Forms: 3 fæȝen, fæien, fegen, feȝen, 4–5 fyen, 6 fie, 7 fea, 7–8 fee, 4, 7–9 fey, 7–9 feigh, fay. [a. ON. fǽgja to cleanse, polish:—OTeut. type *fægjan. ON. had also a synonymous parallel derivative from same root, fága (= MDu. vágen:—OTeut. type *fægôjan) whence the Eng. FOW v. The ON. words appear to be related by ablaut to Du. vegen, MHG. vegen, mod.G. fegen, to polish, clean, sweep.
In South Yorkshire it rimes with weigh, not with day, way, say; perh. the best spelling is feigh.]
trans. To clean, cleanse, polish; to clear away (filth, etc.). Now only dial. in specific applications: To clean out (a ditch, pond); to pare away (surface soil); to clean (seed); to winnow (corn).
c. 1205. Lay., 7957. Heo … fæȝeden heoren wepnen. Ibid., 8057. Þe king … hehten [?hehte] heom alle … fæien heore steden.
c. 1220. Bestiary, 210. Feȝ ðe ðus of ði brest filde.
c. 1350. in Archæologia, XXX. 353.
| Þis drinke xal fyen fro þi herte | |
| Glet & rewme & peynys smerte. |
a. 1400[?]. Morte Arth., 1114. He feyed his fysnamye with his foule hondez.
1573. Tusser, Husb. (1878), 54. At midnight trie foule priuies to fie. Ibid., 133. Choised seede to be picked and trimlie well fide.
1600. Holland, Livy, XXI. xxxvii. (1609), 414. Such a deale of snow there was to be digged, faied, and thrown out.
1621. Burton, Anat. Mel., I. ii. IV. vi. To empty jakes, fay channels, carry out durt & dunghils, sweep chimnies, rub horse heeles &c.
1641. Best, Farm. Bks. (Surtees), 4. Oates threshed and feyed. Ibid., 52. Fey up dursed come, and lye strawe on the floores.
1674. Ray, N. C. Words, To Fee; to winnow. Ibid., To Fey or Feigh it: to do any thing notably. To fey Meadows, is to cleanse them: To fey a pond, to empty it.
1704. in Picton, L’pool Munic. Rec. (1886), II. 59. Hee has already fey’d and ring’d ye seller and enclosed a garden.
1796. Pegge, Anonym. (1809), 91. To fee, or to feigh, as they speak in Derbyshire, is to cleanse; so to fee out is to cleanse out.
1813. Cullum, Hist. Hawsted & Hardwick, Gloss., To fay or fey a pond or ditch, to clean by throwing the mud out of it.
1864. F. Greville, in Field, 29 Oct. The pond had not been cleaned out, (or as we say in Norfolk, fyed out) … for fifty-five years.
1876. C. C. Robinson, Mid-Yorksh. Gloss., ‘Fey that hedge bottom out.’
1876. Whitby Gloss., Fay, to fan, to winnow with the natural wind.
1887. Darlington, Folk-speech S. Cheshire, Gloss., Fee, to remove the surface-soil, e.g., to obtain marl, sand, &c.
Hence Faying vbl. sb.; used attrib. in faying-cloth, ? a winnowing cloth.
1641. Best, Farm. & Acct. Bks. (Surtees), § 2. 115. An old coverlette … and a feyinge cloth for to lye upon them.
