Category:Feign

Feign, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Feigned; p. pr. & vb. n. Feigning.] Etym: [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.