foam 
That Psyche, wont to bind my throbbing brow, 
To smooth my pillow, mix thefoatnin;/ draught 
Of fever. Tennyson, i'rincess, ii. 
2. To become filled or covered with foam, as a 
steam-boiler when the water is frothy. 
Derf dynttes thai delt tho doghty betwene, 
With thai re fawchons iK\\,fetn>it of hlode. 
Destruction of Troy (E. E. T. S.), 1. 10219. 
II. trans. 1. To cause to foam ; fill with some- 
thing that foams; make frothy: as, to foam a 
2297 
Very pretty sums he hasfiMieil now and then, . . . 3000(. 
in his saddle-bags at once. 
II'. lluuntt, Visits to Remarkable Places, p. 170. 
ob 3 (fob), v. i.; pret. and pp. fobbed, ppr. fob- 
bing. [Origin obscure.] To breathe hard or 
with heaving sides ; gasp from violent running. 
[Scotch.] 
The hails is won, they warsle hame, 
The best they can for fobbin. 
Tarras, Poems, p. 66. 
focusing-cloth 
L. focus, a fireplace, a hearth (ML. also the 
seat or central point of a disease). Hence ult. 
= fusee 1 = fuse 2 , 
tankard. [Rare.] 2. To throw out with rage fob* (fob), . [E. dial., origin obscure ; hardly 
or violence: usually with out. [Rare.] an altered form of foam.'} Froth or foam. 
Halliieell. [Prov. Eng.] 
Itaging waves of the sea, foaming out their own shame. 
slowly . . . went Leolin ; then . . . 
Down thro' the bright lawns to his brother's ran, 
Andfoam'd away his heart at Averill's ear. 
Tennyson, Aylmer's Field. 
which they appear to proceed. The former is called 
a real, the latter a virtual focus. The principal focus of a 
lens is the focus of rays striking the lens parallel to its 
axis. The conjugate foci of a mirror or lens are two points 
so situated that the rays emitted from a luminous body at 
either point are reflected (by the mirror) or refracted (by 
the lens) to the other. See conjugate mirror (under con- 
jugate), lens, and mirror. 
A. focus . 
F. 0. B. An abbreviation of free on board, used _ 
in executing contracts of sale, and indicating spherical wave converges, or fron; 
that delivery on the vessel or other conveyance niay al f, be . l 'e|*l as the poim 
i ,, J*r! . from all parts of a great wave arr: 
His cheek brighten'd as the foam-bow brightens 
When the wind blows the foam. Tennyson, CEnone. 
foam-cock (fom'kok), n. 
cock at the water-level by which scum is drawn 
off. 
foam-collector (fom'ko-lek"tor), n. A vessel 
placed at the water-level in a steam-boiler to 
collect and discharge the foam or scum. 
may be defined as the point to which a 
. j which it diverges. It 
t at which little waves 
great wave arrive at the same time. 
Airy, Optics, 44. 
Every lens which becomes thicker towards its periphery 
has virtual foci; and vice versa, for the focus of a lens to 
be real, the lens must be thicker in the middle than at 
the edge. Lommel, Light (trans.), p. 90. 
In steam-boilers, a fob-watch (fob'woch), n. A watch carried in 2. In geom., a point from which the distances 
of a carrier is to be without expense to the 
foam-bow (fom'bo), n. The iris formed by sun- buyer. _ 
light upon foam or spray, as of a cataract. fob-chain (fob'chan), n. A watch-chain hang- 
ing free from the fob, and usually carrying a 
seal, key, or other trinket. 
Free 
foamingly (fo'ming-li), 
frothily. 
foamless (fom'les), a. [<foam + -less.} 
from foam. 
He who would question him 
Must sail alone at sunset where the stream 
Of ocean sleeps around those foatnlexs isles. 
Shelley, Hellas. 
foam-spar (fom'spar), n. Same as aphrite. 
foam-wreath (fom'reth), n. The foam that 
crowns or edges a breaker, or that lies on a pool. 
The long wash of waves, with red and green 
Tangles of weltering weed through the white foam-wreaths 
seen. Whittier, Tent on the Beach. 
foamy (fo'mi), a. [Early mod. E. also fomy, < 
ME. fomy, < AS. fdmig, fcemig, foamy, < fam, 
foam: see foam.} Covered with or consisting 
of foam ; frothy ; of a foam-like character. 
That most ingrateful boy there, by your side, 
From the rude sea's enrag'd and/oamy mouth 
Did I redeem. Shale., T. N., v. 1. 
the fob. 
Fob watches were not indeed unknown, for a fob watch 
is in existence that belonged to Oliver Cromwell. 
S. DoweU, Taxes in England, III. 307. 
(fo'kaj), n. 
to any point of a given curve are in a syzygetic 
relation. Thus, the sum of the distances of any point 
of an ellipse from its foci is constant, and the difference 
of the distances of any point of a hyperbola from its foci 
r / MT . i constant. A modern definition is that the foci are the 
[< ML. focagtum, a partly intersections of common tangents of the curve and the 
suiau vf. UVU.UK - * f> "ft w ' f " """M ***** no vi virillllivsil bMllgClllB VI LUC UU1VC UIIU UIG 
adv. With foam ; restored torrn of foagium, a reflex of OF.fouage, absolute. In like manner, a focus of a surface is a point 
f / f , \. ir-r * ^..-. XT on the curve of intersection of common tangent planes of 
the surface and the absolute. See cuts under Cartesian 
and ellipse. 
8. In the theory of perspective, with reference 
ocanio Kal; , a. i=r jocai^L,. wcus, rocus: to two planes in perspective, one of four points 
El ""P"*******"-' -,a -two ^ and F^n P one plane, and two F, and 
i2, on tne otner such that the angles between 
two points on the first plane measured at YI 
are equal to the angles between the correspond- 
feuage (see feuage) ; ML. prop, focaticum, < L. 
focus, a hearth: see focus.} Housebote orfire- 
bote. 
focal (fo'kal), a. [= F. focal, < L. focus, focus : 
focal point. 
To live. 
Live, as the snake does in his noisome fen ! 
Live, as the wolf does in his bone-strewn den ! 
Live, clothed with cursing like a robe of flame, 
The focal point of million-fingered shame 1 
ing points on the other plane measured at f lt 
and so with the pair of foci Fo and in 
.- Focal , 
of a quadnc 8urtace.-Focal curve. 
, a locus of foci 
See curve.- Focal 
ject-glass. Focal lesion, in pathol., lesion of the brain 
bility that quite left lay powers of comprehension behind. 
Ilowells, Venetian Life, viii. 
ss of bringing to 
You've borne me in hand this three months, and now focus, or of nlacine in focus 
fobb'dme. Middleton (and others), The Widow, ii. 1. ,. ,. ' 
Focalization in the eye [eye-cameral 
His Excellence had each Man fobbd, SijSmL w <! TVT 
For he had sunk their Pay. "**' "' B '' "* 
/>:... TU ~ 
pair are called dissimilar, because the angles uru measured 
in opposite directions. 
4. Figuratively (with a consciousness of the 
r.. -...., .11.. v.i.Tnini v/i MIC 1UUUB 11 uul HUlllf IIXCU pOlnl' 1 1 T A" 
namely, from the vertex in the parabola, and from the c'assical Latin meaning), a central or gather- 
center in the ellipse and hyperbola, (b) In optics, of a ing point, like the fire or hearth of a house- 
fromTtsce 1 ntr to the' 8t i a ' nC? <lUS Called tlle f/Ka! len v th ) hold; the point at or about which anything is 
-"-_. see/oci - concentrated ; a center of interest or attrac- 
tion. 
The virtue and wisdom of a whole people collected into 
one focus. Burke, Rev. in France. 
Tell not as new what ev'ry body knows, 
And, new or old, still hasten to a close ; 
There, centring in a, focus round and neat, 
Let all your rays of information meet. 
Cowper, Conversation, 1. 239. 
A public house is generally the focus from which gossip 
radiates. Sirs. Gaskell, Sylvia's Lovers, xxii. 
Acoustic fOCUS, a point to which sound-waves are con- 
verged, as by reflection in the case of a room having an 
ellipsoidal ceiling. Focus of mean motion, the empty 
focus of the orbit of a planetary body : so called because 
Focal property, any property of a geometrical locus de- 
pending on lines or planes common to the locus and to 
Prior, The Viceroy st 27 focalize (fo'kal-Iz), v. t. ; pret. and pp. focalized, whe " t the orbit '? nearl ? circular the planet describes in 
" /;.,.,." r/ f ' j j_ ._.-! **y-L equal times nearly eoual aii"Us about this fonnaa a ver- 
+ -ize.} To bring to 
equal times nearly equal angles about this focus as a 
tex. Focus of true motion, that focus of the orbit of a 
planetary l>ody which is occupied by the central body. 
Heat-focus, the point to which the invisible heat-rays 
are converged, as those from the sun by a convex lens. 
'Shale Cor i 1 fnnalnirl /fn'Vol r.\A\ , rf f 7 -L -j T T In focus, situated or fixed at a focal point, or so as to 
T . . . , - ... , ... . ' _ ,'.' l- lOCalOld (to kal-oid), n. [< focal + -md.} In secure or exhibit a focal effect : said (1) of the condition 
bbed me off with only wine. Add-on, math., an infinitely thin shell bounded by two of an image projected by a lens, or seen through a lens. 
2f. To beat ; maltreat. Beau, and Fl.-To fob off. pp /' f ocal ^ il >fl- 
(a) To put off slightingly or deceitfully; get rid of by a a IOCUS ; tocus. 
trick ; wave aside. See to put of, under of. 
You must not think to fob off your disgrace with a tale. 
Light ^focalized in the eye, sound in the ear. 
De Quinceit. 
The local interest of the English in the Britons has led 
their scholars to complain that Mommsen ["Roman Em- 
pire," V. 4J has fobbed off Britain with too brief a notice. 
Amer. Jour. Philol., VI. 485. 
(b) To pass off by a false representation ; dispose of by de- 
ception : as, to fob off a worthless article on a customer. 
fob!t(fob),M. [<ME./o66e;</o6i,f.] l.Atap 
on the shoulder, as from a bailiff. 
The man. sir, that, when gentlemen are tired, gives them 
a. fob, and rests them. Shak., C. of E., iv. 3. 
2. A cheat. 
confocal ellipsoidal surfaces. 
The attraction of a homogeneous solid ellipsoid is the 
same through all external space as the attraction of a 
focaloid, a thick shell so bounded. 
Plural ( ' 
when this image appears sharp and clearly defined ; (2) 
of the position of the lens with reference to a screen or 
ground-glass upon which such image is projected, or of 
the position of the screen or ground-glass with reference 
to the lens ; (S)of a photographic positive or negative pic- 
ture accurately produced by the agency of a lens. 
While your head is still under the focusing-cloth, pass 
your hand round to the lens, and move the rack backward 
fOCilt (fo'sil). n. [= OF. facile, F. focile = Pr and 'orward till you find the point at which it is most 
---' T, - .. . _- .. .' ! . distinct. Itis then said to be "infocus," or "sharp." 
Silver Sunbeam, Int. 
f nc ;; _ p_ 
'" "~. ' 
To lede alle these othere, 
Aafobbes and faitours that on hure fet rennen. 
193. forearm or of the leg, distinguished as the f? brln , g r adjust to a focus ; cause to be in 
, a greater focil (ulna or tibia) and the lesser focil oc " s; focallze ; collect m one point; concen- 
trate. 
Abstraction is focussing, whether by sense or by Intel- 
lect. G. H. Lewes, Probs. of Life and Mind, Int., I. i. 48. 
This chapter leaves on the reader's mind the impression 
that its author has not thought out Federalism or been at 
much pains to focus his thoughts. 
Westmi 
inster Rev., CXXV. 240. 
. focused or/o- 
..... -.,--.'.[< focus, n.} 
Piers Plowman (C),M. 193. forearm or of the left, distinguished as the T O bring or adjust to a focus ; cause to be in 
fob 2 (fob), n. [Cf. G. dial. (Prussian) fuppe, a -. ., 
pocket (Brem. Diet.); Skinner also quotes G. ( tlbla or fibula). 
fupsack.} 1 . A little pocket made in the waist- ' was hastily fetch'd to assist one Mr. Powell, a barber- 
band of men's breeches or trousers as a recep- c ' li r ? eon . ln u> setting of a fracture of both the focils 
tacle for a watch. t* 8 '" & m8D 8b Ut w year ^,X su^erTvii"? 
The^nem'y'; had done'tlVe'fac" fOCillatet (fos'i-lat), ,. t. [< L. fodllatu*, pp. of 
Had rifled all his pokes and fobs focillare, focilare, also deponent, focillari, re- f n lfl j,/, <.i n fh cwin vi A n^ 
Of gimcracks, whims, and jiggumbobs. vive by warmth, resuscitate, cherish (.focus a ? {-cioin^ ^i< s-ing-Kiotn;, n. in 
S. Butler, Hudibras, ill. i. 107. fireplace, hearth: see focus.} To warm ; cher- 
2. A watch-chain, or ribbon with buckle and ish. Slount. 
seals or the like, such as is worn appended to focillationt (fos-i-la'shon), n. [< focillate + 
the watch and hanging from the fob. [U. S.] -ion.} A warming, as at a hearth ; a cherish- 
icingly at the tempting fob that hung in g; comfort; support. 
ated the demand. focimeter (fo-sim'e-ter), n. [< NL. focus + L. 
ton-Jl,j,le,j, From Flag to Flag, xxiv. me trum, a measure.] Inphotog., an instrument 
tOD'' (fob), n. t. ; pret. and pp. fobbed, ppr. fob- for finding the focus of a lens 
Hug. [</o6V.] To put into a fob; pocket; focus (fo'kus), n.; pi. foci (-si). 
.pointing menacingly at the 
t 
from his pocket, repeal 
Mcllalton- 
get possession of. 
[A mod. 
dark color, large enough to envelop the cam- 
era and the head and shoulders of the oper- 
ator, used in bringing a picture to focus to 
render the image projected by the lens on the 
ground-glass distinctly visible by the exclusion 
of other light than that passing through the 
lens. 
If the camera needs to be placed in the sunshine, throw 
rNT 1 NY r ir/HWl',;,, H < V ^' y J?,* the /**** doth over it before the shutter is drawn out 
(NL.) use (introduced by Kepler m 1604) of to make the exposure. Lea, Photography, p. 48. 
