n. Something done before another act. [ Obs. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

{ } a. Counteracting, or preserving from, putrefaction; antiseptic. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ L. arefacere to dry. ] The act of drying, or the state of growing dry. [ 1913 Webster ]

The arefaction of the earth. Sir M. Hale. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. same as artifact.
Syn. -- artifact. [ WordNet 1.5 ]

adj. 1. of or pertaining to an artefact.
Syn. -- artifactual [ WordNet 1.5 ]

2. made by human actions. natural
Syn. -- artifactual [ PJC ]

n. [ L. ars, artis, art + facere, factum, to make. ] 1. (Archæol.) A product of human workmanship; -- applied esp. to the simpler products of aboriginal art as distinguished from natural objects.
Syn. -- artefact. [ Webster 1913 Suppl. ]

2. Any product of human workmanship; -- applied both to objects made for practical purposes as well as works of art. It is contrasted to natural object, i.e. anything produced by natural forces without the intervention of man.
Syn. -- artefact. [ PJC ]

3. (Biol.) A structure or appearance in protoplasm due to death, method of preparation of specimens, or the use of reagents, and not present during life.
Syn. -- artefact. [ Webster 1913 Suppl. ]

4. (Technology) an object, oservation, phenomenon, or result arising from hidden or unexpected causes extraneous to the subject of a study, and therefore spurious and having potential to lead one to an erroneous conclusion, or to invalidate the study. In experimental science, artifacts may arise due to inadvertant contamination of equipment, faulty experimental design or faulty analysis, or unexpected effects of agencies not known to affect the system under study.
Syn. -- artefact. [ PJC ]

adj. 1. 1 same as artefactual.
Syn. -- artefactual [ WordNet 1.5 ]

n. [ L. assuefacere to accustom to; assuetus (p. p. of assuescere to accustom to) + facere to make; cf. OF. assuefaction. ] The act of accustoming, or the state of being accustomed; habituation. [ Obs. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

Custom and studies efform the soul like wax, and by assuefaction introduce a nature. Jer. Taylor. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ L. benefactio, fr. benefacere to do good to one; bene well + facere to do. See Benefit. ] 1. The act of conferring a benefit. Johnson. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. A benefit conferred; esp. a charitable donation. [ 1913 Webster ]

Syn. -- Gift; present; gratuity; boon; alms. [ 1913 Webster ]

pos>n. [ L. ] One who confers a benefit or benefits. Bacon. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. A woman who confers a benefit. [ 1913 Webster ]

His benefactress blushes at the deed. Cowper. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ L. calefactio: cf. F. caléfaction. ] 1. The act of warming or heating; the production of heat in a body by the action of fire, or by communication of heat from other bodies. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. The state of being heated. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. See Calefactory. [ R. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

n. A heater; one who, or that which, makes hot, as a stove, etc. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. [ L. calefactorius. ] Making hot; producing or communicating heat. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. 1. (Eccl.) An apartment in a monastery, warmed and used as a sitting room. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. A hollow sphere of metal, filled with hot water, or a chafing dish, placed on the altar in cold weather for the priest to warm his hands with. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ Chyle + L. facere to make. ] (Physiol.) The act or process by which chyle is formed from food in animal bodies; chylification, -- a digestive process. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. (Physiol.) Producing, or converting into, chyle; having the power to form chyle. [ 1913 Webster ]

adj. producing or converting into chyle.
Syn. -- chylific, chylifactive. [ WordNet 1.5 ]

n. [ LL. cinefactio: L. cinis ashes + facere to make: cf. F. cinéfaction. ] incineration; reduction to ashes. [ Obs. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ L. colliquefactus melted; col- + liquefacere; liquēre to be liquid + facere to make. ] A melting together; the reduction of different bodies into one mass by fusion. [ 1913 Webster ]

The incorporation of metals by simple colliquefaction. Bacon. [ 1913 Webster ]

adj. contrary to fact; -- of assertions, ideas, assumptions. [ WordNet 1.5 ]

n. the quality of being contrary to fact. [ WordNet 1.5 ]

‖ [ L. ] Actually; in fact; in reality; as, a king de facto, -- distinguished from a king de jure, or by right. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. The state of being dissatisfied, unsatisfied, or discontented; uneasiness proceeding from the want of gratification, or from disappointed wishes and expectations. [ 1913 Webster ]

The ambitious man has little happiness, but is subject to much uneasiness and dissatisfaction. Addison.

Syn. -- Discontent; discontentment; displeasure; disapprobation; distaste; dislike. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. Causing dissatisfaction; unable to give content; unsatisfactory; displeasing. [ 1913 Webster ]

To have reduced the different qualifications in the different States to one uniform rule, would probably have been as dissatisfactory to some of the States, as difficult for the Convention. A. Hamilton.

-- Dis*sat`is*fac"to*ri*ness n. [1913 Webster]

n. [ L. excalfactio. ] A heating or warming; calefaction. [ Obs. ] Blount. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. [ L. excalfacere to warm; ex out (intens.) + calfacere to warm. ] Serving to heat; warming. [ Obs. ] Cotgrave. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. [ L. excalfactorius. ] Heating; warming. [ Obs. ] Holland. [ 1913 Webster ]

{ ‖ or ‖. [ L., from what is done afterwards. ] (Law) From or by an after act, or thing done afterward; in consequence of a subsequent act; retrospective.

Ex post facto law, a law which operates by after enactment. The phrase is popularly applied to any law, civil or criminal, which is enacted with a retrospective effect, and with intention to produce that effect; but in its true application, as employed in American law, it relates only to crimes, and signifies a law which retroacts, by way of criminal punishment, upon that which was not a crime before its passage, or which raises the grade of an offense, or renders an act punishable in a more severe manner that it was when committed. Ex post facto laws are held to be contrary to the fundamental principles of a free government, and the States are prohibited from passing such laws by the Constitution of the United States. Burrill. Kent. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ L. factum, fr. facere to make or do. Cf. Feat, Affair, Benefit, Defect, Fashion, and -fy. ] 1. A doing, making, or preparing. [ Obs. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

A project for the fact and vending
Of a new kind of fucus, paint for ladies. B. Jonson. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. An effect produced or achieved; anything done or that comes to pass; an act; an event; a circumstance. [ 1913 Webster ]

What might instigate him to this devilish fact, I am not able to conjecture. Evelyn. [ 1913 Webster ]

He who most excels in fact of arms. Milton. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. Reality; actuality; truth; as, he, in fact, excelled all the rest; the fact is, he was beaten. [ 1913 Webster ]

4. The assertion or statement of a thing done or existing; sometimes, even when false, improperly put, by a transfer of meaning, for the thing done, or supposed to be done; a thing supposed or asserted to be done; as, history abounds with false facts. [ 1913 Webster ]

I do not grant the fact. De Foe. [ 1913 Webster ]

This reasoning is founded upon a fact which is not true. Roger Long. [ 1913 Webster ]

☞ The term fact has in jurisprudence peculiar uses in contrast with law; as, attorney at law, and attorney in fact; issue in law, and issue in fact. There is also a grand distinction between law and fact with reference to the province of the judge and that of the jury, the latter generally determining the fact, the former the law. Burrill Bouvier. [ 1913 Webster ]

Accessary before the fact, or
Accessary after the fact. See under Accessary. --
Matter of fact, an actual occurrence; a verity; used adjectively: of or pertaining to facts; prosaic; unimaginative; as, a matter-of-fact narration.

Syn. -- Act; deed; performance; event; incident; occurrence; circumstance. [ 1913 Webster ]

adj. designed to find information or ascertain facts; as, a fact-finding committee.
Syn. -- investigative, investigatory. [ WordNet 1.5 ]

n. [ L. factio a doing, a company of persons acting together, a faction: cf. F. faction See Fashion. ] 1. (Anc. Hist.) One of the divisions or parties of charioteers (distinguished by their colors) in the games of the circus. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. A party, in political society, combined or acting in union, in opposition to the government, or state; -- usually applied to a minority, but it may be applied to a majority; a combination or clique of partisans of any kind, acting for their own interests, especially if greedy, clamorous, and reckless of the common good. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. Tumult; discord; dissension. [ 1913 Webster ]

They remained at Newbury in great faction among themselves. Clarendon.

Syn. -- Combination; clique; junto. See Cabal. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. [ Cf. F. factionnaire, L. factionarius the head of a company of charioteers. ] Belonging to a faction; being a partisan; taking sides. [ Obs. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

Always factionary on the party of your general. Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. One of a faction. Abp. Bancroft. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. One who promotes faction. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. [ L. factiosus: cf. F. factieux. ] 1. Given to faction; addicted to form parties and raise dissensions, in opposition to government or the common good; turbulent; seditious; prone to clamor against public measures or men; -- said of persons. [ 1913 Webster ]

Factious for the house of Lancaster. Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. Pertaining to faction; proceeding from faction; indicating, or characterized by, faction; -- said of acts or expressions; as, factious quarrels. [ 1913 Webster ]

Headlong zeal or factious fury. Burke.

-- Fac"tious*ly, adv. -- Fac"tious*ness, n. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. [ L. factitius, fr. facere to make. See Fact, and cf. Fetich. ] Made by art, in distinction from what is produced by nature; artificial; sham; contrived; formed by, or adapted to, an artificial or conventional, in distinction from a natural, standard or rule; not natural; as, factitious cinnabar or jewels; a factitious taste. -- Fac-ti"tious*ly, adv. -- Fac*ti"tious*ness, n. [ 1913 Webster ]

He acquires a factitious propensity, he forms an incorrigible habit, of desultory reading. De Quincey.

Syn. -- Unnatural. -- Factitious, Unnatural. Anything is unnatural when it departs in any way from its simple or normal state; it is factitious when it is wrought out or wrought up by labor and effort, as, a factitious excitement. An unnatural demand for any article of merchandise is one which exceeds the ordinary rate of consumption; a factitious demand is one created by active exertions for the purpose. An unnatural alarm is one greater than the occasion requires; a factitious alarm is one wrought up with care and effort. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. [ See Fact. ] 1. Causing; causative. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. (Gram.) Pertaining to that relation which is proper when the act, as of a transitive verb, is not merely received by an object, but produces some change in the object, as when we say, He made the water wine. [ 1913 Webster ]

Sometimes the idea of activity in a verb or adjective involves in it a reference to an effect, in the way of causality, in the active voice on the immediate objects, and in the passive voice on the subject of such activity. This second object is called the factitive object. J. W. Gibbs. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. Making; having power to make. [ Obs. ] “You are . . . factive, not destructive.” Bacon. [ 1913 Webster ]

‖adv. [ L., ablative of factum deed, fact. ] (Law) In fact; by the act or fact. [ 1913 Webster ]

De facto. (Law) See De facto. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ L. factor a doer: cf. F. facteur a factor. See Fact. ] 1. (Law) One who transacts business for another; an agent; a substitute; especially, a mercantile agent who buys and sells goods and transacts business for others in commission; a commission merchant or consignee. He may be a home factor or a foreign factor. He may buy and sell in his own name, and he is intrusted with the possession and control of the goods; and in these respects he differs from a broker. Story. Wharton. [ 1913 Webster ]

My factor sends me word, a merchant's fled
That owes me for a hundred tun of wine. Marlowe. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. A steward or bailiff of an estate. [ Scot. ] Sir W. Scott. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. (Math.) One of the elements or quantities which, when multiplied together, form a product. [ 1913 Webster ]

4. One of the elements, circumstances, or influences which contribute to produce a result; a constituent; a contributory cause. [ 1913 Webster +PJC ]

The materal and dynamical factors of nutrition. H. Spencer. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. [ imp. & p. p. Factored p. pr. & vb. n. Factoring. ] (Mach.) To resolve (a quantity) into its factors. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ Cf. F. factorage. ] The allowance given to a factor, as a compensation for his services; -- called also a commission. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. A factor who is a woman. [ R. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

a. 1. Of or pertaining to a factory. Buchanan. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. (Math.) Related to factorials. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. (Math.) (a) pl. A name given to the factors of a continued product when the former are derivable from one and the same function F(x) by successively imparting a constant increment or decrement h to the independent variable. Thus the product F(x).F(x + h).F(x + 2h) . . . F[ x + (n-1)h ] is called a factorial term, and its several factors take the name of factorials. Brande & C.

(b) The product of the consecutive whole numbers from unity up to any given number; thus, 5 factorial is the product of 5 times four times three times two times one, or 120. [ 1913 Webster +PJC ]

n. (Math.) The act of resolving into factors. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. 1. to resolve into factors, as of a polynomial; same as factorize. [ mostly Brit. ]
Syn. -- factorize. [ WordNet 1.5 ]

v. t. [ imp. & p. p. Factorized p. pr. & vb. n. Factorizing ] 1. (Law) (a) To give warning to; -- said of a person in whose hands the effects of another are attached, the warning being to the effect that he shall not pay the money or deliver the property of the defendant in his hands to him, but appear and answer the suit of the plaintiff. (b) To attach (the effects of a debtor) in the hands of a third person; to garnish. See Garnish. [ Vt. & Conn. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

2. (Math.) to resolve (a complex expression, such as a polynomial) into factors.
Syn. -- factorise. [ WordNet 1.5 ]