figging-law, the art of cutting purses and picking pockets. Dekker, Roaring Girl, v. 1 (Moll). See NED.
figgum, (perhaps) a juggler’s trick. B. Jonson, Devil an Ass, v. 5 (Sir P. E.).
fights, screens of cloth used during a naval engagement, to conceal and protect a crew. Merry Wives, ii. 2. 142; ‘Bear my fights out bravely’, Fletcher, Valentinian, ii. 2 (Claudia); Dryden, Amboyne, iii. 3 (Song); Heywood, Fair Maid of West, iv (Wks., ed. 1874, ii. 316); Phillips, Dict. 1706.
figo, a fig. Hen. V, iii. 6. 60; iv. 1. 60. Span. figo; L. ficus. See [fico].
filch, a hooked staff, used by thieves. Fletcher, Beggar’s Bush, ii. 1 (Higgen); also called a filchman, Awdeley, Vagabonds, p. 4.
file, the thread, course, or tenor of a story or argument. Spenser, F. Q. vii. 6. 37. F. fil, a thread, L. filum.
file, to render foul, filthy, or dirty; ‘To file my hands in villain’s blood’, Wilkins, Miseries of inforst Marriage, iii (Scarborow); Macbeth, iii. 1. 65. In prov. use in Scotland and the north of England (EDD.). OE. fȳlan (in compounds), deriv. of fūl, foul.
filed, polished with the ‘file’; neatly sculptured; also fig. of literary work. Tale of Pygmalion, 4; in Tottel’s Misc., p. 131; ‘True-filed lines’, B. Jonson, Pref. Verses to Shakespeare (1623), 68.
fill; fills, pl., the ‘thills’ or shafts of a cart. Tr. and Cr. iii. 2. 48; hence fill-horse, a shaft-horse, Herrick, The Hock-cart, 21; spelt phil-horse, Merch. Ven. ii. 2. 100. ‘Fill’ and ‘fill-horse’ are both in prov. use (EDD.). See [thiller].
filograin, ‘filigree’. Butler, On P. Nye’s Thanksgiving Beard, l. 13 from end. Ital. filigrana (Fanfani). See Dict. (s.v. Filigree).