The Halloway Dictionary of Working English

fath·om \ ˈfa-thəm \ noun Origin. Old English fæthm, the span of two outstretched arms; a measure taken from the body before it was taken from the sea.

1. A unit of depth equal to six feet, used chiefly of water and, by the superstitious, of grief.
2. The reach of a thing that cannot be seen from above. “The harbour keeps four fathoms at low tide and a secret at every one of them.” — Ada Renwick, 1961
3. verb. To take the measure of; to understand after difficulty. See fettle.

fas·tid·i·ous \ fa-ˈsti-dē-əs \ adj Origin. Latin fastidium, loathing — the word once meant disgust and has since been promoted to a virtue.

1. Attentive to detail past the point of convenience.
2. Difficult to satisfy in matters of cleanliness, order, or company.

feck·less \ ˈfek-ləs \ adj Origin. Scots feck, effect or vigour, + -less. The positive form, feckful, survives only in dictionaries.

1. Lacking purpose or the will to pursue one.
2. Ineffective through carelessness rather than incapacity. “A feckless summer, spent entirely on the porch.” — The Coastal Review

fe·lic·i·ty \ fi-ˈli-sə-tē \ noun Origin. Latin felicitas, from felix, fruitful.

1. Happiness of a settled kind, as distinct from delight.
2. Aptness of expression; the right word arriving unhurried.
3. plural. Small graces of style. “The prose has no argument and a hundred felicities.” — Marcus Bly, 1978

fen¹ \ ˈfen \ noun Origin. Old English fenn, mud, marsh.

1. Low wet ground fed by groundwater rather than rain.
2. Land that is neither water nor field, and is defended by both.

fer·rule \ ˈfer-əl \ noun Origin. Latin viriola, small bracelet, altered by association with ferrum, iron.

1. A metal ring or cap fitted to the end of a handle to keep it from splitting.
2. The band that holds the bristles of a brush to its stock.
3. Any small unglamorous part on which a whole tool depends.

fet·tle \ ˈfe-təl \ noun Origin. Middle English fetlen, to set in order, from Old English fetel, a belt — to gird oneself before work.

1. Condition or state of repair, chiefly in the phrase in fine fettle.
2. verb, foundry. To trim the rough edges from a casting once it has cooled.
3. Readiness of body and temper together. “He came back from the coast in fettle, which is more than the boat did.” — Harbour Notes, 1953

fes·toon \ fe-ˈstün \ noun Origin. Italian festone, from festa, a feast.

1. A chain of flowers or ribbon hung in a curve between two points.
2. verb. To decorate excessively, and with visible effort.

fer·vent \ ˈfər-vənt \ adj Origin. Latin fervere, to boil.

1. Marked by great warmth of feeling.
2. archaic. Physically hot; glowing. See also felicity.

flense \ ˈflen(t)s \ verb Origin. Danish flense, to strip blubber from a whale.

1. To strip the outer layer from a carcass.
2. To reduce a text to its working parts. “Flense the report; keep the four numbers that matter.” — Ellery Vane

fro·ward \ ˈfrō-ərd \ adj Origin. Old English fromweard, turned away — the exact opposite of toward, which outlived it.

1. Habitually contrary; disposed to disobedience.
2. Of weather or fortune: adverse without malice.

ful·some \ ˈfu̇l-səm \ adj Origin. Middle English fulsom, abundant, from full + -some.

1. Generous to the point of suspicion.
2. Copious; complete. a fulsome account of the voyage
3. Cloying; too rich to be swallowed. See fervent.

fugue \ ˈfyüg \ noun Origin. Latin fuga, flight — the theme runs and the answer pursues.

1. A composition in which a theme is stated and then imitated in turn by each voice.
2. medicine. A period of lost identity, remembered afterward as an absence.

gal·li·mau·fry \ ˌga-lə-ˈmȯ-frē \ noun Origin. Old French galimafrée, a stew of odds and ends, of unknown further origin.

1. A hash made of whatever the kitchen has left.
2. A jumble; a confused assemblage presented as a whole. “The exhibition is a gallimaufry, and the better for it.” — Northern Arts Quarterly

gam·brel \ ˈgam-brəl \ noun Origin. Old North French gamberel, from gambe, leg — named for the bend of a horse's hock.

1. A roof with two slopes on each side, the lower steeper than the upper.
2. The bent bar from which a butcher hangs a carcass.

glean \ ˈglēn \ verb Origin. Late Latin glennare, probably of Celtic origin.

1. To gather grain left in the field after the reapers.
2. To collect information slowly and from leavings. See fathom, sense 3.

gloam·ing \ ˈglō-miŋ \ noun Origin. Old English glōm, twilight, related to glow.

1. Dusk; the hour after sunset in which colour drains before light does.
2. chiefly Scots. The evening as a place one goes out into.