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Feague

//fiːɡ// noun, verb

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    An unkempt, slatternly person. obsolete

    "So Jack enters: / And trips up staires, as quick, as come penny, / Where we find, what's before good company! / Three female idle feaks, who long'd for pigs head."

Verb
  1. 1
    To increase the liveliness of a horse by inserting an irritant, such as a piece of peeled raw ginger or a live eel, in its anus.

    "FEAGUE, to feague a horse; to put ginger up a horse's fundament, to make him lively, and carry his tail well; it is said, a forfeit is incurred by any horse dealer's servant, who shall show a horse without first feagueing him, used figuratively for encouraging or spiriting one up."

  2. 2
    To beat or whip; to drive. obsolete

    "Dol[l]. (aside). Oh, if I wist this old priest would not sticke to me, by Ioue, I would ingle this old seruing-man. / Harp[oole]. Oh you old mad colt! yfaith, Ile feak you! fil all the pots in the house there."

  3. 3
    To subject to some harmful scheme; to ‘do in’. obsolete

    "Sir Sim[on Addlepot]. I vvill carry the VViddovv to the French Houſe. / [Mrs.] Joyn[er]. If ſhe vvill goe. / Sir Sim. If ſhe vvill go; vvhy, did you ever knovv a VVidovv refuſe a treat? no more than a Lavvyer a Fee faith and troth; yet I know too. / No treat, ſvveet words, good meen, but ſly Intrigue / That muſt at length, the jilting VVidovv fegue."

  4. 4
    To have sexual intercourse with. obsolete

    "Come, brother Cockwood, let us get 'em / To lay aſide theſe masking Fopperies, and then / We'll fegue 'em in earneſt: Give us a bottle, Waiter."

Etymology

Etymology 1

From Dutch vegen (“to sweep, strike”), from Middle Dutch vēghen (“to cleanse”), from Old Dutch *fegōn (“to cleanse”), from Proto-West Germanic *faginōn, from Proto-Germanic *faginōną (“to decorate, make beautiful”), from Proto-Indo-European *pōḱ-, *pēḱ- (“to clean, to adorn”). Cognate with Danish feje (“to sweep”), German fegen (“to cleanse, scour, sweep”), Icelandic fægja (“to polish”), Swedish feja (“to sweep”). More at fay, fair, fake.

Etymology 2

Possibly from Dutch feeks, probably from vegen (“to sweep, strike”): see etymology of feague (verb) above. Compare Middle English vecke (“old woman”).

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