▪ I. † fage, v. Obs. exc. dial.
Also 4 faage, 5 fagg, 9 dial. fadge.
[Of unknown origin; not identical with fadge v.]
1. trans. To coax. flatter; to beguile, soothe.
| c 1340 Cursor M. 7622 (Fairf.) Dauid come him to fage. a 1400–50 Alexander 4669 For ȝe bot fage ay þe flesche & felsen it wele. c 1470 Harding Chron. lxvi. ii, Such subtyll meane to fage the kyng he fande. |
2. absol. or intr. To coax, flatter, toady; to speak coaxingly to.
| c 1380 Wyclif Serm. Sel. Wks. I. 44 It is manere of ypocritis..to fage and to speke pleasantli to men, but for yvel entent. 1382 ― Judg. xiv. 15 Faage to thi man. c 1430 Lydg. Bochas i. xiii. (1554) 25 b, Women can flatter and fage. c 1460 ― Order of Fools 66 He that falsluy wul fage. 1471 Ripley Comp. Alch. v. in Ashm. (1652) 159 The Fox can fagg and fayne. 1881 Evans Leicestersh. Gloss., Fadge, to ‘toady’, to play the parasite. |
Hence † ˈfager, a flatterer; also ˈfaging vbl. n. and ppl. a. Obs. exc. dial.
| 1435 Misyn Fire of Love (E.E.T.S.) 20 Fagiars & bakbitars. 1483 Cath. Angl. 120 A Fager, adulator. c 1380 Wyclif Serm. Sel. Wks. I. 56 Þei spaken fagynge words as ypocritis doen. Ibid. III. 175 Þis was a fagynge of þe fendus childur. c 1440 York Myst. xxx. 513 With-outen fagyng. c 1450 Mirour Saluacioun 354 Sho broght him inne with faging wordes white. 1483 Cath. Angl. 120 A Fagynge, blandicia. Ibid., Fagynge, blandus. 1883 Almondbury Gloss., Fageing or Fagey, deceiving, flattering, soft-sawdering. |
▪ II. † ˈfage, n. Obs.
[f. prec. vb.]
The action of coaxing or deceiving; a deceit, fiction.
| 1420 J. Page Siege Rouen in Archæol. XXII. 370, I wille haue it withoute fage. c 1450 Lydg. Hist. Thebes, Hold it for no fage. 1692–1732 in Coles. 1721 in Bailey. |