Eye (Temp. ii. 1), what we now call a shade of colour. "Red with an eye of blue makes a purple" (Boyle). As it elsewhere (R. and J. v. 1) signifies glance, look, that may be a general sense of it.
Fading (W. T. iv. 3), the name of an Irish dance, perhaps the Rinka fadha (րinʒce Faða), long dance. It was also used as the burden of a song.
Fan (M. W. ii. 2, R. and J. ii. 4). The fan of those times was quite different from the present one. It was composed of feathers set in a round handle of ivory, and even of silver or gold, so as to be sometimes of the value of £40.
Fancy, love, as being frequently the creation of imagination. The term fancy-man seems to be a relic of this sense. It was also (2 H. IV. iii. 2) the name of an air or tune, as Such a one's Fancy, i.e. favourite.
Fashions (T. Sh. iii. 2), from farcins, Fr., the farcy in horses.
Fast and loose (Ant. and Cl. iv. 11. L. L. L. iii. 1, K. John, iii. 1), the trick still played at fairs, and called Prick in the garter, the belt, the loop. It was well known to the ancients, by whom it was named ἱμαντελιγμὸς, under which name it is accurately described by Julius Pollux (ix. 7); and that it was known in the Middle Ages is proved by this line in the Roman de la Rose—which, by the way, none of the critics have understood—"C'est li gieu de boute-en-corroie," 6882.
Feature, form, person, make, faiture, O. Fr. It was very rarely, if at all, restricted to the countenance as now, or used in the plural. In As Y. L. iii. 3 there is perhaps a printer's error.
Fern-seed (1 H. IV. ii. 1). As the seed of the fern is nearly invisible, it was believed to render so those who carried it. As Brown (Brit. Past. ii. 2) terms it one-night-seeding, it would appear that there was a mystery and a difficulty about obtaining it.
Fig (2 H. IV. v. 3, H. V. iii. 6). It was a mode of insulting to put the thumb between two of the fingers, and hold it out to a person. It was chiefly practised in Spain and Italy.
Fights (M. W. ii. 2), "the waist-cloths which hang round about the ship to hinder men from being seen in fight" (Phillips, World of Words).