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Webster 1913 Edition

Feign

Feign

,
Verb.
T.
[
imp. & p. p.
Feigned
;
p. pr. & vb. n.
Feigning
.]
[OE.
feinen
, F.
feindre
(p. pr.
feignant
), fr. L.
fingere
; akin to L.
figura
figure,and E.
dough
. See
Dough
, and cf.
Figure
,
Faint
,
Effigy
,
Fiction
.]
1.
To give a mental existence to, as to something not real or actual; to imagine; to invent; hence, to pretend; to form and relate as if true.
There are no such things done as thou sayest, but thou
feignest
them out of thine own heart.
Neh. vi. 8.
The poet
Did
feign
that Orpheus drew trees, stones, and floods.
Shakespeare
2.
To represent by a false appearance of; to pretend; to counterfeit;
as, to
feign
a sickness
.
Shak.
3.
To dissemble; to conceal.
[Obs.]
Spenser.

Webster 1828 Edition

Feign

FEIGN

,
Verb.
T.
fane. [L. fingo. The Latin forms fictum, fictus, whence figura, figure, also fucus.]
1.
To invent or imagine; to form an idea or conception of something not real.
There are no such things done as thou sayest, but thou feignest them out of thine own heart. Neh. 6.
2.
To make a show of; to pretend; to assume a false appearance; to counterfeit.
I pray thee, feign thyself to be a mourner. 2Sam. 14.
She feigns a laugh.
3.
To represent falsely; to pretend; to form and relate a fictitious tale.
The poet did feign that Orpheus drew trees, stones, and floods.
4.
To dissemble; to conceal. Obs.

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