feint
English
editPronunciation
edit- (Received Pronunciation, General American) IPA(key): /feɪnt/
Audio (Southern England): (file) - Homophone: faint
- Rhymes: -eɪnt
Etymology 1
editThe noun is borrowed from French feinte (“dummy, feint”), from feindre (“to fake, feign”), from Old French feindre, faindre,[1] from Latin fingere, the present active infinitive of fingō (“to alter the truth to deceive, dissemble, feign, pretend; to fashion, form, shape”).
The verb is derived from the noun.[2]
Noun
editfeint (plural feints)
- (often military) A movement made to confuse an opponent; a dummy.
- 1683, William Temple, “Memoirs of what Pass’d in Christendom, from the War Begun 1672, to the Peace Concluded 1679. Chapter III.”, in The Works of Sir William Temple, […], volume I, London: […] J. Round, J[acob] Tonson, J. Clarke, B[enjamin] Motte, T. Wotton, S[amuel] Birt, and T[homas] Osborne, published 1731, →OCLC, page 459:
- In October, Friburg had been taken by a Feint of the Duke of Crequi, before the Duke of Lorrain cou'd come to relieve it; […]
- 1840, W[illiam] H[amilton] Maxwell, chapter XIV, in Life of Field-Marshal His Grace the Duke of Wellington, […], volume II, London: A[lfred] H. Baily & Co. […], →OCLC, page 222:
- Nothing could be more uncertain than the intentions of the French marshal [André Masséna], and Lord Wellington [Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington] felt, that by an incautious movement, his army must be seriously committed—Massena's retreat might only be a feint to draw the allies from their position—while by turning Monte Junta, he might make a sudden rush on Torres Vedras.
- (boxing, fencing) A blow, thrust, or other offensive movement resembling an attack on some part of the body, intended to distract from a real attack on another part.
- 1817 December 31 (indicated as 1818), [Walter Scott], chapter XII, in Rob Roy. […], volume II, Edinburgh: […] James Ballantyne and Co. for Archibald Constable and Co. […]; London: Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme, and Brown, →OCLC, pages 251–252:
- He had some advantage in the difference of our weapons; for his sword, as I recollect, was longer than mine, […] His obvious malignity of purpose never for a moment threw him off his guard, and he exhausted every feint and strategem proper to the science of defence; while, at the same time, he mediated the most desperate catastrophe to our rencounter.
- 1999, Allan Skipp, “Key Techniques”, in Handbook of Foil Fencing, Armley, Leeds: Coachwise Business Solutions for British Fencing, published 2006, →ISBN, page 36:
- It is also possible to deliver a compound riposte by using an indirect feint. The attacking fencer would be open to a compound riposte following a successful parry by their opponent.
- (figuratively) Something feigned; a false or pretend appearance; a pretence or stratagem.
- 1712 January 29 (Gregorian calendar), [Philobrune [pseudonym]], “FRIDAY, January 18, 1711–1712”, in The Spectator, number 286; republished in Alexander Chalmers, editor, The Spectator; a New Edition, […], volume III, New York, N.Y.: D[aniel] Appleton & Company, 1853, →OCLC, page 429:
- [I]f your zeal slackens, how can one help thinking that Mr. Courtly's letter is but a feint to get off from a subject in which either your own, or the private and base ends of others to whom you are partial, or those of whom you are afraid, would not endure a reformation?
- 1843 December 19, Charles Dickens, “Stave Three. The Second of the Three Spirits.”, in A Christmas Carol. In Prose. Being a Ghost Story of Christmas, London: Chapman & Hall, […], →OCLC, pages 111–112:
- If you had fallen up against him (as some of them did), and stood there; he would have made a feint of endeavouring to seize you, which would have been an affront to your understanding; […]
- 1848 December 19, Charles Dickens, “The Gift Bestowed”, in The Haunted Man and the Ghost’s Bargain. A Fancy for Christmas-time, London: Bradbury & Evans, […], →OCLC, page 14:
- Receiving no reply at all here, from the thoughtful man whom he addressed, Mr. William approached him nearer, and made a feint of accidentally knocking the table with a decanter, to rouse him.
- 2014, Alastair J. Mann, James VII: Duke and King of Scots, Edinburgh: John Donald Publishers, →ISBN:
- Toleration was just a feint to achieve the objective of the Catholic mission.
Translations
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Verb
editfeint (third-person singular simple present feints, present participle feinting, simple past and past participle feinted)
- (transitive, boxing, fencing)
- To direct (a blow, thrust, or other offensive movement resembling an attack) on some part of the body, intended to distract from a real attack on another part.
- 1882, T. Alderson Wilson, “Lanval”, in Perseus and Other Essays in Verse, London: Ranken and Co., […], →OCLC, page 74:
- Genevra scowled and said, "His word is wild, / But dastard treason feinteth such disorders: / Treason or witchcraft neither, undefiled, / A Christian court may cherish in its borders."
- 1914, Booth Tarkington, “The Imitator”, in Penrod, Garden City, N.Y.: Doubleday, Page & Company, →OCLC, page 231:
- Even Penrod's walk was affected; he adopted a gait which was a kind of taunting swagger; and, when he passed other children on the street, he practised the habit of feinting a blow; then, as the victim dodged, he rasped out the triumphant horse laugh which he gradually mastered to horrible perfection.
- 1924 October 10, Harold Lamb, “Forward”, in Arthur Sullivant Hoffman, editor, Adventure, volume XLIX, number I, New York, N.Y., London: The Ridgway Company, →OCLC, page 25, column 1:
- I spurred on the Turani instead of pulling him in, and stood up in the saddle just as we came upon the two. By feinting a slash at one I made him throw up his saber to guard his head. Then, leaning down as the three ponies came together, I cut at the other's neck, getting home over his blade. His mount reared and shelled him out of the saddle like a pea out of a pod.
- (rare) To direct a feint or mock attack against (someone).
- 1857, [Thomas Hughes], “The Fight”, in Tom Brown’s School Days. […], Cambridge, Cambridgeshire: Macmillan & Co., →OCLC, part II, page 323:
- Feint him—use your legs! draw him about! he'll lose his wind then in no time, and you can go into him.
- To direct (a blow, thrust, or other offensive movement resembling an attack) on some part of the body, intended to distract from a real attack on another part.
- (intransitive, boxing, fencing, also often military) To make a feint or mock attack.
- 1880 November 12, Lew[is] Wallace, chapter XVI, in Ben-Hur: A Tale of the Christ, New York, N.Y.: Harper & Brothers, […], →OCLC, book fifth, page 387:
- Ben-Hur feinted with his right hand. The stranger warded, slightly advancing his left arm. Ere he could return to guard, Ben-Hur caught him by the wrist in a grip which years at the oar had made terrible as a vise.
- 1893–1897 (date written), Robert Louis Stevenson, “Swanston Cottage”, in St. Ives: Being the Adventures of a French Prisoner in England, New York, N.Y.: Charles Scribner’s Sons, published 1897, →OCLC, page 67:
- My assailant stood a little; in the thick darkness I could see him bob and sidle as though he were feinting at me for an advantageous onfall.
- 1984, Len Levinson, chapter 3, in Meat Grinder Hill (The Rat Bastards; 4), [San Francisco, Calif.]: AudioGO, published 2013, →ISBN:
- Gomez feinted with his knife and the other man darted backward. He feinted again and the man moved to the side. The man feinted but Gomez didn't budge; he was anxious to get it on.
Derived terms
editTranslations
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Etymology 2
editBorrowed from French feint, the past participle of feindre (“to fake, feign”): see etymology 1.[3]
Adjective
editfeint (not comparable)
- (boxing, fencing, also often military) Of an attack or offensive movement: directed toward a different part from the intended strike.
- (obsolete) Feigned, counterfeit, fake.
- 1855, Arthur Pendennis [pseudonym; William Makepeace Thackeray], “Contains Two or Three Acts of a Little Comedy”, in The Newcomes: Memoirs of a Most Respectable Family, volume II, London: Bradbury and Evans, […], →OCLC, page 90:
- We force ourselves to be hypocrites, and hide our wrongs from them; we speak of a bad father with false praises; we wear feint smiles over our tears and deceive our children—deceive them, do we?
Translations
editEtymology 3
editA variant of faint (“barely perceptible; not bright, loud, or sharp”).[4]
Adjective
editfeint (not comparable)
- Of lines printed on paper as a handwriting guide: not bold; faint, light; also, of such paper: ruled with faint lines of this sort. [from mid 19th c.]
Translations
editReferences
edit- ^ “feint, n.”, in OED Online
, Oxford, Oxfordshire: Oxford University Press, December 2022.; “feint1, n.”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.
- ^ “feint, v.”, in OED Online
, Oxford, Oxfordshire: Oxford University Press, March 2022; “feint1, v.”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.
- ^ “feint, adj.”, in OED Online
, Oxford, Oxfordshire: Oxford University Press, March 2022.
- ^ “feint2, adj.”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.
Further reading
editfeint on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
feint (disambiguation) on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
Anagrams
editFrench
editEtymology
editPast participle of feindre; from Old French feint, from Latin fictus, probably through the Vulgar Latin form *finctus, with a nasal infix. Compare Italian finto.
Pronunciation
editParticiple
editfeint (feminine feinte, masculine plural feints, feminine plural feintes)
Verb
editfeint
Further reading
edit- “feint”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.
Anagrams
editWest Frisian
editEtymology
edit(This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium.)
Noun
editfeint c (plural feinten, diminutive feintsje)
Derived terms
editFurther reading
edit- “feint”, in Wurdboek fan de Fryske taal (in Dutch), 2011
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