Parliament of Fowls, 1. 521. 
facundt (fa-kund'), n. [ME. facound, facunde, 
eloquence, < OF.faconde, < F.faconde = Pr. Sp. 
Pg.facundia = It.facondia, < ii.facundia, elo- 
quence, < facundus, eloquent.] Readiness of 
speech ; eloquence. 
Facunde or fayruesse of speche, [L.] facundia, eloqnen- 
cia. Prompt. Pan., p. 145. 
How that the goos, with hire facounde gent, 
Shal telle oure tale. 
Chaucer, Parliament of Fowls, 1. 558. 
facundioust (fa-kvm'di-us), a. [< OF. facun- 
dieux,<. L. faeundia, eloquence : see facund and 
-ows.j Same as facund. 
This Richard was a man of meruelous qualities and /- 
cundious facions. Hall, Hen. VI., an. 33. 
facundityt (fa-kun'di-ti), n. [< L. facttn- 
dita(t-)s, < facundus, eloquent: see facund.] 
Readiness of speech ; eloquence. 
Upon myfacttndity, an elegant construction by the fool. 
So, I am cedunt arnia togse. 
Brome, Queen and Concubine (1669). 
fad 1 (fad), n. [Of E. dial, origin. There is no- 
thing to connect this word with the AS. /- 
dian, ge-fadian, set in order, arrange, ge-fa'd, 
a., orderly, ge-jwd, n., order, decorum.] 1. A 
trivial fancy adopted and pursued for a time 
with irrational zeal ; a matter of no importance, 
or an important matter imperfectly under- 
stood, taken up, and urged with more zeal 
than sense; a whim; a crotchet; a temporary 
hobby. [Recent in literary use.] 
"It is your favourite fad to draw plans." 
" Fad to draw plans ! Do you think I only care about 
my fellow-creatures' houses in that childish way ? " 
George Eliot, Middlemarch, iv. 
Well, what's he up to now ? What's his last fad I 
The Century, XXVI. 284. 
Curious transient fads that can scarcely be called fash- 
ions. Arch. Forbes, Souvenirs of some Continents, p. 147. 
2. A person of whims ; one who is difficult to 
please. 
fad 1 (fad), v. i. ; pret. and pp. fadded, ppr. fad- 
ding. [(fad 1 , .] To be busy with trifles. 
fad2(fad),n. [E. dial.] 1. A bundle of straw. 
2. A colored ball. 
fadaise (fa-daz'), . [F., < fade, insipid: see 
fade 1 .'] An insipid or trifling thought or ex- 
pression ; a commonplace. 
He [Jeffrey] has a particular contempt, in which I most 
heartily concur with him, for ihefadaises of blue-stock- 
ing literature. Macaulay, Lite and Letters, I. 143. 
faddish (fad'ish), a. [</arfi + -tgfti.] Dis- 
posed to indulge in fads or whims. [Rare.] 
faddishness (fad'ish-nes), . A disposition to 
fads or whims. [Rare.] 
A very clever man, who is laughing in his sleeve at the 
scientific and artistic faddishness he reproduces. 
The Academy, March 24, 1888, p. 202. 
faddist (fad'ist), n. [<fad 1 + -ist.~\ One who 
has a fad or whims ; one wholly given up to a 
fad. [Rare.] 
Those political faddists who, while they are undoubted- 
ly actuated themselves by the highest motives of human- 
ity and popular good, play daily into the hands of either 
the purely ambitious or the utterly unscrupulous class of 
modern politicians. Fortnightly Rev., N. S., XL. 143. 
faddle (fad'l), r. i. ; pret. and pp. faddled, ppr. 
fuddling. [Also feddle; cf. Sc. fadle, faidle, 
waddle. Cf., for the sense, fiddle, trifle'.] To 
trifle; toy; play. E. Phillips, 1706. [Prov. 
Eng.] 
faddom (fad'om), n. and v. An obsolete or 
dialectal form of fathom. 
fade 1 (fad), a. [< ME. fade, rarely vad, vade 
(see rade}, faded, pale (of color, complexion, 
etc.), withered, weak (of body) (cf. OD. vad- 
digh, weak, languid, lazy, indolent, mod. D. 
radzig, lazy, indolent, dull, Dan./mrf, Sw./a<M, 
fadelessly 
vapid, insipid, G.fndc, insipid), < OF. fade, pale, 
weak, witless, 7. fade, insipid, tasteless, dull, cf. 
F.fat, foppish, a fop, = fr.fatz, fem.fada, fool- 
ish, = It. fadii, insipid, dull, flat, heavy (d, < L. 
tit-, /r-), < li.fntuuH, foolish, silly, insipid, taste- 
less: see fatuoux. In the sense of 'insipid,' 
which does not occur in ME., fade is taken 
from and sometimes pronounced like mod. F. 
fade.'] If. Pale; wan; faded. 
Tin faire hewc is al fade for tin moche sore. 
William of Palerne, 1. 891. 
Of proud wymmen wuld y telle, 
But they are so wrothc and felle, 
Of these that are so fonle and. lii'l*-. 
That make hem feyrere than Ood hem made. 
Harl. MS. (1701), f. 22. (Halliwell.) 
2f. Withered ; faded, as a plant. 
Thare groued never gres, ne never sail, 
Bot evermo be ded and dri, 
And falow and fade. 
Holy Rood (ed. Morris), p. 66. 
3. Insipid; tasteless; uninteresting. 
His conviviality is, no doubt, often tedious, and some- 
times offensive ; but a fade and pessimistic generation 
would have been none the worse had it inherited a share 
of iiis high spirits and good nature. 
Westminster Rev., CXXV. 292. 
The convivial parties . . . which . . . but for his 
[Hogg's] quaint originality of manners and inexhausti- 
ble store of good songs would have been . . . compara- 
tively fade and lifeless. 
R. P. Gillies, Personal Traits of British Authors, Scott, 
[p. 95. 
fade 1 (fad), v. ; pret. and pp. faded, ppr. fading. 
[< ME. faden, very rarely vaden, < OF. fader, 
become or make pale or weak, fade; (fade, 
pale, weak : see fade 1 , .] I. intrans. 1. To be- 
come pale or wan ; lose freshness, color, bright- 
ness, or distinctness ; tend from a stronger or 
brighter color to a more faint shade of the same 
color, or from visibleness to invisibility; be- 
come weak in hue or tint or in outline ; have the 
distinctive or characteristic features disappear 
gradually ; grow dim or indistinct to the sight. 
I byd in my blyssyng she auugels gyf lyghte 
To the erthe, for It faded when the fendes fell. 
York Plays, p. 6. 
How doth the colour vade of those vermilion dyes 
Which Nature's self did make, and self-engrained the same. 
Sir P. Sidney (Arber's Eng. Garner, I. 554), 
Gazed on them with a fading smile 
About his lips, and eyes that ever grew 
More troubled still. 
William Morris, Earthly Paradise, II. 275. 
2. To wither, as a plant ; in general, to gradu- 
ally lose strength, health, or vigor ; decay ; per- 
ish or disappear gradually. 
Thus pleasures fade away ; 
Youth, talents, beauty, thus decay, 
And leave us dark, forlorn, and gray. 
Scott, Mamiion, ii., Int. 
The flower ripens in its place, 
Ripens^ and fades, and falls. 
Tennyson, Lotos- Eaters (Choric Song). 
The belief in miracles has in most cases not been rea- 
soned down, but has simply faded away. 
Lecky, Etirop. Morals, I. 370. 
The times change, and I can see a day 
When all thine happiness shall fade away. 
William Morris, F.arthly Paradise, I. 312. 
= Syn. 2. To droop, languish. 
II. trans. 1. To cause to lose brightness or 
freshness of color; cause to lose distinctness 
to the sight. 2. To cause to wither; wear 
away ; deprive of freshness or vigor. 
For sum ar fallen intofylthe that euermore sall/arfe tham. 
York Plays, p. . 
No winter could his laurels fade. Dryden. 
fade 2 t, a- [ME., also fede; origin obscure.] 
Strong; bold; doughty. 
Wonder of his hwe men hade, 
Set iu his semblannt sene ; 
He ferde as freke \verefade, 
& ouer-al enker grene. 
Sir Gawayne and the Green Knight (E. E. T. S.), 1. 149. 
Ther the douke was/arfe, 
Fast he followed than. Sir Tristrem , iii. 41. 
faded (fa'ded), p. a. Having lost freshness of 
color, or having this appearance : as, a faded 
coat ; its color was a faded blue. 
fadedly (fa'ded-li), adv. In a faded manner. 
[Rare.] 
A dull room fadedly furnished. Dickens. 
fadeless (fad'les), a. [< fade 1 + -less.'] Un- 
fading. 
A gentle hill its side inclines, 
Lovely in England's fadeless green. 
F. Halleck, Alnwick Castle. 
fadelessly (fad'les-li), adv. In a fadeless or 
unfading manner. 
Judah gave each of them a last look, ... as if to pos- 
sess himself of the scene fadelesslif. 
L. Wallace, Ben-Hur, p. 121. 
