See Also: Faint(medicine)
faint(dictionary)
faint(2)(dictionary)
faint(1)(dictionary)
Faint(health)
benign faint(medicine)
faint 1, adjective(dictionary)
faint 2, verb(dictionary)
faint 3, noun(dictionary)
faint-hearted(dictionary)

faint(1) (iou)



faint adjective. Also (now only Commerce in sense 6b, formerly also in sense 1) feint. ME.
[Old French faint, feint pa. pple of faindre, feindre FEIGN.]
Feigned, simulated. Now rare. ME.
Thackeray We wear feint smiles over our tears and deceive our children.
Shirking, lazy; sluggish. ME-L17.
Lacking in courage, cowardly. Now chiefly in faint heart. ME.
Weak or dizzy through fear, hunger, exhaustion, etc.; inclined to faint. Foll. by of, with. ME.
A. J. Cronin From surprise and shock she actually turned faint.
b. Inducing faintness; (of a smell) sickly; (of an atmosphere) oppressive. arch. E16.
Woodes Rogers The Weather was very wet, hot and faint.
a. Esp. of a person or animal: weak, sickly, out of condition. LME-M18.
b. Of an action, purpose, etc.: feeble, half-hearted. L16.
damn with faint praise: see DAMN verb 2.
J. F. Lehmann The hopes still clung on, faint graspings at the idea that all might be well after all.
Making a slight or feeble impression on the senses; hardly perceptible, dim, indistinct; (of a colour) pale. LME.
A. Ransome A glimmer, faint at first, grew brighter. E. Caldwell She whispered in a voice so faint that she could barely hear it herself. A. N. Wilson The very faint whiff of after-shave lotion he always exuded. R. C. Hutchinson I hadn't even the faintest idea what beauty was before I fell in love.
b. spec. Designating the pale blue or neutral-tinted lines ruled on paper as a guide for handwriting. M19.
Special collocations & comb.: faint heart a cowardly spirit, cowardliness. faint-heart adjective & noun (a) adjective timid, cowardly; (b) noun a coward. faint-hearted adjective lacking courage, cowardly. faint-heartedly adverb in a faint-hearted manner. faint-heartedness the quality or state of being faint-hearted, cowardliness.
faintest noun (colloq.) the slightest idea or notion M20.
faintish adjective somewhat faint M17.
faintishness noun M18.
faintness noun LME.