▪ I. feud, n.1
(fjuːd)
Forms: α. (after the early 14th c. almost exclusively Sc.) 3–6 fede, 4 fed, (6 fade), 6–7 fead, feed(e, 4–8 feid(e. β. 6 food(e, feood, fude, 6–7 fuid(e, 6–8 fewd(e, 7 feaud, feode, feude, 7– feud.
[The northern ME. fede is a. OF. fede, feide, faide (the phrase fede mortel = ‘deadly feud’ is recorded from 13th c.), ad. OHG. fêhida (whence MHG. vêhede, vêde, mod.G. fehde) = OE. fǽhþ(u enmity:—OTeut. *faihiþâ str. fem., noun of quality or state f. *faiho- adj.: see foe. In 14–15th c. the word occurs only in Sc. writers, the form being always fede, feide, or something phonetically equivalent. In the 16th c. it was adopted in England (being often expressly spoken of as a northern word), with an unexplained change of form, as food(e, feood, fuid, fewd, whence in 17th c. the form now current. The ordinary statement that the change of form was due to the influence of feud n.2 is obviously incorrect; feud n.2 is not recorded in our material until half a century after the appearance of the forms foode, fewd, and would not account for them even if it were proved to have existed earlier; moreover, even in the 17th c. it was merely a rare technical word used by writers on the ‘feudal system’, and its sense is too remote from that of the northern feide for the assumed influence to have operated.
A plausible supposition is that there was an OE. *féod str. fem. (f. féoȝan to hate) corresponding to Goth. fijaþwa as fréod friendship to Goth. frijaþwa. This would in ME. normally become fede, coalescing with the Rom. word of similar sound and meaning; but there may have been a northern Eng. dialect in which the word was pronounced with a ‘rising’ diphthong cf. mod.Eng. four from OE. féower), and from which the β forms were adopted. In 17th c. the word was occasionally altered into foehood.]
† 1. Active hatred or enmity, hostility, ill-will.
| α [Beowulf 109 Ne ᵹefeah he þære fæhðe.] a 1300 Cursor M. 27455 (Cott.) He haldes wreth in hert and fede. c 1375 Sc. Leg. Saints, Margarete 476 For þare vertu fed haf I. c 1470 Henry Wallace i. 354 A mar quiet sted, Quhar Wilȝham mycht be bettir fra thair fede. c 1475 Rauf Coilȝear 969 His wyfe wuld he nocht forȝet, for dout of Goddis feid. 1556 Lauder Tractate 11 Nother to spair, for lufe nor fede, To do dew Iustice to the dede. 1570 Levins Manip. 205/34 Feade, odium. 1596 Dalrymple tr. Leslie's Hist. Scot. 92 The fade and inimitie borne towards thair parents. 1787 Burns Tam Samson's Elegy x, Till coward death behind him jumpit, Wi deadly feide. |
| β 1566 Painter Pal. Pleas. I. 1 Two..cities..bare eche other..deadlye foode. 1596 Spenser F.Q. iv. i. 26 Deadly feood. 1598 Florio, Aizza, anger, fude, moode. 1631 Gouge God's Arrows iii. §3. 187 This immortall fewde against worshippers of the true God. 1705 Dyet of Poland 4 A Vice which rankles up to Fewd. |
b. Sc. Used in contradistinction to favour.
| α 1530 Lyndesay Test. Papyngo 622 The veritie..thay sulde declare, Without regarde to fauour or to fede. 1560 Rolland Seven Sages (1837) 1 Thay tuke na cure of na manis fauour nor feid. 1609 Skene Reg. Maj. 137 For feed or favour of anie man. 1637–50 Row Hist. Kirk (1842) 446 Thus have I..spoken nothing..but the trueth, and that impartiallie, without fead or favour to any. |
| β 1843 Carlyle Past & Pr. (1858) 145 Decided without feud or favour. |
2. A state of bitter and lasting mutual hostility. (From 16th c. often with allusion to 3.) Phrases: to be at (deadly) feud, † to have (a person) at feud.
| α c 1425 Wyntoun Cron. vii. ix. 529 In þare ire Of awld Fede, and gret dyscord. 1535 Stewart Cron. Scot. II. 201 Syne sueir on bell and buik, That euerie on to vther sould be trew In tyme to cum for ald feid or for new. a 1775 Hobie Noble ix. in Child Ballads (1890) vii. clxxxix. 2/2 The land⁓sergeant has me at feid. |
| β 1583 Golding Calvin on Deut. iv. 21 Hee will alwayis bee at deadly foode with mee. 1601 Holland Pliny x. lxxiv. 308 Crowes and Owles are at mortall feaud one with another. 1611 Bible Transl. Pref. 10 His Queene and his..heire were at deadly fuide with him. 1614 Bp. Hall Recoll. Treat. 603 Of which sort there are divers at this day..at deadly feode with the other Jewes. c 1661 Argyle's Will in Harl. Misc. (1746) VIII. 30/2 He [Argyle] was at Feud with all his Superiors in Scotland. a 1715 Burnet Own Time (1766) I. 6 Seeds of lasting feuds and animosities. 1847 Grote Greece ii. xlvii. (1862) IV. 189 Their ancient feud against Korkyra. 1871 Freeman Norm. Conq. (1876) IV. xvii. 77 A partizan of Tostig would naturally be at feud with Oswulf. |
3. A state of perpetual hostility between two families, tribes, or individuals, marked by murderous assaults in revenge for some previous insult or injury. More fully deadly feud. Cf. vendetta. Phrases as in 2.
| α 1582–8 Hist. James VI (1804) 225 That nathing done..be comptit as deadlie fead in judgement. 1599 Jas. I βασιλ. Δωρον (1603) 47 Rest not, until yee roote out these barbarous feides. 1609 Skene Reg. Maj. 46 For the mainteining of weir (or deadlie fead) quhilk he hes with ane other. a 1657 Sir J. Balfour Ann. Scot. (1824–5) II. 68 His Maiesties sentence and decreitt being read concerning all feeds and matters of blood betuix the Hayes and Gordons. |
| β 1568 Lambarde αρχαιονοµία B iij, Capitales inimicitiæ, Saxonicè fœþh [sic], nomen..a borealibus Anglis hac nostra memoria vsurpatum. Illi vero dictione non ita multum a priori dissidente, fewd, et Deadly fewd appellant. 1601 Act 43 Eliz. c. 13 Whoesoever shall..take any of her Majestie's Subjects..or make a praye or spoile of his Persone or Goodes, upon deadlie feude or otherwise. 1613 Purchas Pilgrimage vi. xi. 525 Mutuall feuds and battels betwixt their seuerall Tribes and kindreds. 1797 Tomlins Law Dict., Deadly feud is a profession of an irreconcileable hatred, till a person is revenged even by the death of his enemy. 1814 Scott Ld. of Isles iii. iv, Until these feuds so fierce and fell The Abbot reconciles. 1845 H. H. Wilson Brit. India I. i. vi. 317 A tribe which was at deadly feud with the Joasmis. 1868 Freeman Norm. Conq. (1876) II. vii. 108 Carrying out an ancestral deadly feud. |
† 4. A murderous conspiracy. Obs. rare—1.
So OF. feide. This is our only southern instance of the word before 16th c.
| c 1300 K. Alis. 96 Kyng Phelippe, of gret thede, Maister was of that feide. |
5. A quarrel, contention, bickering.
| α c 1565 Lindesay (Pitscottie) Chron. Scot. (1728) 6 If it shall chance us to continue any further in this fead it shall redound to his advantage. |
| β 1662 Stillingfl. Orig. Sacr. i. vi. §1 We see how small a matter will beget a feud between learned men. 1732 Berkeley Alciphr. v. §17 The perpetual feuds between the patricians and plebeians. 1754 Richardson Grandison (1781) IV. iv. 23 We were in the midst of a feud when you arrived. 1835 Thirlwall Greece I. vii. 279 The domestic feuds which agitated the family of Temenus. 1841 D'Israeli Amen. Lit. (1867) 53 The hero had come not to seek feud, nor to provoke insult. |
6. attrib., as feud-foe. Also, feud-bote, Hist. [ad. OE. fǽhþ-bót], a recompense for engaging in a feud, a compensation for homicide.
| [c 1000 Laws Ethelred ix. §25 And ne þearf æniᵹ mynster⁓munuc ahwar mid rihte fæhð-bote biddan ne fæhð-bote betan.] 1681 Blount Glossogr., Feud-boote. 1706 Phillips (ed. Kersey), Feud-bote. 1721–1800 in Bailey. 1640 King & North. Man 343 in Hazl. E.P.P. IV. 306 If that I doe ever meete with your fewd foes, Ise sweare by this staffe that their hide I won bang. |
▪ II. feud, feod, n.2
(fjuːd)
[ad. med.L. feudum, feodum: see fee n.2]
1. = fee n.2 1.
| 1614 Selden Titles Hon. 61, I might with casting about, frame the nature of Feuds, or Patronage. 1708 Termes de la Ley 336 Feod is a right which the Vassal hath in Land. 1818 Cruise Digest (ed. 2) III. 151 The Conqueror conferred the estates..on his principal followers as strict feuds. 1872 E. W. Robertson Hist. Ess. 256 The Benefice began to be converted into the hereditary Feud. |
2. = fee n.2 3.
| 1806 A. Duncan Nelson 117 His Majesty conferred on him the title of Duke of Bronte, annexing to it the feud of that name. 1825 T. Jefferson Autobiog. Wks. 1859 I. 91 Residing constantly on their patrimonial feuds. 1865 Maffei Brigand Life II. 271 The old papal feud of Beneventum. |
▪ III. feud, v.
(fjuːd)
[f. feud1.]
intr. To conduct a feud. Hence ˈfeuding ppl. a. and vbl. n.
| 1673 P. Walsh Advocate of Conscience Liberty ii. 24 Resolved in all meetings to feud about the Rom. Religion. 1900 in Eng. Dial. Dict. 1910 ‘O. Henry’ Whirligigs (1916) x. 104, I was told that the Durkees and Tatums had been feuding for years. 1938 Amer. Speech XIII. 195 Feuding. 1952 Economist 24 May 517 Two sets of feuding delegates, each demanding to be recognized. 1952 History Today July 451 (title) A Background to feuding: the vendetta in Kentucky. Ibid. 452/2 The figure of the feuding hillman..is a phenomenon of modern America rather than of pioneer times. 1955 P. M. Kendall Richard Third i. i. 32 Such was the feuding among the nobles that if one Lord espoused York's cause, another instantly upheld the Queen. 1959 Birmingham Mail 5 Feb. 3/8 There's more feuding at the factory. |