Part 164

Fish"y (?), a. 1. Consisting of fish; fishlike; having the qualities or taste of fish; abounding in fish. Pope.

2. Extravagant, like some stories about catching fish; improbable; also, rank or foul. [Colloq.]

Fisk (?), v. i. [Cf. Sw. fjeska to bustle about.] To run about; to frisk; to whisk. [Obs.]

He fisks abroad, and stirreth up erroneous opinions.

Latimer.

Fis`si*gem*ma"tion (?), n. [L. fissus (p. p. of findere to split) + E. gemmation.] (Biol.) A process of reproduction intermediate between fission and gemmation.

Fis"sile (?), a. [L. fissilis, fr. fissus, p. p. of findere to split. See Fissure.] Capable of being split, cleft, or divided in the direction of the grain, like wood, or along natural planes of cleavage, like crystals.

This crystal is a pellucid, fissile stone.

Sir I. Newton.

Fis`si*lin"gual (?), a. [L. fissus (p. p. of findere to split) + E. lingual.] (Zoˆl.) Having the tongue forked.

||Fis`si*lin"gui*a (?), n. pl. [NL., fr. L. fissus (p. p. o f findere ||to split) + lingua tongue.] (Zoˆl.) A group of Lacertilia having the ||tongue forked, including the common lizards. [Written also ||Fissilingues.]

Fis*sil"i*ty (?), n. Quality of being fissile.

Fis"sion (?), n. [L. fissio. See Fissure.] 1. A cleaving, splitting, or breaking up into parts.

2. (Biol.) A method of asexual reproduction among the lowest (unicellular) organisms by means of a process of self-division, consisting of gradual division or cleavage of the into two parts, each of which then becomes a separate and independent organisms; as when a cell in an animal or plant, or its germ, undergoes a spontaneous division, and the parts again subdivide. See Segmentation, and Cell division, under Division.

3. (Zoˆl.) A process by which certain coral polyps, echinoderms, annelids, etc., spontaneously subdivide, each individual thus forming two or more new ones. See Strobilation.

Fis`si*pal"mate (?), a. [L. fissus (p. p. of findere to split) + palma palm.] (Zoˆl.) Semipalmate and loboped, as a grebe's foot. See Illust. under Aves.

||Fis*sip"a*ra (?), n. pl. [NL. See Fissiparous.] (Zoˆl.) Animals which ||reproduce by fission.

Fis*sip"a*rism (?), n. [See Fissiparous.] (Biol.) Reproduction by spontaneous fission.

Fis`si*par"i*ty (?), n. (Biol.) Quality of being fissiparous; fissiparism.

Fis*sip"a*rous (?), a. [L. fissus (p. p. of findere to split) + parere to bring forth: cf. F. fissipare.] (Biol.) Reproducing by spontaneous fission. See Fission. -- Fis*sip"a*rous*ly, adv.

Fis`si*pa"tion (?), n. (Biol.) Reproduction by fission; fissiparism.

{ Fis"si*ped (?), Fis*sip"e*dal (?) }, a. [Cf. F. fissipËde.] (Zoˆl.) Having the toes separated to the base. [See Aves.]

Fis"si*ped, n. (Zoˆl.) One of the Fissipedia.

||Fis`si*pe"di*a (?), n. pl. [NL., fr. L. fissus (p. p. of findere to ||cleave) + pes, pedis, a foot.] (Zoˆl.) A division of the Carnivora, ||including the dogs, cats, and bears, in which the feet are not ||webbed; -- opposed to Pinnipedia.

Fis`si*ros"tral (?), a. [Cf. F. fissirostre.] (Zoˆl.) Having the bill cleft beyond the horny part, as in the case of swallows and goatsuckers.

||Fis`si*ros"tres (?), n. pl. [NL., fr. L. fissus (p. p. of findere to ||cleave) + rostrum beak.] (Zoˆl.) A group of birds having the bill ||deeply cleft.

Fis"sur*al (?), a. Pertaining to a fissure or fissures; as, the fissural pattern of a brain.

Fis`su*ra"tion (?), n. (Anat.) The act of dividing or opening; the state of being fissured.