feints
[feynts]
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feint
[feynt]
- a movement made in order to deceive an adversary; an attack aimed at one place or point merely as a distraction from the real place or point of attack: military feints; the feints of a skilled fencer.
- a feigned or assumed appearance: His air of approval was a feint to conceal his real motives.
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- to make a feint.
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- to make a feint at; deceive with a feint.
- to make a false show of; simulate.
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Origin of feint
1275–1325; Middle English < Old French feinte, noun use of feminine of feint pretended, past participle of feindre to feign
faints
or feints
[feynts]
- the impure spirit produced in the first and last stages of the distillation of whiskey.
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Compare foreshots.
Origin of faints
1735–45; noun use (in plural) of faint (adj.)
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018
Examples from the Web for feints
Contemporary Examples
Conservative columnist Reihan Salam suggested that GOP-backed minimum wage discussions might be feints for appearances only.
Historical Examples
Very good; then you must force him to it by feints, or by threatening to attack.
Secrets of the SwordCsar Lecat de Bazancourt
Such are the resources, the feints, the stratagems, the foibles of love!
There were feints of attack in front and rushes from the rear, and there were rushes from all sides.
Erskine Dale--PioneerJohn Fox
And the feints made by Lee and Jackson will be our attacks in force.
Frigid FracasDallas McCord Reynolds
He greeted his fellow-sufferer first with hisses and then with threats and feints of war.
Upon The Tree-TopsOlive Thorne Miller
feints
faints
- the leavings of the second distillation of Scotch malt whisky
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faints
- a variant spelling of feints
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feint1
- a mock attack or movement designed to distract an adversary, as in a military manoeuvre or in boxing, fencing, etc
- a misleading action or appearance
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- (intr) to make a feint
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Word Origin
C17: from French feinte, from feint pretended, from Old French feindre to feign
feint2
- printing the narrowest rule used in the production of ruled paper
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Word Origin
C19: variant of faint
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition
© William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
Word Origin and History for feints
feint
n.
1670s, "a false show, a pretended blow," from French feinte "a feint, sham," abstract noun from Old French feint (13c.) "false, deceitful," originally fem. past participle of feindre (see feign).
Borrowed late 13c. as adjective, but now obsolete in that sense. Also as a noun in Middle English with sense "false-heartedness" (early 14c.), also "bodily weakness" (c.1400).
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feint
v.
c.1300, feinten, "to deceive, pretend," also "become feeble or exhausted; to lack spirit or courage," from feint (adj.); see feint (n.). Cf. Old French feintir "be slow, delay." Sense of "to make a sham attack" is first attested 1833. Related: Feinted; feinting.
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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper