▪ I. feck, n.1 Sc. and north. dial.
(fɛk)
Also 5–6 fek, 6 fecc, fect.
[app. aphetic f. effect n.]
† 1. = effect 2 b. The purport, drift, tenor, or substance (of a statement, intention, etc.). Sometimes coupled with form. ? Obs.
With first quot. cf. Chaucer Merch. T. 153 Theffecte of his entente.
| c 1500 Lancelot 2938 This is the fek of our entent. 1535 Stewart Cron. Scot. II. 684 In forme and fect as it wes wont to be. c 1550 A. Scott in Sibbald Chron. Scot. Poetry III. 148 Wald ye foirsé the forme, The fassoun, and the fek, Ye suld it fynd inorme, With bawdry yow to blek. 1600 Heywood 1 Edw. IV, iv. iv, So the feck..of all your long purgation..is no more..but the King wants money. |
2. [Cf. effect 1 b.] Efficacy, efficiency, value; hence, vigour, energy.
| 1535 Stewart Cron. Scot. II. 617 Quhilk semis weill to be Of lytill fecc or ȝit auctoritie. 1597 Montgomerie Cherrie & Slae 631 Thay ar maire faschious nor of feck. 1789 Burns Elegy on 1788, 22 Eighty-eight..gied you..E'en monie a plack, and monie a peck, Ye ken yoursels, for little feck. 1811 Willan W. Riding Gloss., Feck, might, activity, zeal, abundance. 1823 Galt R. Gilhaize III. 169 Your laddie there's owre young to be o' ony fek in the way o' war. |
3. Amount, quantity. the (most) feck: the bulk, greatest part, ‘practically the whole’.
The corresponding sense of effect n. was not recognized in its proper place in this Dictionary, but an example of it prob. occurs in Chaucer Fr. Tale 153 ‘My purchas is theffect of al my rente’, which may be rendered ‘My gains are the feck of all my income’.
| c 1470 Henry Wallace viii. 700 Swa sall we fend the fek of this regioun. 1535 Stewart Cron. Scot. II. 526 The lordis..for the most fect, Amang thame self held Donewald suspect. a 1774 Fergusson Leith Races Poet. Wks. (1845) 35 Great feck gae hirplin hame like fools, The cripple lead the blind. 1794 Burns Carle of Kellyburn Braes 53, I hae been a devil the feck o' my life. 1822 W. J. Napier Pract. Store-Farm. 266 ‘I hope you have lost none.’ ‘No mony.’ ‘What feck, think ye?’ 1824 Scott Redgauntlet xxiii, ‘Naething will be said..for..the feck of three hours.’ 1876 Whitby Gloss. s.v., ‘He did t' feck o' t' wark.’ Ibid., ‘There's a rare feck on't.’ 1887 Stevenson Merry Men 139 ‘He had a feck o' books wi' him—mair than had ever been seen before in a' that presbytery. |
▪ II. † feck, n.2 Obs.
Also fack.
[var. of faik n.]
One of the stomachs of ruminants; ? the omasum or manyplies.
| 1701 Grew Cosmol. Sacra i. v. 29 Three Stomachs: the Panch, the Read and the Feck. 1736 Pegge Kenticisms (E.D.S.), Fack of a bullock; that stomach that receives the herbage first, and from whence it is resumed into the mouth to be chew'd. 1887 in Kent Gloss. |
▪ III. feck, v. slang.
(fɛk)
[Origin unknown.]
trans. To steal; see also quot. 1809.
| 1809 G. Andrewes Dict. Slang & Cant, To feck—to look out, to discover the best means of obtaining stolen goods. 1880 Jamieson II. 200/2 To feck, to attain by dishonourable means, Loth[ian]. 1916 Joyce Portrait of Artist (1964) 40 They had fecked cash out of the rector's room. 1922 ― Ulysses 268 Fecking matches from counters. 1962 E. O'Brien Lonely Girl i. 9 ‘Feck any samples?’..‘How could I take samples with him sitting there in the car?’ |
▪ IV. feck, v.2 slang (orig. and chiefly Irish English).
Brit. /fɛk/, U.S. /fɛk/, Irish English /fɛk/
[Euphemistic alteration of fuck v. Compare earlier fecking adj. and feck-all n., and also feck int., fecker n.]
1. intr.to feck off = to fuck off v. 1 at fuck v. Phrasal verbs 1. Freq. in imper.
| 1980 ‘H. Leonard’ Life i. 24 Feck off, that's not yours. 1987 C. Nolan Under Eye of Clock (1988) xviii. 195 Ah shut up, shut up feck off. 1990 R. Doyle Snapper 192 If he'd said it—half an hour earlier even I'd've told him to feck off. 1995 G. Linehan & A. Mathews Good Luck, Father Ted (television script, penultimate draft) in Father Ted (1999) 13/1 Mrs. Doyle: Now Father, what do you say to a cup? Jack: Feck off, cup! 2003 J. Mullaney We'll be Back 55 Hartson's fecked off to Celtic, so we scour the British Isles, and find the only player fatter than him, and sign him up. |
2. trans. = fuck v. 4. Also (in pass.): to be put into a difficult or hopeless situation, to be in trouble.
| 1987 C. Nolan Under Eye of Clock xiii. 145 I'll be rightly fecked if he's not here. 1995 P. McCabe Dead School (1996) 192 ‘Well, did you see it last night?’ ‘Fecked if I could,’ said Mr. Boylan. 1998 Sunday Times (Nexis) 19 July In my shop, if I go out to the counter I'm fecked because I'll be caught talking about the match. 1999 C. Creedon Passion Play xix. 151 It was like, can I can't I, can I can't I and then I said,—Yerah, feck it! 2004 Irish Times (Nexis) 15 June 12 In that sense, Fianna Fail wasn't really a catch-all party. It was a feck-the-begrudgers party. |
▪ V. feck, int. slang (orig. and chiefly Irish English).
Brit. /fɛk/, U.S. /fɛk/, Irish English /fɛk/
[Euphemistic alteration of fuck int. Compare earlier feck v.2, fecker n., fecking adj.]
Expressing frustration, regret, or annoyance: ‘damn’, ‘blast’; = fuck int. Cf. fuck v. 4.
| 1992‘H. Leonard’ Kill in Sel. Plays 400 My apologies. I have been gravely misinformed. Feck. 1995 G. Linehan & A. Mathews Good Luck, Father Ted (television script, penultimate draft) in Father Ted (1999) 12/2 Mrs. Doyle: Who's for tea, then?.. Jack: Tea! Feck! 2002 Mediaweek (Nexis) 18 Mar. ‘Oh, feck,’ sighed an FCC staffer, looking up ‘round-heeled’ on Google. |
▪ VI. feck(s)
see fegs.