feign

• POS: Verb (usu participle), Verb (transitive)

CIDE DICTIONARY

feign, v. t. [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.].

•  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.  [1913 Webster]

  "There are no such things done as thou sayest, but thou feignest them out of thine own heart."  [1913 Webster]

  "The poet
  Did feign that Orpheus drew trees, stones, and floods."  [1913 Webster]
•  To represent by a false appearance of; to pretend; to counterfeit; as, to feign a sickness.  Shak.  [1913 Webster]
•  To dissemble; to conceal.  Spenser.  [1913 Webster]

OXFORD DICTIONARY

feign, v.
1 tr. simulate; pretend to be affected by (feign madness).
2 tr. archaic invent (an excuse etc.).
3 intr. indulge in pretence.

Etymology

ME f. feign- stem of OF feindre f. L fingere mould, contrive

THESAURUS

feign

act, act a part, affect, assume, bluff, counterfeit, cover up, dissemble, dissimulate, do a bit, dramatize, fake, four-flush, gammon, histrionize, let on, let on like, make a pretense, make as if, make believe, make like, make out like, overact, play, play a part, play a scene, play possum, playact, pretend, profess, put on, put on airs, sham, simulate, tug the heartstrings, wear

ROGET THESAURUS

feign

Falsehood

VB be false, be a liar, speak falsely, tell a lie, lie, fib, lie like a trooper, swear false, forswear, perjure oneself, bear false witness, misstate, misquote, miscite, misreport, misrepresent, belie, falsify, pervert, distort, put a false construction upon (misinterpret), prevaricate, equivocate, quibble, palter, palter to the understanding, repondre en Normand, trim, shuffle, fence, mince the truth, beat about the bush, blow hot and cold, play fast and loose, garble, gloss over, disguise, give a color to, give a gloss, put a gloss, put false coloring upon, color, varnish, cook, dress up, embroider, varnish right and puzzle wrong, exaggerate, blague, invent, fabricate, trump up, get up, force, fake, hatch, concoct, romance, cry 'wolf!', dissemble, dissimulate, feign, assume, put on, pretend, make believe, play possum, play false, play a double game, coquet, act a part, play a part, affect, simulate, pass off for, counterfeit, sham, make a show of, malinger, say the grapes are sour, cant, play the hypocrite, sham Abraham, faire pattes de velours, put on the mask, clean the outside of the platter, lie like a conjuror, hand out false colors, hold out false colors, sail under false colors, commend the poisoned chalice to the lips, ambiguas in vulgum spargere voces, deceive.