▪ I. ‖ faux rare.
(fɔːks)
[Assumed nom. sing. to L. fauces; the sing. has classical authority only in the ablative.]
= fauces in various senses.
| 1828 Kirby & Sp. Entomol. I. 293 The sweet fluid which many of them (plants belonging to Dionæa, Drosera, &c.) secrete near the faux. 1856 Henslow Dict. Bot. Terms, Faux (the gorge), the throat. |
▪ II. faux, a. and adv. rare before late 20th cent.
Brit. /fəʊ/, U.S. /foʊ/
[‹ French faux false adj. Compare earlier faux pas n., faux-prude n.]
and adv. False, fake, ersatz. Of personal behaviour: feigned, affected, disingenuous (cf. faux-naïf n. and adj.). Of a material: synthetic, artificial, made in imitation (often as a cheaper substitute). Also as adv., qualifying adjectives and adverbs.
| 1684 T. Otway Atheist ii. 17 Let me never see day again, if yonder be not coming towards us the very Rascal I told thee of this Morning, our faux Atheist. 1847 C. Brontë Jane Eyre III. xi. 278 You have a ‘faux air’ of Nebuchadnezzar in the fields about you, that is certain. 1984 Times Lit. Suppl. 20 July 821/3 His creative talent is still obscured by his own faux-cynical statements. 1989 Time 16 Oct. 56/1 The designs the women are wearing are not the real thing, of course, but thick faux furs. 1991 Allure June 34/1 My friend and I shrug, faux-spontaneously, as if to say, ‘Sure, why not?’ 1995 Sun (Baltimore) 12 June a11/1 Not only did my parents have the two-story building covered with Formstone, but also they covered the snow-ball stand in the faux-stone exterior. 2005 N.Y. Rev. Bks. 13 Jan. 46/4 As with many an ancient epic, this one veers between a faux-biblical portentousness and excruciating attempts at casualness. |