Obs. exc. dial. Also 4 faage, 5 fagg. 9 dial. fadge. [Of unknown origin; not identical with FADGE v.]
1. trans. To coax, flatter; to beguile, soothe.
a. 1300. Cursor Mundi, 7622 (Fairfax). Dauid come him to fage.
a. 1400–50. The Wars of Alexander, 4669. For ȝe bot fage ay þe flesche · & felsen it wele.
c. 1470. Hardyng, Chron., LXVI. ii. Such subtyll meane to fage the kyng he fande.
2. absol. or intr. To coax, flatter, toady; to speak coaxingly to.
c. 1380. Wyclif, Serm., Sel. Wks. I. 44. It is manere of ypocritis and of sophists to fage and to speke pleasantli to men, but for yvel entent. Ibid. (1382), Judg. xiv. 15. Faage to thi man.
c. 1430. Lydg., Bochas, I. xiii. (1554), 25 b. Of their nature women can flatter and fage. Ibid. (c. 1460), Order of Fools, 66. He that falsluy wul fage.
1471. Ripley, Comp. Alch., V. in Ashm. (1652), 159.
| For then the Fox can fagge and faine, | |
| When he would to his pray attaine. |
1881. Evans, Leicestersh. Gloss., Fadge, to ‘toady,’ to play the parasite.
Hence † Fager, a flatterer; also Faging vbl. sb. and ppl. a. Obs. exc. dial.
1435. Misyn, Fire of Love (E.E.T.S.), 20. Fagiars & bakbitars.
1483. Cath. Angl., 120. A Fager, adulator.
c. 1380. Wyclif, Serm., Sel. Wks. I. 56. Þei spaken fagynge words as ypocritis doen. Ibid., III. 175. Þis was a fagynge of þe fendus childur.
c. 1440. York Myst., xxx. 513.
| Nowe with-outen fagyng, my frendis, in faith I am fayne, | |
| For now schall oure striffe full sternely be stede. |
c. 1450. Mirour Saluacioun, 354. Sho broght him inne with faging wordes white.
1483. Cath. Angl., 120. A Fagynge, blandicia. Ibid., Fagynge, blandus.
1883. Almondbury Gloss., Fageing or Fagey, deceiving, flattering, soft-sawdering.
