feigned, ppl. a.
(feɪnd)
Also 5 feynit, Sc. 6 feinyeat, fenȝeid, -it, fei-, feynȝeit, feinȝed, feinyet.
[f. prec. + -ed1.]
† 1. Fashioned, formed, shaped. Obs.
| c 1400 Apol. Loll. 85 His feynar haþ hopid in his feynid þingis. |
2. Fictitiously invented or devised. Also, related in fiction, fabled. Obs. or arch.
| c 1374 Chaucer Compl. Mars 173 This is no feyned mater that I telle. c 1450 Henryson Mor. Fab. 3 Feinzed Fables. 1552 Bk. Com. Prayer Communion, Feyned excuses. a 1572 Knox Hist. Ref. Wks. 1846 I. 74 Quhilk reportis ar all..fenzeit, and untrew. 1607 Topsell Four-f. Beasts (1673) 101 A peculiar voyce which the French call by a feigned word, ‘Reere’. 1623 Lisle ælfric on O. & N. Test. Pref. ¶4 The faigned games of Homer and Virgil. 1670 Tenison (title), Creed of Mr. Hobbes Examined, in a feigned conference between Him and a Student of Divinity. 1728 Newton Chronol. Amended Introd. 6 The Priests..had filled up the interval with feigned Kings. 1820 Hazlitt Lect. Dram. Lit. 19 To be found in history, whether actual or feigned. |
† b. Contrived for deception. Obs.
| c 1440 Promp. Parv. 153/1 Feynyd sleythe of falshede. |
† 3. Fictitiously or arbitrarily supposed; imaginary. feigned price: = ‘fancy price’. Obs.
| 1526 Pilgr. Perf. (W. de W. 1531) 276 Aboue the necessite of nature they wyll haue theyr feyned necessaryes. 1607–12 Bacon Ess. Riches (Arb.) 232 What fayned prices are sett vpponn litle stones. 1726 tr. Gregory's Astronomy I. 319 As many Degrees of the feigned Equator. |
4. Of attributes, actions, diseases, etc.: Simulated, counterfeited, pretended, sham.
| 1413 Lydg. Pilgr. Sowle iv. xxx. (1483) 80 Another thynge is a veray hede and another a feyned hede. 1483 Caxton G. de la Tour L v b, They gyue out of theyr brestes grete and fayned syghes. a 1577 Gascoigne Wks. (1587) 106 All her guiles she hid With fained teares. 1609 Skene Reg. Maj., Stat. Robert I, 33 Inquisition salbe taken, gif that be done be fenzeid furie, or not. 1642 R. Carpenter Experience iii. v. 108 We must be..carefull that these Acts in their exercise, be true..not faigned and superficiall. 1709 Steele Tatler No. 1 ¶6 Personating Feigned Sorrows. 1776 Gibbon Decl. & F. I. 414 Their mutual fears produced..a feigned reconciliation. 1803 Med. Jrnl. IX. 72 Feigned and Concealed Diseases. 1848 Macaulay Hist. Eng. II. 163 Mortal enemies..came every day to pay their feigned civilities. |
† b. Prefixed to personal designations: That is such only in pretence; pretended. Obs.
| c 1386 Chaucer Melib. ¶289 Youre trewe freendes and youre feyned counseillours. 1548 Hall Chron. 211 A fained, false and a coloured frende. 1550 Crowley Inform. & Petit. 175 Wee are but fayned Christians, we beare the name onely. 1647 N. Bacon Disc. Govt. Eng. i. iv. 16 Fained Friends, becoming unfained Foes. |
† c. Of things: Counterfeit, spurious, sham.
| 1665 Sir T. Herbert Trav. (1677) 223 Mosques..are in their Cupolaes curiously ceruleated with a feigned Turquoise. 1703 Maundrell Journ. Jerus. (1732) 74 Took down the feigned Body from the Cross. |
d. Of a name, etc.: Assumed, fictitious. Of a voice, handwriting, etc.: Disguised.
| 1559 W. Cuningham Cosmogr. Glasse A vj b, I have reduced it into the forme of a Dialoge: the names of the personages indede fained [etc.]. 1596 Spenser F.Q. iv. i. 7 To hide her fained sex. 1675 Marvell Corr. ccxliii. Wks. 1872–5 II. 457, I cannot tell whether it be a true or a fained name. 1762 J. Brown Poetry & Mus. vii. (1763) 141 The Poets..represent real Characters under feigned names. 1777 Sheridan Sch. Scand. i. i, I copied them..in a feigned hand. 1837 Lytton E. Maltrav. 29 The feigned address he had previously assumed. |
† 5. Mus. a. (see feign v. 12 b.) b. = falsetto 3. Obs.
| 1609 Douland Ornith. Microl. 24 The fained Scale exceedes the others both in height and depth. For it addeth a Ditone vnder Vt base, because it sings fa in A, and it riseth aboue eela by two degrees, for in it it sounds fa. Ibid., Fained Musicke is..a Song made beyond the regular Compasse of the Scales. Or, it is a Song, which is full of Coniunctions [i.e. accidental flats]. 1674 Playford Skill Mus. i. xi. 43 Increasing of the Voice in the Treble Part..in Feigned Voices, doth oftentimes become harsh. |
6. Law. (See quots.)
| 1483 Act 1 Rich. III, c. 6 §1 Feyned playntes. 1542–3 Act 34–5 Hen. VIII, c. 4 The aforesaide false and fayned recouere. 1592 West 1st Pt. Symbol. §5 G, The feined consent is by Lawe for some fact, when the consent of both parties appeareth not, and yet inasmuch as the fact is done, they are by Law both feined and deemed to consent. a 1709 Atkyns Parl. & Pol. Tracts (1734) 317 The feigned Action..the Lord Chief Justice seems to justify. 1768 Blackstone Comm. III. iii. xxvii. 452 As no jury can be summoned to attend this court [Equity], the fact is.. directed to be tried..upon a feigned issue. For (in order to..have the point in dispute..put in issue) an action is feigned to be brought. 1818 Cruise Digest (ed. 2) V. 519 Any such feigned recovery. |
7. Mil. = false a. 14.
| 1598 Barret Theor. Warres iii. i. 35 Fained skirmishes. 1783 Watson Philip III (1839) 69 A third detachment was sent to make a feigned attack in another quarter. 1876 Voyle Milit. Dict. 135/1 A feigned assault..for the purpose of diverting the enemy from the real point of attack. |
† 8. Of persons, their manner, faces, etc.: Made up to a certain appearance, got up for a purpose; hence, deceitful, insincere. Obs.
| c 1374 Chaucer Anel. & Arc. 97 He was fals, hit was but feyned chere. c 1386 ― Man of Law's T. 264 O feyned womman, alle that may confounde Vertu and innocence..Is bred in the. 1393 Gower Conf. III. 158 They..by fallas Of feigned wordis make him wene, That black is white. 1530 Lyndesay Test. Papyngo 195 Hauyng sic traist in to thy [Fortune's] fenȝeit face. 1535 Coverdale Ps. xvi[i]. 1 My prayer, that goeth not out of a fayned mouth [1611 Ibid. Fained lips]. 1536 Starkey Let. to Cromwell in England (1878) p. xli, You schal neuer fynd me faynyd man. a 1605 Montgomerie Descr. Vane Lovers 46 Vhar thou finds tham faynd refrane. 1654 tr. Scudery's Curia Pol. 124 Amurath..in a fained manner..seemed inclinable to offer me the Crown. |