- Feigning
- Feign Feign, v. t. [imp. & p. p. {Feigned}; p. pr. & vb. n.
{Feigning}.] [OE. feinen, F. feindre (p. pr. feignant), fr.
L. fingere; akin to L. figura figure,and E. dough. See
{Dough}, and cf. {Figure}, {Faint}, {Effigy}, {Fiction}.]
1. To give a mental existence to, as to something not real or
actual; to imagine; to invent; hence, to pretend; to form
and relate as if true.
[1913 Webster]
There are no such things done as thou sayest, but thou feignest them out of thine own heart. --Neh. vi. 8. [1913 Webster]
The poet Did feign that Orpheus drew trees, stones, and floods. --Shak. [1913 Webster]
2. To represent by a false appearance of; to pretend; to counterfeit; as, to feign a sickness. --Shak. [1913 Webster]
3. To dissemble; to conceal. [Obs.] --Spenser. [1913 Webster]
The Collaborative International Dictionary of English. 2000.