faint

faint
\ \ [13] Faint comes from Old French faint, which was originally the past participle of the verb faindre, feindrepretend, shirk’ (whence English feign). This meant ‘pretended, simulated’, ‘lazy, shirking’, and ‘cowardly’, and all these senses were originally taken over by English. None now survives except the last, in the phrase faint heart, but in their place the underlying notion of ‘feebleness’ has produced ‘not bright, dim’ and ‘weak and dizzy’. The verb, based on the second of these, developed in the late 14th century. The variant spelling feint, used of printed lines, was introduced in the mid 19th century.
\ \ Cf.FEIGN

Word origins - 2ed. . 2005.

Игры ⚽ Поможем сделать НИР
Synonyms:

Look at other dictionaries:

  • Faint — Saltar a navegación, búsqueda «Faint» Sencillo de Linkin Park del álbum Meteora Publicación 1 de julio de 2003 Formato CD …   Wikipedia Español

  • Faint — (f[=a]nt), a. [Compar. {Fainter} ( [ e]r); superl. {Faintest}.] [OE. feint, faint, false, faint, F. feint, p. p. of feindre to feign, suppose, hesitate. See {Feign}, and cf. {Feint}.] 1. Lacking strength; weak; languid; inclined to swoon; as,… …   The Collaborative International Dictionary of English

  • faint — faint·ing·ly; faint·ly; faint·ness; faint; faint·heart·ed·ly; faint·heart·ed·ness; …   English syllables

  • Faint — Faint, v. i. [imp. & p. p. {Fainted}; p. pr. & vb. n. {Fainting}.] 1. To become weak or wanting in vigor; to grow feeble; to lose strength and color, and the control of the bodily or mental functions; to swoon; sometimes with away. See {Fainting} …   The Collaborative International Dictionary of English

  • faint — [adj1] having little effect on senses aside, bated, bland, bleached, blurred, breathless, deadened, deep, delicate, dim, distant, dull, dusty, faded, faltering, far off, feeble, gentle, hazy, hoarse, hushed, ill defined, imperceptible, inaudible …   New thesaurus

  • Faint — Faint, n. The act of fainting, or the state of one who has fainted; a swoon. [R.] See {Fainting}, n. [1913 Webster] The saint, Who propped the Virgin in her faint. Sir W. Scott. [1913 Webster] …   The Collaborative International Dictionary of English

  • Faint — Faint, v. t. To cause to faint or become dispirited; to depress; to weaken. [Obs.] [1913 Webster] It faints me to think what follows. Shak. [1913 Webster] …   The Collaborative International Dictionary of English

  • Faint — Faint: Faint  песня группы Linkin Park. The Faint  американская инди рок группа. Список зна …   Википедия

  • faint — faint, feint Both words come from the same Old French root feindre ‘to feign’. Faint is used as an adjective meaning ‘indistinct, pale’ or ‘feeling dizzy’, as a noun meaning ‘a loss of consciousness’, and as a verb meaning ‘to lose consciousness’ …   Modern English usage

  • faint — [fānt] adj. [ME feint < OFr, sluggish, orig. pp. of feindre: see FEIGN] 1. without strength; weak; feeble 2. without courage or hope; timid 3. done without strength, vigor, or enthusiasm; halfhearted 4. feeling weak and dizzy, as if about to… …   English World dictionary

  • Faint — may refer to: * Syncope (medicine), a medical term for fainting * Faint (song), a song by Linkin park * Feint, a maneuver designed to distract or mislead * Feint (song), a song by Epica …   Wikipedia

Share the article and excerpts

Direct link
Do a right-click on the link above
and select “Copy Link”