Chapter Fum to Futile of F by Brewer's Phrase & Fable

Funny Bone A pun on the word humerus. It is the inner condyle of the humerus; or, to speak untechnically, the knob, or enlarged end of the bone terminating where the ulnar nerve is exposed at the elbow; the crazy bone. A knock on this bone at the elbow produces a painful sensation.

Furbelow A corruption of falbala, a word in French, Italian, and Spanish to signify a sort of flounce.

"Flounced and furbelowed from head to foot."
- Addison.

Furca (See Fossa and Forks.)

Furcam et Flagellum (gallows and whip). The meanest of all servile tenures, the bondman being at the lord's mercy, both life and limb. (See Forks.)

Furies (The Three). Tisiphone (Goel, or Avenger of blood), Alecto (Implacable), and Megæra (Disputatious). The best paintings of these divinities are those by Il Giottino (Thomas di Stefano) of Florence (1324-1356), Giulio Romano (1492-1546), Pietro da Cortona (1596-1669), and Titian (1477-1576).

Furies of the Guillotine (The). The tricoteuses - that is, Frenchwomen who attended the Convention knitting, and encouraged the Commune in all their most bloodthirsty excesses. Never in any age or any country did women so disgrace their sex.

Furor Son of Occasion, an old hag, who was quite bald behind. Sir Guyon bound him "with a hundred iron chains and a hundred knots." (Spenser: Faërie Queene, book ii.)

Fusberta Rinaldo's sword is so called in Orlando Furioso. ( See Sword.)

"This awful sword was as dear to him as Durindana or Fusberta to their respective masters." - Sir W. Scott.

Fusiliers Foot-soldiers that used to be armed with a fusil or light musket. The word is now a misnomer, as the six British and two Indian regiments so called carry rifles like those of the rest of the infantry.

Fuss Much ado about nothing. (Anglo-Saxon, fus, eager.)

"So full of figure, so full of fuss,
She seemed to be nothing but bustle."
Hood: Miss Kilmansegg, part iii. stanza 12.

Fustian Stuff, bombast, pretentious words. Properly, a sort of cotton velvet. (French, futaine; Spanish, fustan, from Fustat in Egypt, where the cloth was first made.) (See Bombast; Camelot.)

"Discourse fustian with one's own shadow." -
Shakespeare: Othello, ii. 3.

"Some scurvy quaint collection of fustian phrases, and uplandish words." - Heywood: Faire Maide of the Exchange, ii. 2.

Fustian Words Isaac Taylor thinks this phrase means toper's words, and derives fustian from fuste, Old French for a cask, whence "fusty" (tasting of the cask). It may be so, but we have numerous phrases derived from materials of dress applied to speech, as velvet, satin, silken, etc. The mother of Artaxerxes said, "Those who address kings must use silken words." In French, "faire patte de velour " means to fatten with velvet words in order to seduce or win over.

Futile (2 syl.) is that which will not hold together; inconsistent. A futile scheme is a design conceived in the mind which will not hold good in practice. (Latin, futio, to run off like water, whence futilis (See Scheme.)