Etymology The noun is borrowed from French feinte (“dummy, feint”), from feindre (“to fake, feign”), from Old French feindre, faindre, from Latin fingere, the present active infinitive of fingō (“to alter the truth to deceive, dissemble, feign, pretend; to fashion, form, shape”). The verb is derived from the noun. Cognates * English feign, fiction, figment * Italian finta * Occitan fencha, fenha * Old Spanish finta (modern Spanish finta (“dummy, feint”))
In October, Friburg had been taken by a Feint of the Duke of Crequi, before the Duke of Lorrain cou'd come to relieve it; […]1683, William Temple, “Memoirs of what Pass’d in Christendom, from the War Begun 1672, to the Peace Concluded 1679. Chapter III.”, in The Works of Sir William Temple, […], volume I, London: […] J. Round, J[acob] Tonson, J. Clarke, B[enjamin] Motte, T. Wotton, S[amuel] Birt, and T[homas] Osborne, published 1731, →OCLC, page 459:
Nothing could be more uncertain than the intentions of the French marshal [André Masséna], and Lord Wellington [Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington] felt, that by an incautious movement, his army must be seriously committed—Massena's retreat might only be a feint to draw the allies from their position—while by turning Monte Junta, he might make a sudden rush on Torres Vedras.1840, W[illiam] H[amilton] Maxwell, chapter XIV, in Life of Field-Marshal His Grace the Duke of Wellington, […], volume II, London: A[lfred] H. Baily & Co. […], →OCLC, page 222:
2
Boxing, Fencing, Government, Hobbies, Lifestyle, Martial arts, Military, Politics, Sports, War A blow, thrust, or other offensive movement resembling an attack on some part of the body, intended to distract from a real attack on another part.
He had some advantage in the difference of our weapons; for his sword, as I recollect, was longer than mine, […] His obvious malignity of purpose never for a moment threw him off his guard, and he exhausted every feint and strategem proper to the science of defence; while, at the same time, he mediated the most desperate catastrophe to our rencounter.1817 December 31 (indicated as 1818), [Walter Scott], chapter XII, in Rob Roy. […], volume II, Edinburgh: […] James Ballantyne and Co. for Archibald Constable and Co. […]; London: Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme, and Brown, →OCLC, pages 251–252:
It is also possible to deliver a compound riposte by using an indirect feint. The attacking fencer would be open to a compound riposte following a successful parry by their opponent.1999, Allan Skipp, “Key Techniques”, in Handbook of Foil Fencing, Armley, Leeds: Coachwise Business Solutions for British Fencing, published 2006, →ISBN, page 36:
3
Figuratively Something feigned; a false or pretend appearance; a pretence or stratagem.
[I]f your zeal slackens, how can one help thinking that Mr. Courtly's letter is but a feint to get off from a subject in which either your own, or the private and base ends of others to whom you are partial, or those of whom you are afraid, would not endure a reformation?1712 January 28 (Gregorian calendar), [Philobrune [pseudonym]], “THURSDAY, January 18, 1711–1712”, in The Spectator, number 286; republished in Alexander Chalmers, editor, The Spectator; a New Edition, […], volume III, New York, N.Y.: D[aniel] Appleton & Company, 1853, →OCLC, page 429:
If you had fallen up against him (as some of them did), and stood there; he would have made a feint of endeavouring to seize you, which would have been an affront to your understanding; […]1843 December 19, Charles Dickens, “Stave Three. The Second of the Three Spirits.”, in A Christmas Carol. […], London: Chapman & Hall, […], →OCLC, pages 111–112:
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Receiving no reply at all here, from the thoughtful man whom he addressed, Mr. William approached him nearer, and made a feint of accidentally knocking the table with a decanter, to rouse him.1848 December 19, Charles Dickens, “The Gift Bestowed”, in The Haunted Man and the Ghost’s Bargain. A Fancy for Christmas-time, London: Bradbury & Evans, […], →OCLC, page 14:
[...] the digestive organs of the whale are so inscrutably constructed by Divine Providence, that it is quite impossible for him to completely digest even a man’s arm? And he knows it too. So that what you take for the White Whale’s malice is only his awkwardness. For he never means to swallow a single limb; he only thinks to terrify by feints.1851 November 14, Herman Melville, Moby-Dick; or, The Whale, 1st American edition, New York, N.Y.: Harper & Brothers; London: Richard Bentley, →OCLC:
Toleration was just a feint to achieve the objective of the Catholic mission.2014, Alastair J. Mann, James VII: Duke and King of Scots, Edinburgh: John Donald Publishers, →ISBN:
feint
verb
Etymology The noun is borrowed from French feinte (“dummy, feint”), from feindre (“to fake, feign”), from Old French feindre, faindre, from Latin fingere, the present active infinitive of fingō (“to alter the truth to deceive, dissemble, feign, pretend; to fashion, form, shape”). The verb is derived from the noun. Cognates * English feign, fiction, figment * Italian finta * Occitan fencha, fenha * Old Spanish finta (modern Spanish finta (“dummy, feint”))
1
Boxing, Fencing, Government, Hobbies, Lifestyle, Martial arts, Military, Politics, Sports, War To direct (a blow, thrust, or other offensive movement resembling an attack) on some part of the body, intended to distract from a real attack on another part.
Genevra scowled and said, "His word is wild, / But dastard treason feinteth such disorders: / Treason or witchcraft neither, undefiled, / A Christian court may cherish in its borders."1882, T. Alderson Wilson, “Lanval”, in Perseus and Other Essays in Verse, London: Ranken and Co., […], →OCLC, page 74:
Even Penrod's walk was affected; he adopted a gait which was a kind of taunting swagger; and, when he passed other children on the street, he practised the habit of feinting a blow; then, as the victim dodged, he rasped out the triumphant horse laugh which he gradually mastered to horrible perfection.1914, Booth Tarkington, “The Imitator”, in Penrod, Garden City, N.Y.: Doubleday, Page & Company, →OCLC, page 231:
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I spurred on the Turani instead of pulling him in, and stood up in the saddle just as we came upon the two. By feinting a slash at one I made him throw up his saber to guard his head. Then, leaning down as the three ponies came together, I cut at the other's neck, getting home over his blade. His mount reared and shelled him out of the saddle like a pea out of a pod.1924 October 10, Harold Lamb, “Forward”, in Arthur Sullivant Hoffman, editor, Adventure, volume XLIX, number I, New York, N.Y.; London: The Ridgway Company, →OCLC, page 25, column 1:
Feint him—use your legs! draw him about! he'll lose his wind then in no time, and you can go into him.1857, [Thomas Hughes], “The Fight”, in Tom Brown’s School Days. […], Cambridge, Cambridgeshire: Macmillan & Co., →OCLC, part II, page 323:
Ben-Hur feinted with his right hand. The stranger warded, slightly advancing his left arm. Ere he could return to guard, Ben-Hur caught him by the wrist in a grip which years at the oar had made terrible as a vise.1880 November 12, Lew[is] Wallace, chapter XVI, in Ben-Hur: A Tale of the Christ, New York, N.Y.: Harper & Brothers, […], →OCLC, book fifth, page 387:
My assailant stood a little; in the thick darkness I could see him bob and sidle as though he were feinting at me for an advantageous onfall.1893–1897 (date written), Robert Louis Stevenson, “Swanston Cottage”, in St. Ives: Being the Adventures of a French Prisoner in England, New York, N.Y.: Charles Scribner’s Sons, published 1897, →OCLC, page 67:
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Gomez feinted with his knife and the other man darted backward. He feinted again and the man moved to the side. The man feinted but Gomez didn't budge; he was anxious to get it on.1984, Len Levinson, chapter 3, in Meat Grinder Hill (The Rat Bastards; 4), [San Francisco, Calif.]: AudioGO, published 2013, →ISBN:
We force ourselves to be hypocrites, and hide our wrongs from them; we speak of a bad father with false praises; we wear feint smiles over our tears and deceive our children—deceive them, do we?1855, Arthur Pendennis [pseudonym; William Makepeace Thackeray], “Contains Two or Three Acts of a Little Comedy”, in The Newcomes: Memoirs of a Most Respectable Family, volume II, London: Bradbury and Evans, […], →OCLC, page 90:
feint
adj
Etymology A variant of faint (“barely perceptible; not bright, loud, or sharp”).
1
Of lines printed on paper as a handwriting guide: not bold; faint, light; also, of such paper: ruled with faint lines of this sort.