Obs. Forms: 1 faaȝ, fáȝ, 2 foaȝ, fogh, 3 fah, foh, south. vaȝ, 4 fowe, 4– faw. [OE. fáȝ, fáh = OHG. fêh, Goth. faihs:—OTeut. *faiho-z:—pre-Teut. *poiko-s, cognate with Gr. ποικίλος particolored. (The mod.Eng form would normally be *fow or *fough; faw is from northern dialects.)]
1. Colored, stained, streaked; particolored, variegated. Also in Comb. as gold-faw.
a. 700. Epinal Gloss., 61. Arrius [varius]. faaȝ.
[?]. Beowulf, 1631. Laȝu drusade wæter under wolcnum wæl dreore faȝ.
c. 1000. Sax. Leechd., II. 124. Ram ȝeallan þone faȝan cnua on niwe ealo.
c. 1150. Semi-Sax. Voc., in Wr.-Wülcker, 542. Fuluus, uel flauus … fouh.
c. 1175. Lamb. Hom., 53. Þas faȝe neddre bitacneð þis faȝe folc þe wuneð in þisse weorlde…. Witeð eow þet ȝe ne beo noht þe foaȝe neddre.
c. 1205. Lay., 24653. Sum hafde gode grene æc, and alches cunnes fah clað. Ibid., 30984. Gold-uaȝe sceldes scanden bilifes.
c. 1440. Gaw. & Galaron, ii. 13, in Pinkerton, Scot. Poems (1792), III. 218.
| Ferly fayr wes the feild, flekerit and faw, | |
| With gold and goulis in greyne. |
1513. Douglas, Æneis, VIII. x. (1839), 500. The God of bestis and of feildis faw.
b. In the plant-name Fawthistle (lit. colored thistle), the card thistle or teasel. Obs.
1483. Cath. Angl., 124/1. Fawthistelle, labrum veneris.
c. Of objects that reflect light; bright, glancing, gleaming, twinkling.
c. 1000. Ags. Ps. lxxxiii[i]. 36. Fultum þu him afyrdest faȝan sweordes.
a. 1400[?]. Morte Arth., 747. The pryce schippez … fondez wyth fulle saile ower the fawe ythez.
2. quasi-sb. The adj. used absol. coupled with gray. A species of fur, e.g., ermine (see quot. a. 1200). Cf. OF. vair et gris.
a. 1200. Moral Ode, 361. Ne scal þer beo fou ne grei ne cunig ne ermine.
c. 1275. Doomsday, 28, in O. E. Misc., 164.
| Moni of þisse riche | |
| þat wereden foh and grei. |
c. 1314. Guy Warw. (A.), 4174. Gij him schred in fou & gray.
c. 1320. Sir Tristr., 1220.
| Þai raft me fowe and griis, | |
| And þus wounded þai me. |
