Forms: 4 facioun, -un(e, 4–5 fasoun (4 -zoun), 4–6 Sc. fassoun, (-s)sowne), 5–6 facion(e, -cyon, -oun, (-ssion, -oun, -s)syon(e, 5 fasceon, -schyoun, 6 facon, -son. -sson(e, fastyon, fachion, -scyon, -shin, -sshon, -s)shyon, -szshion, fayssyon), 6– fashion. [a. OF. façon, fazon, ONF. fachon (mod.Fr. façon) = Pr. faisso, It. fazione (the Sp. faccion is of learned origin):—L. factiōn-em, n. of action f. facēre to make: see FACTION sb.]
† 1. The action or process of making. Hence, the ‘making’ or workmanship as an element in the value of plate or jewellery. Obs.
1463. Mann. & Househ. Exp., 154. Ffor the fasyon of the same schene, v. marc.
1575–6. Act 18 Eliz., c. 15. This they [Goldsmythes] take not above the rate of xij d. for the ounce of Golde (besides the fashion).
1590. Shaks., Com. Err., IV. i. 29.
| The finenesse of the Gold, and chargefull fashion, | |
| Which doth amount to three odde Duckets more | |
| Then I stand debted to this Gentleman. |
1594. T. B., La Primaud. Fr. Acad., II. 393, heading. Of the fashion of a childe in the wombe, and how the members are framed one after another in the mothers bellie.
1664. Pepys, Diary (1879), III. 62. They judge the fashion to be worth above 5s. per oz. more.
1761–2. Hume, Hist. Eng. (1806), III. App. iii. 630. 14 or 15 thousand pounds weight [of silver plate], which, besides the fashion, would be [etc.].
2. Make, build, shape. Hence, in wider sense, visible characteristics, appearance. Said both of material and of immaterial things, arch. † Out of fashion: out of shape.
Some of the earlier instances may belong to 2 c.
a. 1300. Cursor M., 22322 (Cott.).
| A mikel man, o statur hei, | |
| Fair in faciun for to sei. |
c. 1320. Sir Beues, 2155.
| Me wolde þenke be his fasoun, | |
| Þat hit were Beues of Hamtoun! |
c. 1350. Will. Palerne, 401.
| A dere damisele to douȝter þis emperour hadde þanne, | |
| Of alle fasoun þe fairest þ euer freke seiȝe. |
14[?]. Tundale’s Vis., 2061.
| Ychon had on hys hed a crowne | |
| Off gold that was of semyly faschyoun. |
c. 1440. Promp. Parv., 150/2. Fassyone, or factyone, forme of makynge, forma, formefactura, formefactio.
c. 1511. 1st Eng. Bk. Amer. (Arb.), Introd., p. xxxv/1. There be dyuers people of fason in our lande, also there be people that haue the body of a man and the hede lyke a dogge and they be good takers of fysshe.
1526. Tindale, Luke xii. 56. Ypocrites, ye can skyll of the fassion of the erth, and of the skye: but what is the cause, that ye cannot skyll of this tyme?
1551. Robinson, trans. More’s Utop., I. (Arb.), 31. Vnder the line equinoctiall … all thynges bee … out of fassyon, and comelinesse.
1562. Turner, Herbal, II. 85 a. Phalaris … hath a sede … whyte in fasshon.
1581. Mulcaster, Positions, xxx. (1887), 110. If the infirmitie in fashion be casuall and come by late misfortune, (for in this kinde naturall weaknesse is euer excepted) exercise maye do good, bycause it will make that streight, which was croked.
1611. Bible, Luke ix. 29. The fashion of his countenance was altered.
1615. Crooke, Body of Man, 20. He inquireth into the nature and fashion of euery Bone.
a. 1661. Fuller, Worthies (1840), II. 261. This county [Lincolnshire], in fashion, is like a bended bow, the sea making the back, the rivers Welland and Humber the two horns thereof.
1784. Cowper, Task, I. 21.
| Three legs upholding firm | |
| A massy slab, in fashion square or round. |
1793. Burke, Rem. Policy Allies, Wks. 1842, I. 591. The fashion of some constitution which suited with their fancies.
1865. Swinburne, Poems & Ballads, Before Parting, 19.
| I know each shadow of your lips by rote, | |
| Each change of love in eyelids and eyebrows; | |
| The fashion of fair temples tremulous | |
| With tender blood, and colour of your throat. |
1877. L. Morris, Epic Hades, II. 221.
| I knew not | |
| The fashion of his nature. |
† b. Spoken of as an attribute, that may be imparted and possessed; form as opposed to matter.
1576. Lambarde, A Perambulation of Kent (1826), p. v. The craftesman that bringeth it to fashion.
1577. B. Googe, Heresbach’s Husb., IV. (1586), 185 b. The … common sort [of bees] when they begin to have fashion, are called Nimphes.
1594. T. B., La Primaud. Fr. Acad., II. 394. The seede … receiueth not fashion presently vpon the conception, but remaineth for a time without any figure or lineaments, or proportion, and shew of a humane body, or of any member therof.
1614. Bp. Hall, A Recollection of such Treatises, 897. When wee haue matter, wee can giue fashion: thou gauest a being to the matter, without forme; thou gauest a forme to that matter, and a glory to that forme.
† c. Face, features. Obs.
[A very common use in OF.; perh. associated with face.]
c. 1300. Cursor M., 21319 (Cott.).
| Matheu o man he has facium, | |
| Luce has of ox. |
c. 1430. Pilgr. Lyf Manhode, III. xxxviii. (1869), 155. She shadwde hire visage and hire facioun vnder hire hood.
3. A particular make, shape, style, or pattern. Somewhat arch.
c. 1325. Song Merci, 41, in E. E. P. (1862), 119.
| I made þe Mon ȝif þat þou mynne, | |
| Of feture liche myn owne fasoun. |
a. 1450. Le Morte Arth., 2531. Galeis grete of fele fasowne.
1522. Bury Wills (Camden), 116. A quarte wyne pott of the olde fashhon.
1576. A. Fleming, A Panoplie of Epistles, 299. Two standing cuppes of silver, differing from the fashion of this time.
1611. Bible, Transl. Pref., 9. The very Romane Seruice was of two fashions, the New fashion, and the Old.
1699. Dampier, Voy., II. I. 62. Besides, our fashions of Utensils differ mightily from theirs.
1714. J. Fortescue-Aland, Pref. Fortescue’s Abs. & Lim. Mon., 32. The Author … puts in his Franco-Germanick, of the Latin fashion.
1848. Macaulay, Hist. Eng., I. 464. A limited monarchy after the modern fashion.
1849. G. P. R. James, The Woodman, iv. Spreading out at the edges in the fashion of a basin.
b. esp. with reference to attire: a particular ‘cut’ or style. Cf. 8 c, 9.
1529. Supplic. to King (E.E.T.S.), 52. Somtyme cappe, somtyme hoode; nowe the Frenshe fasshyon, nowe the Spanyshe fasshyon.
1605. Shaks., Lear, III. vi. 84. I do not like the fashion of your garments.
a. 1674. Clarendon, Surv. Leviath. (1676), 81. I wonder he did not insert the liberty to wear his Clothes of that fashion which he likes best, which is as important as most of his other Concessions.
1838. Lytton, Alice, 6. Her dress … of no very modern fashion.
† c. A device, material or immaterial. Obs.
1560. Whitehorne, Arte Warre (1573), b ij a. Against this fashion they haue used to make a fashion like unto a paire of sheres.
1597. Montgomerie, Cherrie & Sloe, 1363.
| Zit quhyle we grip it to the grund, | |
| Se first quhat fashion may be fund | |
| To pacifie his pains. |
4. Kind, sort. Now rare. Also † In fashion to: of a kind to.
1561. Turner, Herbal, II. 73 b. Suche fasshon of figure is not in a Mirt-berry.
1591. Shaks., Two Gent., V. iv. 61. Thou friend of an ill fashion. Ibid. (1596), Merch. V., I. ii. 23. This reason is not in fashion to choose me a husband. Ibid. (1608), Per., IV. ii. 84. Gentlemen of all fashions.
1611. Cotgr., Panier … a fashion of Trunke made of Wicker.
1874. Morley, Compromise (1886), 87. Consider the difference between these, two fashions of compromise, in their effects upon the mind and character of the person compromising.
5. Manner, mode, way, esp. in After, † of, in, † on, this, such a, my, his, etc. fashion. rare in pl.
c. 1325. E. E. Allit. P., A. 1100. & coronde wern alle of þe same fasoun.
1375. Barbour, Bruce, XVII. 300.
| Than men mycht se soyne palȝeonis | |
| Be stentit on syndry fassownys. |
c. 1489. Caxton, Sonnes of Aymon, xiv. 351. To hevy a bourdon for to lede of this facyon.
1539. in Vicary’s Anat. (1888), App. iii. 173. [They] passed through the Cytie in good ordre after A warlyke facion.
1567–83. The Sempill Ballates, 98.
| Ay selling caill, | |
| The best fassoun I may. |
1602. Shaks., Ham., I. iii. 111.
| He hath importun’d me with loue, | |
| In honourable fashion. |
1633. Bp. Hall, Hart Texts, 358. We doe, in all fashions of sorrow bemoane ourselves.
1654. trans. Scudery’s Curia Politiæ, 7. I have governed my Subjects in such a fashion that [etc.].
1715. De Foe, Fam. Instruct., I. v. (1841), I. 109. 2nd Da. No, indeed, madam, after quite another fashion.
1822. Lamb, Elia, Ser. I. Distant Corr. Subjects serious in themselves, but treated after my fashion, non-seriously.
1860. Tyndall, Glac., I. viii. 58. In zigzag fashion … I continued to ascend.
b. In depreciatory sense, After, in, a or some fashion: somehow or another, in a sort, tolerably, not too well.
1614. Bp. Hall, A Recollection of such Treatises, 459. Our Church is well rid of that accursed nation, whom yet Rome harbors, and, in a fashion, graces.
1860. G. Macdonald, Ann. Q. Neighb., i. (1878), 5. Work … which I can do after some fashion.
1869. Trollope, He Knew, xvi. (1878), 89. Providence … has made me a lady after a fashion.
† c. A method of doing anything. Obs.
1556. Aurelio & Isab. (1608), K viij. And this is the fachone be the whiche al the reames and dominions … I presently do posseade, have beane gotten.
1577. B. Googe, Heresbach’s Husb., I. (1586), 42 b. To wynnowe it after the olde fashion with the winde.
1614. Bp. Hall, A Recollection of such Treatises, 404. To say nothing of the fashion of their Cures, that one is prescribed to come to our Ladie.
1674. Playford, Skill Mus., I. xi. 39. I have observed that Divisions have been invented, not because they are necessary unto a good fashion of Singing, but rather for a certain tickling of the Ears of those who do not well understand what it is to sing Passionately.
1743. Lond. & Country Brew., II. (ed. 2), 134. He would I believe alter his Mind and Fashion.
6. Mode of action, bearing, behaviour, demeanour, ‘air.’ Now rare.
1447. Bokenham, Seyntys (Roxb.), 29. Be what similat facyoun Meche peple to his favour he drew.
a. 1535. More, De Quat. Noviss., Wks. 76/1. With som good grace and pleasant fashion.
1601. ? Marston, Pasquil & Katherine, I. 236.
| He curles his boot with judgement, and takes a whiffe | |
| With gracefull fashion. |
1719. D’Urfey, Pills (1872), IV. 304.
| If she keeps her cruel Fashion, | |
| Nought but Death can ease my Passion. |
1851. Thackeray, Eng. Hum., ii. (1858), 81. With such a grace, with such a fashion.
b. pl. Actions, gestures, ‘ways.’ Now rare.
1569. J. Rogers, Gt. Godly Loue, 182. With spiteful wordes and wanton fashions.
1580. North, Plutarch (1676), 28. He … gave himself in fashions to be somewhat like a Tyrant.
1605. Bacon, Adv. Learn., II. ix. 37. Whose eyes do dwell on the faces and fashions.
1852. Mrs. Stowe, Uncle Tom’s C., xxxvi. He shall beg my pardon, and promise better fashions.
† 7. Outward action or ceremony; a mere form, pretence. Obs. exc. in Sc. phrase, To make fashion: to make a show, pretend.
1571. Golding, Calvin on Ps. xl. 7. Worshipping God slyghtly for fashyon sake.
1596. Shaks., Merch. V., IV. i. 18.
| That thou but leadest this fashion of thy mallice | |
| To the last houre of act. |
1637. Rutherford, Lett., cxix. (1863), I. 296. In my heaviest times, when all is lost, the memory of His love maketh me think Christ’s glooms are but for the fashion.
1653. Urquhart, Rabelais, II. xxii. Panurge made the fashion of driving them [i.e., dogs] away.
1816. Scott, Antiq., xvi. He hardly touches ony thing, only just pits a bit on the plate to make fashion.
8. A prevailing custom, a current usage; esp. one characteristic of a particular place or period of time.
c. 1489. Caxton, Sonnes of Aymon, xxvi. 544. A knighte … presented … a fayr knyff, after the facyon of the londe.
1583. Stubbes, Anat. Abus., D vij. How unseemelie … a fashion that is, let the wise judge.
1599. Shaks., Much Ado, I. i. 98. The fashion of the world is to auoid cost.
1614. Bp. Hall, A Recollection of such Treatises, 870. Ingenuously, as his fashion is.
1764. Goldsm., The Traveller, 279.
| The mind still turns where shifting fashion draws, | |
| Nor weights the solid worth of self-applause. |
1814. Scott, Ld. of Isles, III. xxiv.
| With laugh constrain’d,—‘Let every man | |
| Follow the fashion of his clan! | |
| Each to his separate quarters keep, | |
| And feed or fast, or wake or sleep.’ |
1821. J. Q. Adams, in C. Davies, The Metric System, III. (1871), 125. The old fashion, of 140 gallons or more to the butt of Malmsey and other Spanish wines, was then restored.
a. 1839. Praed, Poems (1864), I. 366, ‘Stanzas Written in Lady Myrtle’s “Boccaccio.”’
| New follies come, new faults, new fashions; | |
| An hour—a minute will supply | |
| To thought a folio history | |
| Of blighted hopes, and thwarted passions. |
1876. Mozley, Univ. Serm., i. 7. As a fashion of thought the idea … has … passed away.
† b. In pl. often = ‘Manners and customs’ (of nations), ‘ways’ (of men); chiefly in phrases, To know, learn, see (the) fashions. Obs.
1555. Watreman (title), The fardle of facions.
1599. Minsheu, Pleasant and Delightfull Dialogues in Spanish and English (1623), 36. I will dye and live with thee Peter, for thou knowest fashions.
1658–9. Burton’s Diary (1828), IV. 164. It is said they have a possessory right. If they actually have, then any that come among you to see fashions, till they be discovered, may plead a right.
a. 1716. South, Serm. (1737), VI. v. 196. To see the country, and to learn fashions (as the word goes).
1721. Strype, Eccl. Mem., II. II. v. 287. The king had sent him [Barnaby Fitz-Patric] thither to remain in his [the French king’s] court to learn fashions.
c. spec. with regard to apparel or personal adornment.
1547. Boorde, Introd. Knowl., xiv. (1870), 159. I wyll not chaunge my olde fathers fashyon.
1576. Pettie, Pal. Pleas. New fashions in cutting of beardes.
1596. Shaks., Tam. Shr., III. ii. 72.
| Tra. ’Tis some od humor pricks him to this fashion; | |
| Yet oftentimes he goes but meane-apparel’d. |
1654. R. Whitlock, Ζωοτομια, 225. Fashions crosse the Seas as oft as the Packet Boat.
1713. Steele, Guardian, No. 10, 23 March, ¶ 4. I have not an opportunity to introduce fashions amongst our young gentlemen.
1833. Ht. Martineau, Brooke Farm, viii. 105. The wives and daughters of these tradespeople can afford to dress themselves in Miss Black’s fashions.
1859. Jephson, Brittany, xv. 241. He was a tall stout man, dressed in country fashion, but with a certain air about him which showed that he moved in good society.
1865. Wright, Hist. Caricature, vi. (1875), 103. During the feudal ages, the fashions in France and England were always identical.
9. Conventional usage in dress, mode of life, etc., esp. as observed in the upper circles of society; conformity to this usage. Often personified, or quasi-personified.
(The first quot. may belong to 2 or 6.)
1602. Shaks., Ham., III. i. 161. The glasse of Fashion, and the mould of Forme.
1632. Lithgow, Trav., V. 205. I am … become a courtly Tobacconist; more for fashion then for liking.
1711. Shaftesb., Charac. (1737), III. 288. Palemon the Man of Quality, and who is first introduc’d as Speaker in the Piece, must, for fashion-sake, appear in Love, and under a kind of Melancholy produc’d by some Mis-adventures in the World.
1739. Cibber, Apol. (1756), I. 71. Taste and Fashion, with us, have always had Wings, and fly from one publick Spectacle to another so wantonly.
1781. Cowper, Expostulation, 38.
| Oaths, used as playthings or convenient tools, | |
| As int’rest biass’d knaves, or fashion fools. |
1793. Beddoes, Catarrh, 169. If happily our regret should recal the age of chivalry, to break the spell of Fashion would be an atchievement worthy the most gallant of our future knights.
1806. Med. Jrnl., XV. 91. Fashion, that destroying angel.
1829. Lytton, Devereux, II. vii. I have longed for some better object to worship than the capricieuse of fashion, or the yet more ignoble minion of the senses.
1865. Pall Mall G., 1 Aug., 10/2. Fashion and bon ton are by no means the same thing.
1892. Daily News, 23 April, 3/5. Fashion is the all-absorbing subject.
b. Fashionable people; the fashionable world.
1807–8. W. Irving, Salmagundi (1824), 161.
| Oh! once again those days recall, | |
| When heart met heart in fashion’s hall. |
1873. Browning, Red Cott. Nt.-cap, 125.
| For why? He was become the man in vogue, | |
| The indispensable to who went clothed | |
| Nor cared encounter Paris fashion’s blame. |
10. The fashion: a. The mode of dress, etiquette, furniture, style of speech, etc., adopted in society for the time being. To lead, set the fashion: to be an example in dress, etc., for others to follow. To be in the fashion: to adopt the accepted style.
1568. Grafton, Chron., II. 34. A scarlet Robe with a hoode (as the fashion then was).
1601. ? Marston, Pasquil & Katherine, I. 276. Her loue is as vncertaine as an Almanacke; as vnconstant as the fashion; just like a whiffe of Tabacco, no sooner in at the mouth, but out at the nose.
1604. Jas. I., Counterbl. (Arb.), 105. It is come to be the fashion.
1612. Rowlands, Knaue of Harts, 13. Let vs haue standing Collers, in the fashion.
1710. Steele, Tatler, No. 77, 6 Oct., ¶ 1. Alexander the Great had a wry Neck, which made it the Fashion in his Court, to carry their Heads on one Side.
1762. Goldsm., Nash, 10. Several persons qualified to lead the fashion both by birth and fortune.
1794. Nelson, in Nicolas, Disp. (ed. 2), I. 474. It is the fashion to say it would have been difficult to make a breach.
1838. De Morgan, Ess. Probab., Preface, p. vii. It was then very much the fashion, and particularly in England, to publish results and conceal methods; by which we are left without the knowledge of the steps which led De Moivre to several of his most brilliant results.
1840. Dickens, Barn. Rudge, xvi. The fashion being of course set by the upper class.
b. The person or thing that it is fashionable to admire or discuss.
1790–1811. W. Combe, The Devil upon Two Sticks in England (1817), II. 217. I should not be tempted to marry him, if he were not the fashion.
1824. Medwin, Convers. Byron (1832), I. 55. I was the fashion when she first came out.
1837. Miss Mitford, in L’Estrange, Life, III. v. 78. Another book … is much the fashion.
11. In, out of (the) fashion: in, out of, vogue or customary use, esp. in polite society; according or contrary to the customary rule or standard. Also To bring, come, grow into, go out of fashion.
1601. Shaks., Jul. C., V. v. 5.
| Slaying is the word, | |
| It is a deed in fashion. |
1603. Florio, Montaigne, III. vi. (1632), 505. The Hungarians did very availefully bring them [war-coaches] into fashion, and profitably set them a work against the Turk.
1608. W. Sclater, Malachy (1650), 103. Sins, when they are grown into fashion, are swallowed up as no sins; drunkenness, a fearfull sin; yet, I know not how, amongst drunken Dutch-men, seems no sin at all.
1614. Bp. Hall, A Recollection of such Treatises, 684. Shall nothing but our soules be out of the fashion? Surely beloued, none but new hearts are for the new heauens.
1630. R. Johnson, Relations of the Most Famous Kingdoms, etc., 55. Let him … take heed, that the apparell he weares, be in fashion in the place where he resideth.
1719. D’Urfey, Pills (1872), V. 154.
| Would you be a man in Fashion? | |
| Would you lead a Life Divine? |
1728. W. Cleland, Let. Publisher Pope’s Dunciad, 19. As his Satyrs were the more just for being delayed, so were his Panegyrics; bestowed only on such persons as he had familiarly known, only for such virtues as he had long observed in them, and only at such times as others cease to praise, if not being to columniate them, I mean when out of power or out of fashion.
1782. Priestley, An History of the Corruption of Christianity, II. IX. 157. Solitary pilgrimages were, however, much in fashion, and we find some very rigorous ones submitted to by persons of great eminence in those superstitious times; when it was a maxim, that nothing contributed so much to the health of the soul, as the mortification of the body.
1848. Macaulay, Hist. Eng., I. 179. The decorous gravity which had been thirty years before in fashion at Whitehall.
1850. Tait’s Mag., XVII. 532/2. Little dogs that had come into fashion.
1880. Miss Braddon, Just as I am, vii. Aunt Dora’s gowns always fitted to perfection, and were always in the fashion.
12. (Man, woman) of fashion: † a. (In early use often more fully of high, great, good fashion.) Of high quality or breeding, of eminent social standing or repute. [Cf. sense 4 and OF. gens de (bonne) façon.] This gradually merges into the current sense b. That moves in upper-class society, and conforms to its rules with regard to dress, expenditure, and habits.
c. 1489. Caxton, Blanchardyn and Eglantine, xlviii. 187. They that were wythin defended theym vygoryously, as men of highe facion.
1597. Sir R. Cecil, in Ellis, Orig. Lett., I. 234. III. 43. A Gentleman of excellent fashion.
a. 1618. Raleigh, Apol., 7. It is strange that men of fashion and Gentlemen should so grosly bely their owne knowledge.
c. 1675. Househ. Ord. (1780), 354. Persons of good fashion and good appearance that have a desire to see Us at dinner; and not any inferior, meane, or unknowne people.
1702. W. J., Bruyn’s Voy. Levant, x. 37. Greeks of Fashion, who are not for herding with the Populace.
1752. Hume, Ess. & Treat. (1777), I. 204. Augustus was obliged, by penal laws, to force men of fashion into the married state: A circumstance which is scarcely to be found in any other age or nation.
1755. E. Moore, in The World, No. 151, 20 Nov. (1772), III. 278. A woman cannot be a woman of fashion till she has lost her reputation.
1766. Goldsm., Vic. W., xxi. I was not a little surprised at his intimacy with people of the best fashion, who referred themselves to his judgment, upon every picture or medal, as an unerring standard of taste.
1800. Mrs. Hervey, The Mourtray Family, II. 76. How much she languished to see this masquerade; and thought it mighty odd, that a person of her fashion and figure had not yet been able to procure a single ticket!
1824. Medwin, Conversations of Lord Byron (1832), II. 50. I received every where a marked attention, was courted in all societies, made much of by Lady Jersey, had the entré at Devonshire-house, was in favour with Brummell, (and that was alone enough to make a man of fashion at that time;) in fact, I was a lion—a ball-room bard—a hot-pressed darling!
13. attrib. and Comb. a. Simple attrib.
1829. Westm. Rev., XI., Oct., 399. This practice of blushing for unmodish friends is entirely English, and belongs to the fashion-mania.
† b. Forming with preceding adj. a quasi-adj. or adjectival phrase. Obs.
1677. Hale, The Primitive Origination of Mankind, I. i. 4. What fashion Cloaths the Roman Officers, Military, Civil or Sacred used.
1712. E. Cooke, A Voyage to the South Sea, and Round the World, 85. The great Square, where all Business of Law and Trade is manag’d, has old Fashion Houses on the East and South Sides, with Balconies and large Windows, to see the publick Diversionss.
c. Forming with a preceding sb. or adj. an adverbial phrase. Cf. -WISE.
[1494. Fabyan, Chron., VII. 313. He had deuysed newe engynes after towerre facion.]
1633. P. Fletcher, Purple Isl., IV. xxxii. Made like an Ivie leaf, broad-angle-fashion.
1670. Narborough, Jrnl., in Acc. Sev. Late Voy., I. (1711), 66. Their Arrows are near eighteen Inches long, and neatly made of Wood, and headed with Flint-stones, neatly made broad Arrow-fashion.
1710. Lond. Gaz., No. 4748/4. A Silver Hungary Water Bottle Flask fashion gilt.
1721. Bailey, Capon Fashion [in Archery], the same as Bob-tail.
1796. Mrs. Glasse, Cookery, xviii. 295. To make Beef Hams. You must take the leg of a fat, but small beef, the fat Scotch or Welch cattle is best, and cut it ham-fashion.
1809–12. Mar. Edgeworth, Absentee, ix. Laying the outermost part of your feather this fashion next to your hook.
1867. Freeman, Norm. Conq. (1876), I. App. 624. The tardy bridal was done Christian fashion.
1886. R. C. Leslie, Sea-painter’s Log, 216. By so imploring a look from the boy (who had already picked up the puppy, holding it baby fashion in his arms), that the two half-crowns almost jumped out of my pocket.
d. objective, as fashion-following sb., fashion-fancying adj.; instrumental, as fashion-fettered, -led adjs.
1621. S. Ward, Happin. Pract. (1627), 43. Sabbath-breaking, and fashion-following.
1647. Ward, The Simple Cobler of Aggawam in America, 25.
| These whimm’ Crown’d shees, these fashion-fansying wits, | |
| Are empty thin brain’d shells, and fidling Kits. |
1784. Cowper, Tirocinium, 779.
| Whom do I advise? the fashion-led, | |
| Th’ incorrigibly wrong, the deaf, the dead! |
1887. Pall Mall G., 26 Sept. 11/2. Fashion-fettered fops.
14. Special comb.: fashion-fly, fig. one who sports in the beams of fashion; fashion paper, a journal of fashionable life; fashion-picture, a representation of fashionable costumes; fashion piece, Naut. (see quots.); fashion plate, ‘a pictorial design showing the prevailing style or new style of dress’ (W.); fashion-timber, = fashion-piece. Also FASHION-MONGER.
1868. Ld. Houghton, Select. fr. Wks., The Flower of Friendship 63.
| It trembles at the brushing wings | |
| Of many’ a careless *fashion-fly, | |
| And strange suspicions aim their stings | |
| To taint it as they wanton by. |
1885. E. D. Gerard, Waters Hercules, xxx. She snatched up the *fashion-paper.
1884. The Saturday Review, LVII. 14 June, 780/1. Mr. Henry Gervex’s ‘First Communion’ has been bought by the State, but to the English critic the subject wants the devotional spirit, and is a mere *fashion-picture—finely and boldly painted, of course, and with the knowledge and skill that have in too many cases to do duty for taste in French contemporary art.
1627. Capt. Smith, Seaman’s Gram., ii. 2. From it [the Stern-post] doth rise the two *fashion peeces, like a paire of great hornes.
1704. J. Harris, Lex. Techn., Fashion-pieces are those two Timbers which describe the breadth of the Ship at the Stern.
1830. Marryat, King’s Own, xlix. My stern-post, transoms, and fashion-pieces, were framed out almost before my floor-timbers were laid.
c. 1850. Rudim. Navig. (Weale), 117. Fashion-pieces. The timbers so called from their fashioning the after-part of the ship in the plane of projection, by terminating the breadth and forming the shape of the stern.
1864. Webster, *Fashion plate.
