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Webster 1913 Edition


Fain

Fain

,
Adj.
[OE.
fain
,
fagen
, AS.
fægen
; akin to OS.
fagan
, Icel.
faginn
glad; AS.
fægnian
to rejoice, OS.
faganōn
, Icel.
fagna
, Goth.
faginōn
, cf. Goth.
fahēds
joy; and fr. the same root as E.
fair
. Srr
Fair
,
Adj.
, and cf.
Fawn
to court favor.]
1.
Well-pleased; glad; apt; wont; fond; inclined.
Men and birds are
fain
of climbing high.
Shakespeare
To a busy man, temptation is
fain
to climb up together with his business.
Jer. Taylor.
2.
Satisfied; contented; also, constrained.
Shak.
The learned Castalio was
fain
to make trechers at Basle to keep himself from starving.
Locke.

Fain

,
adv.
With joy; gladly; – with wold.
He would
fain
have filled his belly with the husks that the swine did eat.
Luke xv. 16.
Fain
Would I woo her, yet I dare not.
Shakespeare

Fain

,
Verb.
T.
&
I.
To be glad ; to wish or desire.
[Obs.]
Whoso fair thing does
fain
to see.
Spencer.

Webster 1828 Edition


Fain

FAIN

, a.
1.
Glad; pleased; rejoiced. but the appropriate sense of the word is, glad or pleased to do something under some kind of necessity; that is, glad to evade evil or secure good. Thus, says Locke, 'The learned Castalio was fain to make trenches at Basil, to keep himself from starving.' this appropriation of the word, which is modern, led Dr. Johnson into a mistake in defining the word. The proper signification is glad, joyful.

FAIN

,
adv.
Gladly; with joy or pleasure.
He would fain flee out of his hand. Job 28.
He would fain have filled his belly with husks. Luke 15.

FAIN

,
Verb.
I.
to wish or desire. [Not used.]

Definition 2024


fain

fain

English

Adjective

fain (comparative more fain, superlative most fain)

  1. (archaic) Well-pleased; glad; apt; wont; fond; inclined.
    • 1485, Sir Thomas Malory, chapter primum, in Le Morte Darthur, book XVII:
      Thus Gawayne and Ector abode to gyder / For syre Ector wold not awey til Gawayne were hole / & the good knyȝt Galahad rode so long tyll he came that nyghte to the Castel of Carboneck / & hit befelle hym thus / that he was benyghted in an hermytage / Soo the good man was fayne whan he sawe he was a knyght erraunt
    • William Shakespeare (c.1564–1616)
      Men and birds are fain of climbing high.
    • Jeremy Taylor (1613–1677)
      To a busy man, temptation is fain to climb up together with his business.
    • (Can we date this quote?) Dante Gabriel Rossetti, A Death-Parting, line 11
      O love, of my death my life is fain,
    • 1900, Ernest Dowson, To One in Bedlam, lines 9-10
      O lamentable brother! if those pity thee, / Am I not fain of all thy lone eyes promise me;
  2. (archaic) Satisfied; contented.

Translations

Adverb

fain (comparative fainer, superlative fainest)

  1. (archaic) With joy; gladly.

Translations

Verb

fain (third-person singular simple present fains, present participle faining, simple past and past participle fained)

  1. (archaic) To be delighted or glad; to rejoice.
  2. (archaic) To gladden.

Translations

References

  1. fain in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913
  2. fahs and faginon in Köbler's Gotisches Wörterbuch

Anagrams


Dalmatian

Etymology

From Latin fīnis, fīnem.

Noun

fain m

  1. end

Norman

Etymology

From Old French foin, fein, from Latin faenum.

Noun

fain m (uncountable)

  1. (Jersey) hay

Derived terms

  • fagot d'fain (bundle of hay)

Old French

Etymology

Latin fames

Noun

fain f (nominative singular fain)

  1. hunger

Descendants


Romanian

Etymology

From German fein.

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /fajn/

Adjective

fain m, n (feminine singular faină, masculine plural faini, feminine and neuter plural faine)

  1. cool, fine, of good quality

Declension


Romansch

Alternative forms

  • (Sursilvan) fein
  • (Sutsilvan, Surmiran) fagn

Etymology

From Latin faenum.

Noun

fain m

  1. (Rumantsch Grischun, Puter, Vallader) hay

Derived terms

Related terms

  • (Rumantsch Grischun, Sutsilvan) fanar