fess

Definitions  ·  Examples  ·  Pronunciations  ·  Etymologies  ·  Related  ·  Statistics  ·  Comments  · 
“
What's a fess A fess--a fess is--YOU don't need to know what a fess is.

View all »
Definitions (5)

Toggle American Heritage definitions American Heritage Dictionary (2)

  1. noun Heraldry A wide horizontal band forming the middle section of an escutcheon.
  2. intransitive verb Informal To admit to something; confess, often used with up: "won't fess up to being even vaguely liberal” (Jonathan Alter).

Toggle Century definitions Century Dictionary (2)

Toggle GNU Webster definitions GNU Webster's 1913

Toggle WordNet definitions WordNet (1)

Toggle elsewhere links Elsewhere on the web

View all »
Examples (50)

  • Joanna Stern of Laptop Magazine had her hands all over the thin MSI netbook but she wouldn't 'fess up to what she brought with her. —  GigaOM Network
  • Bo on Christ Church Vero Beach Rector Suspended: David didn't 'fess-up' to start with either, but once exposed by a man of God, he turned from his wickedness, suffered in this life for … —  Stand Firm
  • Herpes: Do most people fess-up to having it BEFORE they have sex? —  BlogHer
  • Member for 2 years 35 weeks Herpes: Do most people fess-up to having it BEFORE they have sex? —  BlogHer
  • Member for 1 year 19 weeks Herpes: Do most people fess-up to having it BEFORE they have sex? —  BlogHer
More examples »
 

Tags

Sign up or sign in to add tags.

Stats

This word has been looked up 79 times.

stop updating
On Twitter

Photos from

flickr images

Etymologies (3)

Toggle American Heritage etymologies American Heritage Dictionary (2)

  1. Middle English fesse, from Old French, from Latin fascia, band.
  2. Short for confess.

Toggle Century etymologies Century Dictionary (1)

  1. from Turk, fes: see fez.
 

Pronunciations
Record your own »
/fɛs/
by American Heritage

Charts
frequency chart

Bubble size: how much this word was used in a year

Bubble height: used more or less than expected, vs. all uses evenly distributed

You can expect to see this word several times a year.

Recently looked up

blinkers · promotion · penumbra · keep · ipecac

Recent Favorites

pygopagus · sanglant · Astacus · sweetbread · qualms

Recent Pronunciations

oh for heaven's sake · embodies · silence · spell it rite · britney