feants, for fiants or fyaunts; see [fiants]. Turbervile, Hunting, c. 37; p. 98.
fear, an object of terror. Hamlet, iii. 3. 25; Milton, P. L. ix. 285; to terrify, Tam. Shrew, i. 2. 221; 1 Hen. VI, v. 2. 2. ‘To fear’ is used in this sense in Scotland and in various parts of England (EDD.).
feat, made, fashioned. Shirley, Witty Fair One, iii. 2 (Sir N. Treadle); clever, dexterous, Cymb. v. 5. 88; graceful, ‘She speaks feat English’, Fletcher, Night-walker, iii. 6; neat, becoming, Temp. ii. 1. 273; to make a person elegant, Cymb. i. 1. 49. ‘Feat’ is in gen. prov. use in the sense of suitable, also, dexterous, adroit, smart (EDD.). F. fait, made; fait pour, made for, suitable for.
featuously, elegantly, Drayton, Pastorals, Ecl. iv, Ballad of Dowsabel, 24; feateously, dexterously, nimbly, Spenser, Prothal. 27. ME. fetysly, exquisitely; fetys, well-made, handsome, graceful (Chaucer). OF. fetis, feitis; L. facticius.
feature, fashion, make, form. Spenser, F. Q. iv. 2. 44; ‘The grim Feature’ (used of Satan), Milton, P. L. x. 279.
feaze; see [feeze].
feeze. The threat ‘I’ll feeze you’ seems to have given rise to the sense. To ‘do for’, ‘settle the business of’, also, to beat, flog. Beaumont and Fl., Coxcomb, i. 6 (Ricardo); veeze, Massinger, Emperor East, iv. 2 (Countryman); pheese, Tam. Shrew, Induct, i. 1. ‘To fease’ is in prov. use in Scotland and in various parts of England—Midlands, E. Anglia, and South Coast, in the sense of to drive away, to put to flight (EDD.). OE. fēsan, to drive away; cp. Norw. dialect föysa (Aasen).
fegary, figary, ‘vagary’, freak, whimsical trick. Spelt figuary, Beaumont and Fl., Fair Maid of the Inn, ii. 2 (Clown); fegary, Middleton, Span. Gipsy, i. 5 (Diego). See [fagary].
fegue; see [feague].
felfare, a field-fare. Middleton, Anything for a Quiet Life, i. 1 (L. Beaufort). So in Nottingham and Warwick (EDD.).