▪ I. fickle, a.
(ˈfɪk(ə)l)
Forms: 1 ficol, 3–4 fik-, 4 fick-, 4–6 fyck-, 5–6 fek-, fykel(e, -ell(e, -il(l, -kil(l, -le, -ul, -yl(l, 3 south. vikel, 7 ficle, 6– fickle.
[OE. ficol, f. *fic-ian to deceive (cf. befician in same sense), cognate with ᵹefic deceit, fǽcne deceitful: see faken a.]
† 1. False, deceitful, treacherous. Obs.
| a 1000 Gloss. on Prov. xiv. 25 (Cott. Vesp. D. 6) Versipellis, ficol vel pretti. a 1225 Ancr. R. 268 Fikele & swikele reades. a 1240 Ureisun in Cott. Hom. 185 Cunfort on eorþe þet is fikel and fals. c 1300 Havelok 2799 We hauen misdo mikel, Þat we ayen you haue be fikel. c 1325 Song Yesterday 30 in E.E.P. (1862) 134 Þis eorþeli ioie, þis worldly blis Is but a fykel fantasy. c 1400 Song Roland 147 ‘A! ffals man’ quod the kinge ‘Fekill is thy thought.’ c 1425 Seven Sag. 985 (P.) With fykyl wordis and with false. c 1450 Lonelich Grail xlvi. 40 Kyng Crwdelx was so fekel and felle. a 1533 Ld. Berners Gold. Bk. M. Aurel. (1546) X viij, Otherwyse theyr conuersacion shulde be fekyl to the people. |
| absol. c 1440 Bone Flor. 2184 Thes four fekyll That harmed feyre Florence. |
b. Of places: Treacherous, dangerous. Now
Sc.| 1398 Trevisa Barth. De P.R. xix. cxxix. (1495) 938 Actus is a place there beestys ben ofte dryuen and is slypper and fyckyl. 1883 Mrs. Oliphant Ladies Lindores II. xvi. 41 It's a fickle corner in the dark..A wrong step..and there would be no help. |
2. Changeable, changeful, inconstant, uncertain, unreliable:
a. of persons, their attributes, feelings, etc.; also often, with personification, of Fortune, Chance, etc.
| a 1275 Prov. ælfred 355 in O.E. Misc. (1872) 125 For moni mon hauit fikil mod. 1550 Bale Apol. Pref. 12 b, I maruile What hath moued the fyckle heades of our doctours. 1592 Shakes. Rom. & Jul. iii. v. 60 O Fortune, Fortune, all men call thee fickle. 1630 Prynne Anti-Armin. 114 It makes the fickle wauering, vnconstant will of man, the very basis. 1663 Cowley Agric. Wks. 1710 II. 708 An impudent, fickle, and painted Harlot. 1667 Milton P.L. ii. 233 When everlasting Fate shall yeild To fickle Chance. 1783 Watson Philip III (1793) II. vi. 164 Though sovereign princes..be naturally capricious and fickle in their attachments. 1814 Scott Ld. of Isles vi. vi, Versed in the fickle heart of man. 1861 Holland Less. Life iii. 44 Friends may prove false, and fortune fickle. 1870 Bryant Iliad I. iii. 85 The younger men are of a fickle mood. |
b. of things, natural agents, etc.
| c 1450 Henryson Compl. Creseide 550, I..clame upon the fickill quheill sa hie. 1513 Douglas æneis xii. i. 106 Persave of weir the fykkill ward onstabill! 1563 B. Googe Eglogs, etc. (Arb.) 84 The surest Staffe, in fyckle Dayes. c 1600 Shakes. Sonn. cxxvi, O Thou my louely Boy who in thy power, Doest hould times fickle glasse. 1612 Davies Why Ireland, etc. (1747) 15 The popes donation and the Irish submissions were but weak and fickle assurances. 1774 Beattie Minstr. ii. lv, Fancy now no more Wantons on fickle pinion through the skies. 1818 Scott Rob Roy i, He who embarks on that fickle sea, requires to possess the skill of the pilot. 1835 Ure Philos. Manuf. 398 The fickle health of childhood. a 1839 Praed Poems (1864) I. 234 Through shine and shower My fickle shallop dances. 1861 Holland Less. Life i. 12 The weather being very fickle. |
3. As
adv.; only in combination with
ppl. adjs.| 1611 Sylvester Du Bartas ii. iv. iv. Decay 1199 Our glory stands so fickle-founded thus. 1596 C. Fitzgeffrey Sir F. Drake (1881) 54 Fortvne..stoode not on her fickle-rowling wheele. |
4. Comb., as
fickle-fancied,
fickle-headed,
fickle-minded (whence
fickle-mindedly adv.)
adjs.;
ficklewise adv.; also
fickle-tongue a., given to falsehood;
† fickle-hammed a., ? weak in the hams.
| a 1670 Hacket Abp. Williams i. (1692) 41 Those *fickle-fancy'd men. |
| 1675 Lond. Gaz. No. 993/4 A Red Roan Nag about six, and *fickle hammed. |
| 1577 Harrison England ii. vii. (1877) i. 168 The *fickle headed tailors. 1661 Hickeringill Jamaica 97 Those fickle-headed Soldiers. |
| a 1600 Hooker Eccl. Pol. vi. (1617) 280 Speaking of *fickle-minded men. |
| 1875 Howells Foregone Concl. iii. 68 I've behaved rather *fickle-mindedly. |
| 1393 Langl. P. Pl. C. iii. 6 Boþe fals and fauel and *fykel-tonge lyere. |
| 1877 Lanier Poems, Bee 9 And flew Most *ficklewise about. |
▪ II. † ˈfickle, v.1 Obs. Forms: 3
fikele, 4
fyckel,
fykel, 6
fykkle; also 3
vikel(i.
[frequentative of fike v.; cf. Ger. dial. ficheln (Grimm) in same sense.] intr. To flatter. Also
to fickle with.
| a 1225 Ancr. R. 84 Þe vikelare..put him preon in eien, þæt he mid vikeleð. 1297 R. Glouc. (Rolls) 845 Þis was þo þe gode doȝter þat nolde vikeli noȝt, Ofte þing þat is ivikeled to worse ende is broȝt. 1398 Trevisa Barth. De P.R. xviii. xxvii. (1495) 787 A hounde ofte fyckelyth and fawnyth wyth his taylle on men. 1537 St. Papers Hen. VIII, II. 480 They goo aboute to fykkle with Iryshe men. |
Hence
ˈfickling vbl. n., flattery;
ˈfickling ppl. a. Also
ˈfickler, a flatterer.
| a 1225 Ancr. R. 86 Uikelares beoð þreo kunnes. Ibid. 82 Attri speche is..bacbitunge, & fikelunge. Ibid. 224 To wenen þet hit were uikelunge ȝif heo speke ueire. Ibid. 257 Leouere me beoð hire wunden þen uikiinde [v.r. fikelinde] cosses. a 1240 Sawles Warde in Cott. Hom. 253 Of þeos fikelinde world. 1297 R. Glouc. (1724) 30 Heo no kouþe of no fikelyng, and ne onswerede not so. |
▪ III. fickle, v.2 dial. (
ˈfɪk(ə)l)
[Cf. fickle a. 1 b.] trans. a. To puzzle.
b. (see
quot. 1736.)
| 1567 [implied in fickle-force]. 1736 Pegge Kenticisms, Fickle, to fickle a person in the head with this or that, to put it into his head; in a baddish sense. 1816 Scott Antiq. xxxix, ‘She may come to fickle us a'.’ 1859 Smiles Self-Help 49 Then other questions were put to ‘fickle’ him. |