▪ I. fitchew
(ˈfɪtʃuː)
Forms: 5 fechu, fychew, (pl. fecheus, fychews, -eux), 6 fechowe, ficheuxe, fitchewe, 7 fitcholl, fitchaw, 8 fi(t)cher, fitchole, 4– fitchew.
[a. OF. fissel (pl. fissiaulx), later fissau (Cotgr.), a diminutive formation on the word which appears in Du. of 16–17th c. as fisse, visse, vitsche (see Kilian and Hexham).]
1. A foumart, polecat.
| 1418 E.E. Wills (1882) 34 My furre of Fycheux. 1486 Bk. St. Albans B vij b, That no fulmertis nor fecheus..com nott in to hir. 1577 Harrison England iii. iv. (1878) ii. 25, I might here intreat..of..the weasell..fitchew, and such like. 1688 in A. L. Humphreys Hist. Wellington (1889) 125 Pd. for killing of a fitcholl and a hedgehogg 8d. 1752 Sir J. Hill Hist. Anim. 547 They all call it..Mustela; we the Weasel, the Foumart, or the Fitcher. 1787 Grose Provinc. Gloss., Fitchole, a polecat, fitchet or ficher. 1788 Wolcott (P. Pindar) Peter's Pension Wks. 1812 II. 18 Your fowls have suffer'd by the fitchews. 1885 Encycl. Brit. XIX. 332/1 To this [its fetid smell] it is indebted for its..English names fitchet, fitchew. |
b. Used as a term of contempt.
| 1604 Shakes. Oth. iv. i. 150 'Tis such another Fitchew. |
2. The fur of the polecat.
| c 1394 P. Pl. Crede 295 A cote haþ he furred Wiþ foyns or wiþ fitchewes oþer fyn beuer. 1493 Will of Squyer (Somerset Ho.) Penulatam cum fychew pollys. 1502 Will of Grene (Somerset Ho.) (Gown furred with) Ficheuxe. 1534 in Weaver Wells Wills (1890) 98 My gowne furryd with ffechowe. 1721 Bailey, Fitchow, a Pole-cat..also the skin of it. |
▪ II. † ˈfitchew, v. Obs.—1
| a 1650 May Satir. Puppy (1657) 85 Yet this is she..whom Pride did become as a full Oath doth a desperate Gallant: that fichew'd with a degenerate posture of the Chinne. |