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feign - Wiktionary, the free dictionary

From Wiktionary, the free dictionary

From Middle English feynen, feinen,[1] borrowed from Old French feindre (“to pretend”), from Latin fingere (“to form, shape, invent”). Compare French feignant (present participle of feindre, literally “feigning”). Also compare feint and fiction.

feign (third-person singular simple present feigns, present participle feigning, simple past and past participle feigned)

  1. To make a false show or pretence of; to counterfeit or simulate.

    The pupil feigned sickness on the day of his exam.

    They feigned her signature on the cheque.

    • 1559, William Shakespeare, As You Like It, III.iii.18-21:

      [T]he truest poetry is the most
      feigning, and lovers are given to poetry, and what
      they swear in poetry may be said as lovers they do
      feign.

  2. To imagine; to invent; to pretend to do something.

    He feigned that he had gone home at the appointed time.

    • 1511, King James Translators, Nehemiah 6:8:
      Then I sent unto him, saying, There are no such things done as thou sayest, but thou feignest them out of thine own heart.
  3. To make an action as if doing one thing, but actually doing another, for example to trick an opponent; to feint.

    • 14 August 2013, Daniel Taylor, “Rickie Lambert's debut goal gives England victory over Scotland”, in The Guardian‎[1]:

      Cahill was beaten far too easily for Miller's goal, although the striker deserves the credit for the way he controlled Alan Hutton's right-wing delivery, with his back to goal, feigned to his left then went the other way and pinged a splendid left-foot shot into Hart's bottom right-hand corner.

to make a false show — see also feign,‎ invent

to imagine, to invent, to pretend; to give a mental existence to something — see also imagine,‎ invent

to hide, conceal, or dissemble

  1. ^ Douglas Harper (2001–2026), “feign”, in Online Etymology Dictionary.

feign

  1. (Northern) alternative form of feynen