▪ I. feint, n.
(feɪnt)
[a. Fr. feinte (= Pr. fenha, fencha, OSp. and It. finta), abstr. noun, f. feindre to feign.]
1. A feigned or false attack. Also in phrases in feint, to make a feint. a. Fencing and Boxing. A blow, cut, or thrust aimed at a part other than that which is the real object of attack.
| [1600 O. E. Repl. to Libel i. iii. 67 A finta, or fained shew of a downe right blow.] 1684 R. H. School Recreat. 63 To take..a Feint on this Guard will signifie little or nothing. 1706 in Phillips (ed. Kersey). 1730–6 in Bailey (folio). 1817 Scott Rob Roy xxv, He exhausted every feint and stratagem proper to the science of defence. 1825 Waterton Wand. S. Amer. iii. iii. 251, I made a feint to cut them down. 1872 Baker Nile Tribut. viii. 117 A feint at the head causes them to raise the shield. 1879 Farrar St. Paul II. 73 He aimed straight blows, and not in feint, at the enemy. |
b. Mil. A movement made with the object of deceiving an enemy as to a general's real plans.
| 1683 Temple Mem. Wks. 1731 I. 458 Friburg had been taken by a Feint of the Duke. 1701 Lond. Gaz. No. 3713/1 Some troops were ordered to make a Feint. 1783 Watson Philip III (1793) II. v. 108 By making a feint of storming which he hoped to save Vercelli. 1809 Wellington in Gurw. Desp. V. 30 These movements are intended only as a feint. 1868 G. Duff Pol. Surv. 65 She..may make an attack on India by way of feint. |
2. transf. and fig. An assumed appearance; a pretence, stratagem.
| 1679 Sir C. Lyttelton in Hatton Corr. (1878) 206 All this is but a feint. 1740 Somerville Hobbinol ii. 410 A Feint he made With well dissembled Guile. 1754 Sherlock Disc. (1759) I. ix. 265 This Objection is not a mere Feint. 1832 Lander Adv. Niger I. iv. 182 We imagine that it is only a feint of Mausolah to detain us. 1851 Gallenga Italy 49 That protest..would have been merely a feint. 1852 Dickens Christmas Bks., Haunted Man. (C. D. ed.) 206 Mr. Williams..made a feint of accidentally knocking the table with a decanter. |
b. Rhetoric. (See quot.)
| 1730–6 Bailey (folio), Feint, a figure whereby the orator touches on something, in making a show of passing it over in silence. |
† 3. Music. (See quot.) [So formerly Fr. feinte.]
| 1730–6 Bailey (folio), Feint, (in Musick) a semi-tone, the same that is called Diesis. 1823 in Crabb. |
▪ II. feint, a.
(feɪnt)
[a. Fr. feint, pa. pple. of feindre to feign.]
1. Feigned, false, or counterfeit; sham; = faint a. 1. Now rare.
| c 1340 Cursor M. 19535 (Trin.) Þerfore toke he bapteme feynt [v.r. faint]. c 1400 Rom. Rose 433 She gan..To make many a feynt praiere To God. c 1698 Locke Cond. Underst. §33 Dressed up into any faint appearance of it. 1702 Lond. Gaz. No. 3835/2 The Major..made a feint Retreat. 1704 Ibid. No. 3986/2 Amusing the French with..feint Marches. 1855 Thackeray Newcomes II. 90 We wear feint smiles over our tears and deceive our children. |
2. In commercial use, the usual spelling of faint a. 5 c; freq. quasi-adv.
| 1859 Stationers' Hand-bk. (ed. 2) 72 Feint only, the term for a book having merely feint blue lines across the page from left to right. 1895 Army & Navy Co-op. Soc. Price List 15 Sept. 525 Foolscap Paper—Ruled with Money Columns and Feint Lines. 1930 Publishers' Circ. 13 Sept. 321/2 The actual book itself should be of foolscap size, ruled feint. |
▪ III. feint, v.
Also 6 faint.
[In sense 1 f. F. feint, pa. pple. of feindre to feign; see the variant faint v. In sense 2 f. feint n.]
† 1. To deceive. Obs.
| 1320 [see feinting]. |
2. Mil., Boxing and Fencing. a. intr. To make a feint or sham attack. Const. at, on, upon. b. trans. To make a feint upon. rare. c. To pretend to make (a pass or cut).
| 1833 Regul. Instr. Cavalry i. 130 Feint cut ‘Two’; and shift leg to ‘First Position’. Ibid. i. 149 Feint ‘Third Point’ under, and deliver ‘Second Point’ over the arm. 1854 Badham Halieut. 419 He watched them..as they feinted, skirmished, or made onslaught. 1857 Hughes Tom Brown ii. iii, Feint him—use your legs! draw him out. 1880 L. Wallace Ben-Hur 381 Ben-Hur feinted with his right hand. 1890 Sat. Rev. 6 Sept. 296/2 He feinted at his enemy's toes. |
Hence ˈfeinting vbl. n., in senses of the vb.; also attrib., and ppl. a.
| c 1314 Guy Warw. (A.) 444 Erl Jonas..Loke wiþ him be no feynting. 1579 Lyly Euphues (Arb.) 110 They flutter them⁓selues with a fainting farewell, deferring euer vntil to morrow. 1684 R. H. School Recreat. 71 Feinting or Falsifying. Of these there are several Kinds. 1858 O. W. Holmes Aut. Breakf.-t. (1865) 68 Feinting, dodging, stopping, hitting, countering. 1871 Daily News 24 July, It was obvious that force had been thus disposed for feinting purposes. |