feint

noun

maneuvers designed to distract or mislead

L23048 on Wikidata ↗

verb

deceive with a mock action

L23049 on Wikidata ↗

Wiktionary

Pronunciation: /feɪnt/

adj

Etymology: A variant of faint (“barely perceptible; not bright, loud, or sharp”).

Of lines printed on paper as a handwriting guide: not bold; faint, light; also, of such paper: ruled with faint lines of this sort.

noun

Etymology: The noun is borrowed from French feinte (“dummy, feint”), from feindre (“to fake, feign”), from Old French feindre, faindre, from Latin fingere, the present active infinitive of fingō (“to alter the truth to deceive, dissemble, feign, pretend; to fashion, form, shape”). The verb is derived from the noun. Cognates * English feign, fiction, figment * Italian finta * Occitan fencha, fenha * Old Spanish finta (modern Spanish finta (“dummy, feint”))

A movement made to confuse an opponent; a dummy.
“In October, Friburg had been taken by a Feint of the Duke of Crequi, before the Duke of Lorrain cou'd come to relieve it; […]”
“Nothing could be more uncertain than the intentions of the French marshal [André Masséna], and Lord Wellington [Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington] felt, that by an incautious movement, his army must be seriously committed—Massena's retreat might only be a feint to draw the allies from their position—while by turning Monte Junta, he might make a sudden rush on Torres Vedras.”
A blow, thrust, or other offensive movement resembling an attack on some part of the body, intended to distract from a real attack on another part.
“He had some advantage in the difference of our weapons; for his sword, as I recollect, was longer than mine, […] His obvious malignity of purpose never for a moment threw him off his guard, and he exhausted every feint and strategem proper to the science of defence; while, at the same time, he mediated the most desperate catastrophe to our rencounter.”
“It is also possible to deliver a compound riposte by using an indirect feint. The attacking fencer would be open to a compound riposte following a successful parry by their opponent.”
Something feigned; a false or pretend appearance; a pretence or stratagem.
“[I]f your zeal slackens, how can one help thinking that Mr. Courtly's letter is but a feint to get off from a subject in which either your own, or the private and base ends of others to whom you are partial, or those of whom you are afraid, would not endure a reformation?”
“If you had fallen up against him (as some of them did), and stood there; he would have made a feint of endeavouring to seize you, which would have been an affront to your understanding; […]”

verb

To direct (a blow, thrust, or other offensive movement resembling an attack) on some part of the body, intended to distract from a real attack on another part.
“Genevra scowled and said, "His word is wild, / But dastard treason feinteth such disorders: / Treason or witchcraft neither, undefiled, / A Christian court may cherish in its borders."”
“Even Penrod's walk was affected; he adopted a gait which was a kind of taunting swagger; and, when he passed other children on the street, he practised the habit of feinting a blow; then, as the victim dodged, he rasped out the triumphant horse laugh which he gradually mastered to horrible perfection.”
To direct a feint or mock attack against (someone).
“Feint him—use your legs! draw him about! he'll lose his wind then in no time, and you can go into him.”
To make a feint or mock attack.
“Ben-Hur feinted with his right hand. The stranger warded, slightly advancing his left arm. Ere he could return to guard, Ben-Hur caught him by the wrist in a grip which years at the oar had made terrible as a vise.”
“My assailant stood a little; in the thick darkness I could see him bob and sidle as though he were feinting at me for an advantageous onfall.”