Hypertext Webster Gateway: "fin"
From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) (web1913)
Fin \Fin\, n. (A["e]ronautics)
A fixed stabilizing surface, usually vertical, similar in
purpose to a bilge keel on a ship.
From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) (web1913)
Fin \Fin\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. {Finned}; p. pr. & vb. n.
{Finning}.] [Cf. {Fin} of a fish.]
To carve or cut up, as a chub.
From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) (web1913)
Fin \Fin\, n. [See {Fine}, n.]
End; conclusion; object. [Obs.] ``She knew eke the fin of his
intent.'' --Chaucer.
From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) (web1913)
Fin \Fin\, n.[OE. finne, fin, AS. finn; akin to D. vin, G. &
Dan. finne, Sw. fena, L. pinna, penna, a wing, feather. Cf.
{pen} a feather.]
1. (Zo["o]l.) An organ of a fish, consisting of a membrane
supported by rays, or little bony or cartilaginous
ossicles, and serving to balance and propel it in the
water.
Note: Fishes move through the water chiefly by means of the
caudal fin or tail, the principal office of the other
fins being to balance or direct the body, though they
are also, to a certain extent, employed in producing
motion.
2. (Zo["o]l.) A membranous, finlike, swimming organ, as in
pteropod and heteropod mollusks.
3. A finlike organ or attachment; a part of an object or
product which protrudes like a fin, as:
(a) The hand. [Slang]
(b) (Com.) A blade of whalebone. [Eng.] --McElrath.
(c) (Mech.) A mark or ridge left on a casting at the
junction of the parts of a mold.
(d) (Mech.) The thin sheet of metal squeezed out between
the collars of the rolls in the process of rolling.
--Raymond.
(e) (Mech.) A feather; a spline.
4. A finlike appendage, as to submarine boats.
{Apidose fin}. (Zo["o]l.) See under {Adipose}, a.
{Fin ray} (Anat.), one of the hornlike, cartilaginous, or
bony, dermal rods which form the skeleton of the fins of
fishes.
{Fin whale} (Zo["o]l.), a finback.
{Paired fins} (Zo["o]l.), the pectoral and ventral fins,
corresponding to the fore and hind legs of the higher
animals.
{Unpaired, or Median}, {fins} (Zo["o]l.), the dorsal, caudal,
and anal fins.
From WordNet (r) 1.7 (wn)
fin
n 1: the cardinal number that is the sum of four and one [syn: {five},
{5}, {V}, {cinque}, {quint}, {quintet}, {fivesome}, {quintuplet},
{pentad}, {Phoebe}, {Little Phoebe}]
2: one of a pair of decorations projecting above the rear
fenders of an automobile [syn: {tail fin}, {tailfin}]
3: one of a set of parallel slats in a door or window to admit
air and reject rain [syn: {louver}, {louvre}]
4: a shoe for swimming; the paddle-like front is an aid in
swimming (especially underwater) [syn: {flipper}, {flippers},
{fins}]
5: a stabilizer that resembles the fins of a fish
6: organ of locomotion and balance in fishes and some other
aquatic animals
v 1: equip with fins, as of a car
2: propel oneself through the water in a finning motion
3: show the fins above the water while swimming (of fish); "The
sharks were finning near the surface" [syn: {break water}]
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