Forms: 4–6 faut(e(n, fawt(e, 6 faulte, 6–7 falt, 9 Sc. faut, 6– fault. [f. prec. sb.; cf. OF. fauter, which may be the source in the older senses.]
† 1. intr. To be wanting or absent. Const. dat.
c. 1375. Sc. Leg. Saints, Laurentius, 777.
| Þane, þat was to þat ilke end: | |
| Gyf ocht fawtyt, It til amend. |
1377. Langl., P. Pl., B. IX. 66.
| Foles þat fauten Inwitte · I fynde þat holicherche | |
| Shulde fynden hem þat hem [fauteth] · and faderelees children. |
1398. Trevisa, Barth. De P. R., XIX. i. (1495), 860. Yf lyghte lackyth and fawtyth: the qualyte of colour is not seen.
c. 1460. Launfal, 200.
| Tod-ay to cherche y wolde have gon, | |
| But me fawtede hosyn and schon. |
1525. Ld. Berners, Froiss., II. xxx. 87. Here fauteth company.
† 2. To be deficient in, to be lacking in. Obs.
1504. Atkinson, trans. De Imitatione, III. xxxix. Worldlye wyse men fawteth in thy wysdome, good lorde.
1579. E. K., in Spenser’s Sheph. Cal., Epist. Minding to furnish our tongue in this kind, wherein it faulteth.
1586. A. Day, The English Secretary, I. (1625), A iij. I will blush for mine errors, where I fault to ability I will shew you my will.
1606. Holland, Sueton., Annot. 11. Hee faulted in common civilitie.
† 3. trans. To stand in need of, lack, want, be deficient in. Obs.
1377. Langl., P. Pl., B. IX. 66. Foles þat fauten Inwitte.
a. 1400–50. Alexander, 2710.
| A thing threuyn is & thike · & þarnes þe wyngis, | |
| And fautis þe fethirhames · & þe fliȝt-loomes. |
1470–85. Malory, Arthur, III. i. I fawte l [knyghtes], for so many haue ben slayne in my dayes.
c. 1475. The Romans of Partenay, 6379. She noght fauteth þat haue shold A lady.
absol. 1475. The Boke of Noblesse, 31. Be this way the ost may never faut.
† b. impers. = Fr. il faut. To be needful. Obs.
1502. Ord. Crysten Men (W. de W., 1506), V. iii. 377. It fauteth not for to ymagen that they ben lesse ferefull in hell.
† 4. intr. To come short of a standard; to make default, fail. Obs.
14[?]. trans. Leges Quatuor Burgorum, c. 19, in Sc. Stat. (1844), I. 336. Gif he faltis twyis he sall be chastyte twyis for his forfaute. Gif he faltis thryse [etc.].
1486. Stanley’s Ord. Lichfield Gild, 12. If the seid … persons wyl absent them-self … [they] shal pay ij pownd of wax; and as ofte as ony of them so fawteth after iij times monysshed, to be discharged.
1545. Ascham, Toxoph. (Arb.), 36. If shotinge faulte at any tyme, it hydes it not, it lurkes not in corners and hudder-mother: but openly accuseth and bewrayeth it selfe.
c. 1611. Sylvester, Du Bartas (1621), II. iv. IV., The Decay, 512.
| No, no, my Lord: let not our Fervour fault, | |
| Through length of Siege; but let us to th’ Assault. |
a. 1677. Manton, Serm., Wks. (1871), II. 187. He hath exceedingly failed and faulted in his duty.
† b. quasi-trans. To fail or omit to (do something); to miss (one’s aim). Obs.
1522. St. Papers Hen. VIII., VI. 103. Wherin His Grace shall not faulte to indevour Hymself after his best power.
1527. Knight, in J. S. Brewer, Henry VIII., xxviii. (1884), II. 224. The contents whereof I shall not fault to follow according unto your Grace’s pleasure.
1591. The Troublesome Raigne of King John (1611), 53.
| Ile mend the fault, or fault my aime, | |
| If I do misse amending. |
5. intr. To commit a fault, to do or go wrong, hence sometimes, to sin. Obs. exc. arch. rarely quasi-trans. with neut. pron. as obj. Const. against, to, toward. Also rarely, To fault it.
c. 1400. An Apology for Lollard Doctrines, 66. He fautid be error & be vnkunning.
a. 1400–50. Alexander, 2659. ‘Quat has he fauted?’ quod þe frek.
c. 1450. Henryson, Mor. Fab., 74. I faulted neuer to you truelie.
1483. Caxton, G. de la Tour, cxxx. 182. Men shalle saye that she fawted in dede.
1548. Udall, etc., Erasm. Par. Luke xv. 132. Whatsoever I haue faulted, I haue faulted against him alone.
1549. Compl. Scot., xiv. 122. I exort ȝou … that gyf ony of ȝou hes faltit contrar ȝour comont veil … that ȝe correct ȝour selfis.
1602. Warner, Alb. Eng., IX. xliv. (1612), 211. They … die in lingring Torments, who Fault to their Inquisition.
a. 1603. T. Cartwright, Confut. Rhem. N. T. (1618), 27. He [Christ] saith, that he that marrieth another, faulteth against the former wife.
1625. B. Jonson, The Staple of Newes, II. i.
| Goe, see all ready; and where my dogs have falted, | |
| Remoue it with a broom. |
a. 1632. T. Taylor, God’s Judgem., I. I. xxii. (1642), 86. The people of Cæsarea faulted greatly, when blasphemously they called King Herod a god.
1647. Ward, The Simple Cobler of Aggawam in America, 78.
| Poore Coblers well may fault it now and then, | |
| They’r ever mending faults for other men. |
1825. Scott, Talism., xx. He hath foully faulted towards me, in failing to send the auxiliary aid he promised.
1871. Browning, Balaust., 96. Had I died for thee I had faulted more.
† b. of things. Obs.
1602. Warner, Alb. Eng., X. lx. (1612), 265.
| Thus some of some report, perhaps | |
| Not true in all as told: | |
| But somewhat somewhere faulteth, for | |
| No fier, no smoake be bold. |
1608. Bp. Hall, Char. Virtues & V., II. 101. Euerie thing faulteth either in too much or too little.
† 6. To make a mistake, be in error, blunder.
1530. Palsgr., 546/2. It is no marvayle thoughe I faulte yet, I am but a begynner.
c. 1550. Cheke, Matt. xviii. Ye greak fauteth heer in ye nomber.
1624. Bedell, Lett., vi. 95. Hee faults himselfe in the same kinde, that hee imputes to another.
1692. Covt. Grace Conditional, 47. If they faulted in any thing about the Matter in controversie, it was in giving too much to Faith.
1765. Chesterf., Lett. (1890), 178. His tongue stammering and faulting.
7. trans. To find fault with, to blame or censure. Somewhat rare. Also † To fault (a person) with or that: to charge with, find fault with because. Now chiefly dial. and U.S.
1559. Baldwin, Mirr. Magistr. (1563), vi. b.
| Vnfrendly Fortune shal I thee nowe blame? | |
| Or shal I fault the fates that so ordayne? |
1585. Abp. Sandys, Serm. (1841), 53. He that seeth his house ruinous, and for sparing will not repair it; if it fall upon his head, let him fault himself.
1590. T. Watson, Eglogue Death Sir F. Walsingham, 276 (Arb.), 169.
| For now my mind reclaimd from carefull mone, | |
| gins fault hir giuing place to sorrows sourse. |
1633. T. Adams, Exp. 2 Peter ii. 4. The lion was faulted by the lioness, that his breath stank.
1677. Cary, Chronol., II. II. I. iii. 193. Josephus is to be faulted, for saying that it was in the 25th year.
1791. Wolcott (P. Pindar), The Rights of Kings, Wks. 1812, II. 415.
| They always come to table with a scowl; | |
| Squint with a Face of Verjuice o’er each Dish, | |
| Fault the poor Flesh, and quarrel with the Fish, | |
| Curse Cook and Wife, and loathing eat and growl. |
1842. S. Lover, Handy Andy xxx. What’s that you’re faulting now? is it my deal seats without cushions?
1850. Mrs. F. Trollope, Petticoat Govt., III. x. Her manner, also, could not, to use an American phrase, be ‘faulted.’
1866. Lowell, Biglow P., Introd. The Americanisms with which we are faulted.
b. To impugn or mark as faulty. rare.
1585. Abp. Sandys, Serm. (1841), 233. If there be any deformity at all in the body of a naked man, it is soon espied and faulted.
1635. Shelford, Learned Disc., 54. God’s house is abused by them which bring hither hawks and dogs, which is faulted in our Church-homilie.
1665. J. Sergeant, Sure-footing in Chr., 58. If Protestants faulted not the Rule but onely pretended that men had fail’d it, they might yet delude the world with some colour that they had ever held to the doctrin of Ancestours.
1882–3. J. Mombert, in Schaff, Encycl. Relig. Knowl., I. 736/1. Twenty-nine passages in the New Testament of 1568, faulted by Lawrence as incorrect, were, for the most part, as corrected by him, received in the edition of 1572, and into the present text of the Authorized Version.
8. Hunting. To put (a hound) at fault; to throw off the scent. rare.
1873. W. S. Mayo, Never again, xii. 164. A way! By which we’ll fault their staunchest hound.
9. Geol. and Mining. trans. Chiefly pass. To cause a fault (see FAULT sb. 9) or break of continuity in; to dislocate. To fault down or through: to depress (part of a stratum), to drive (part of it) through (another) with the result of causing a fault.
1854. Murchison, Siluria, vii. (ed. 5), 139. It is faulted on the north-west against Old Red Sandstone.
1863. Dana, Man. Geol., 111. If the stratum were inclined at 15° without faulting, it would stand as in fig. D.
1872. W. S. Symonds, Rec. Rocks., iv. 114. This district is full of faults, and black slates of Llandeilo age are faulted through the Caradoc beds near the castle.
1879. Rutley, Stud. Rocks, ii. 8. Portions of the already solidified crust were faulted down or depressed so as to come within the range of these heated portions of the earth.
1883. Science, I. 101. An undulation which has overturned the folds, and has faulted them in some places.
fig. 1837. Sir F. Palgrave, Merch. & Friar, ii. (1844), 39. Correct reasoning would suddenly be faulted, as it were, by a vein of wild credulity.
