Hypertext Webster Gateway: "Feign"
From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) (web1913)
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.
There are no such things done as thou sayest, but
thou feignest them out of thine own heart. --Neh.
vi. 8.
The poet Did feign that Orpheus drew trees, stones,
and floods. --Shak.
2. To represent by a false appearance of; to pretend; to
counterfeit; as, to feign a sickness. --Shak.
3. To dissemble; to conceal. [Obs.] --Spenser.
From WordNet (r) 1.7 (wn)
feign
v 1: make believe; "He feigned that he was ill"; "He shammed a
headache" [syn: {sham}, {pretend}, {affect}, {dissemble}]
2: make a pretence of; "She assumed indifference, even though
she was seething with anger"; "he feigned sleep" [syn: {simulate},
{assume}, {sham}]
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