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Fice vs Vice - What's the difference?

fice | vice |

As nouns the difference between fice and vice

is that fice is a small, snappy, belligerent, mixed-breed dog while vice is a bad habit.

As a verb vice is

to hold or squeeze with a vice, or as if with a vice.

As an adjective vice is

in place of; subordinate to; designating a person below another in rank.

As a preposition vice is

instead of, in place of.

fice

English

Alternative forms

* feist, fise, fist

Noun

(en noun)
  • A small, snappy, belligerent, mixed-breed dog.
  • * 1805 October 3, Lorenzo Dow, journal, in Orrin Scofield (ed.), Perambulations of Cosmopolite; or Travels and Labors of Lorenzo Dow, in Europe and America , Orrin Scofield (1842), page 178,
  • He wrote a letter to Bob Sample, one of the most popular A-double-L-part preachers in the country, who like a little fice , or cur dog, would rail behind my back.
  • * a''1849, James W. C. Pennington, ''The Fugitive Blacksmith; or, Events in the History of James W. C. Pennington, Pastor of a Presbyterian Church, New York, Formerly a Slave in the State of Maryland, United States , Second Edition, Charles Gilpin (1849), pages 33–34,
  • Besides inflicting upon my own excited imagination the belief that I made noise enough to be heard by the inmates of the house who were likely to be rising at the time, I had the misfortune to attract the notice of a little house-dog, such as we call in that part of the world a “fice ,’ on account of its being not only the smallest species of the canine race, but also, because it is the most saucy, noisy, and teasing of all dogs.
  • * 1873, Joseph S. Williams, Old Times in West Tennessee: Reminiscences—Semi-historic—of Pioneer Life and the Early Emigrant Settlers in the Big Hatchie Country , W. G. Cheeney, page 260,
  • One August afternoon he was returning from his dinner, when near the public square, he came to a little white fice dog and another little dog grining and growling at each other on the sidewalk.
  • * 1955, John F. Kennedy, Profiles in Courage , Harper and Brothers Publishers, page 114
  • At Belton, an armed thug suddenly arose and started toward him. But old Sam Houston, looking him right in the eye, put each hand on his own pistols: "Ladies and Gentlemen, keep your seats. It is nothing but a fice barking at the lion in his den.
  • * 1995, George Cauley, quoted in Mark Derr, Dog’s Best Friend: Annals of the Dog-Human Relationship , University of Chicago Press (2004), ISBN 0-226-14280-9, page 57,
  • When I was growing up, everybody had a little dog they called a feist or fice and a big yard dog, a cur.
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    vice

    English

    Etymology 1

    From (etyl), from (etyl), from (etyl) .

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • A bad habit.
  • Smoking is a vice , not a virtue.
  • (legal) Any of various crimes related (depending on jurisdiction) to prostitution, pornography, gambling, alcohol, or drugs.
  • A defect in the temper or behaviour of a horse, such as to make the animal dangerous, to injure its health, or to diminish its usefulness.
  • * From the case of Scholefield v. Robb (1839).
  • Antonyms
    * (bad habit) virtue
    Derived terms
    * vice squad

    See also

    * habit

    Etymology 2

    From (etyl) ; akin to English withy.

    Alternative forms

    * vise (US)

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • A mechanical screw apparatus used for clamping or holding (also spelled vise).
  • A tool for drawing lead into cames, or flat grooved rods, for casements.
  • (obsolete) A grip or grasp.
  • * 1597 , , II. I. 22:
  • Fang. An I but fist him once; an a’ come but within my vice ,–

    Verb

    (vic)
  • To hold or squeeze with a vice, or as if with a vice.
  • * 1610 , , I. ii. 416:
  • Camillo. As he had seen’t, or been an instrument / To vice you to't, that you have touched his queen / Forbiddenly
  • * De Quincey
  • The coachman's hand was viced between his upper and lower thigh.

    Etymology 3

    From (etyl) , ablative form of vicis.

    Adjective

    vice (no comparative or superlative)
  • in place of; subordinate to; designating a person below another in rank
  • vice president
    vice admiral
    Derived terms
    * vice admiral * vice governor * vice mayor * vice president

    Preposition

    (head)
  • instead of, in place of
  • A. B. was appointed postmaster vice C. D. resigned.
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