▪ I. fent, n.
(fɛnt)
Also 5 vent, 5–7 fente, 7 fenth.
[ad. Fr. fente, f. fendre:—L. findĕre to split.]
1. A short slit or opening in a robe, esp. the opening at the throat, usually closed by a brooch, trimmed with fur, etc. Also a placket or placket-hole. Now chiefly dial.
| c 1430 Syr Gener. (Roxb.) 5941 The stroke vndre the fent, Queyntly al a-side it went. c 1440 Promp. Parv. 156 Fente of a clothe, fibulatorium. c 1450 Henryson Mor. Fab. 55 Flours fair furred on euerie fent. 1459 Wardrobe Sir T. Fastolf in Archæologia XXI. 253, i jakket of red felwet, the ventis bounde with red lether. a 1500 Assembly of Ladies, The coller and the vent..With greate perles..were couched al after one worching. 1502 Privy Purse Exp. Eliz. of York (1830) 69 Item for a nayle of sarcenet for fentes for the same gowne iiijd. 1530 Palsgr. 219/2 Fent of a gowne, fente. 1611 Cotgr., La fente d'une chemise, the fent of a shirt. 1652 Urquhart Jewel Wks. (1834) 241 A cloth of gold petticoat, in the anterior fente whereof was an asteristick ouch. 1814 Law Case (Jam.), He put his hand..into the fent of her petticoat. |
2. † a. A crack in the skin (obs.); b. (see quot. 1776); c. an opening or rift in the ground.
| 1597 Lowe Chirurg. (1634) 188 Clifts or Fenths in the Eares or Nose. 1776 Da Costa Conch. 243 The fent (Rima) is the opening of the Shells on the Slopes. 1878 M. E. Herbert tr. Hübner's Ramble ii. ii. 244 A ravine, or rather a deep fent in the soil. |
3. dial. The binding of any part of the dress.
| 1847 in Halliwell. 1877 N.W. Linc. Gloss., Fent, the binding of a woman's dress. |
4. A remnant (of cloth).
| 1844 S. Bamford Pass. Life Radical ix. 60 Her outer garments were of very homely material, being seemingly cotton fents dyed blue. 1855 Robinson Whitby Gloss., Fents..remnants of cloth in varieties. 1860 O'Neill Chem. Calico-Printing 312 If a fent mordanted for black and purple be dipped in hot caustic soda, it will [etc.]. 1865 B. Brierley Irkdale I. 156 A couple of fents of his own weaving. |
5. attrib., (sense 4) as fent-dealer, fent-merchant.
| 1884 Manch. Exam. 18 Sept. 5/3 Mr. M...started in business as a fent and general merchant. 1892 Simmonds Trade Dict. Sup., Fent-Dealer, a piece broker, a retailer of remnants of cloth. |
▪ II. † fent, v. Obs. rare—1.
[f. prec. n.]
trans. ? To make slits in.
| 1589 Nottingham Rec. IV. 277 For fentinge tenne moryons ijs. iijd. |
▪ III. fent, -ly
obs. and dial. ff. faint n., faintly.