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feint - 7 dictionary results

feint

  [feynt]
Use feint in a Sentence
–noun
1. 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.
2. a feigned or assumed appearance: His air of approval was a feint to conceal his real motives.
–verb (used without object)
3. to make a feint.
–verb (used with object)
4. to make a feint at; deceive with a feint.
5. to make a false show of; simulate.
Origin:
1275–1325; ME < OF feinte, n. use of fem. of feint pretended, ptp. of feindre to feign

feints

  [feynts]
–plural noun
faints.
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
Cite This Source Link To feint
feint   (fānt)   
n.  
  1. A feigned attack designed to draw defensive action away from an intended target.
  2. A deceptive action calculated to divert attention from one's real purpose. See Synonyms at wile.
v.   feint·ed, feint·ing, feints

v.   intr.
To make a feint.
v.   tr.
  1. To deceive with a feint.
  2. To make a deceptive show of.

[French feinte, from Old French, from past participle of feindre, to feign; see feign.]
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2009 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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Feint

Feint\, a. [F. feint, p. p. of feindre to feign. See Feign.] Feigned; counterfeit. [Obs.]

Dressed up into any feint appearance of it. --Locke.

Feint

Feint\, n. [F. feinte, fr. feint. See Feint, a.]

1. That which is feigned; an assumed or false appearance; a pretense; a stratagem; a fetch.

Courtley's letter is but a feint to get off. --Spectator.

2. A mock blow or attack on one part when another part is intended to be struck; -- said of certain movements in fencing, boxing, war, etc.

Feint

Feint\, v. i. To make a feint, or mock attack.
Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary, © 1996, 1998 MICRA, Inc.
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Language Translation for : feint
Spanish: presunto; falso,
German: vorgetäuscht; angenommen,
Japanese: みせかけの
More Translations »

feint  (n.)
1679, from Fr. feinte "a feint, sham," from O.Fr. feint, originally fem. pp. of feindre (see feign). Borrowed c.1314 as adj., but now obsolete in that sense. The v. "to make a sham attack" is first attested 1833.
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2001 Douglas Harper
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