feints

plural noun

1. faints.

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.

noun (used with a plural verb)

1. the impure spirit produced in the first and last stages of the distillation of whiskey.

pl n

1. the leavings of the second distillation of Scotch malt whisky

pl n

1. a variant spelling of feints

noun

1. a mock attack or movement designed to distract an adversary, as in a military manoeuvre or in boxing, fencing, etc
2. a misleading action or appearance

verb

3. (intr) to make a feint

noun

1. printing the narrowest rule used in the production of ruled paper

n.

1670s, “a false show, a pretended blow,” from French feinte “a feint, sham,” abstract noun from Old French feint (13c.) “false, deceitful,” originally fem. past participle of feindre (see feign).

Borrowed late 13c. as adjective, but now obsolete in that sense. Also as a noun in Middle English with sense “false-heartedness” (early 14c.), also “bodily weakness” (c.1400).

v.

c.1300, feinten, “to deceive, pretend,” also “become feeble or exhausted; to lack spirit or courage,” from feint (adj.); see feint (n.). Cf. Old French feintir “be slow, delay.” Sense of “to make a sham attack” is first attested 1833. Related: Feinted; feinting.