feints

[feynts]

plural noun

feint

[feynt]

noun

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.

verb (used without object)

to make a feint.

verb (used with object)

to make a feint at; deceive with a feint.

to make a false show of; simulate.

Origin of feint

1275–1325; Middle English < Old French feinte, noun use of feminine of feint pretended, past participle of feindre to feign

Can be confusedfain faint feign feint

faints

or feints

[feynts]

noun (used with a plural verb)

the impure spirit produced in the first and last stages of the distillation of whiskey.

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. 2019

Related Words for feints

ruse, blind, stratagem, bait, cheat, artifice, hoax, pretension, fake, pretext, duck, ploy, imposture, dodge, maneuver, play, bluff, wile, deceit, snare

Examples from the Web for feints

Contemporary Examples of feints

Conservative columnist Reihan Salam suggested that GOP-backed minimum wage discussions might be feints for appearances only.
To Make Their Victory Durable, the GOP Must Fix the Minimum Wage
Dmitri Mehlhorn
November 6, 2014

Historical Examples of feints

Very good; then you must force him to it by feints, or by threatening to attack.
Secrets of the Sword
Csar Lecat de Bazancourt
Such are the resources, the feints, the stratagems, the foibles of love!
Harper's New Monthly Magazine, Volume 2, No. 12, May, 1851.
Various
There were feints of attack in front and rushes from the rear, and there were rushes from all sides.
Erskine Dale--Pioneer
John Fox
And the feints made by Lee and Jackson will be our attacks in force.
Frigid Fracas
Dallas McCord Reynolds
He greeted his fellow-sufferer first with hisses and then with threats and feints of war.
Upon The Tree-Tops
Olive Thorne Miller

British Dictionary definitions for feints

feints

faints

pl n

the leavings of the second distillation of Scotch malt whisky

faints

pl n

a variant spelling of feints

feint

noun

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

verb

(intr) to make a feint

Word Origin for feint

C17: from French feinte, from feint pretended, from Old French feindre to feign

feint

noun

printing the narrowest rule used in the production of ruled paper

Word Origin for feint

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

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).

feint

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.