Feign ,
v. t. [imp. & p. p. Feigned ; p. pr. & vb. n. Feigning.] [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.
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There are no such things done as thou sayest, but thou feignest them out of thine own heart.
Neh. vi. 8.
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The poet
Did feign that Orpheus drew trees, stones, and floods.
Shak.
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- To represent by a false appearance of; to pretend; to counterfeit; as, to feign a sickness.
Shak.
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- To dissemble; to conceal. [Obs.]
Spenser.
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