Forms: 3 feoverel, -rer, 3–5 fever(r)er, -yer(e, (3 -ȝeer), 4–5 feverȝere, (5 Sc. feveryher), 4–6 feverel(l(e, (4 -yl), 4–7 februar, (9 Sc. febewar), 4 februari, 6–7 februarie, (6 febrewary), 7–8 februeer, (7 -ere), 4– February. Also abbrev. Feb. [ME. feverer, ad. OF. feverier, = Pr. febrier, Cat. febrer, Sp. febrero, Pg. fevereiro, It. febbraio:—popular L. *febrārius, L. februārius, f. februa pl. (februum sing. a word of Sabine origin signifying purification), the Roman festival of purification, held on the 15th of this month. The ME. form feverel appears to be of Eng. origin, the dissimilation being parallel to that in laurel from laurer. It is noteworthy that Welsh has the form chwefrawl, -ol (the L. type of which would be *februālis), beside chwefrawr, -or repr. L. februārius. The later forms are taken directly from Lat. or refashioned after Lat.]
1. The second month of the year, containing twenty-eight days, except in bissextile or leap year, when it has twenty-nine.
[a. 1000. Menologium (Gr.), 18. Swylce emb feower wucan þætte solmonað siȝeð to tune, butan twam nihtum; swa hit ȝetealdon ȝeo, Februarius fær, frode ȝesiþas.]
a. 1225. Juliana, 78. Oþe sixtenðe dei of feouereles moneȝ.
1297. R. Glouc. (Rolls), 8238. In þe monþe of feuerer.
1398. Trevisa, Barth. De P. R., IX. x. (1495), 354. Olde errour of nacyons … halowed … February to the nether goddes.
c. 1450. Life of St. Cuthbert (Surtees), 7099. Of feuerȝere þe fift kalend.
c. 1470. Henry the Minstrel, Wallace, VII. 1.
| In Feuerȝher befell the sammyn cace, | |
| That Inglismen tuk trewis with Wallace. |
1588. A. King, trans. Canisius’ Catech., H iij. S. Matthias day ye 24 of februar.
a. 1660. Wharton, Disc. Years, etc., Wks. (1683), 83. February à Februo, that is to sacrifice, because then the Romans sacrificed to Pluto … for the Souls of their Ancestors.
1745. trans. Columella’s Husb., XI. ii. 464. The xx of February Leo (the Lion) ceases to set.
a. 1810. Tannahill, Feberwar, Poet. Wks. (1846), 157.
| Thou cauld gloomy Feberwar, | |
| O gin thou wert awa’. |
1867. O. W. Holmes, Old Volume of Life (1891), 135. A warm day in February is a dream of April.
b. personified.
1398. Trevisa, Barth. De P. R., IX. x. (1495), 355. Februari is paynted as an olde man sittynge by the fyre.
1821. Shelley, Dirge for the Year, Poems (1891), 568/2. February bears the bier.
1863. R. Chambers, Bk. of Days, I. 202. February comes in like a sturdy maiden, with a tinge of the red hard winter apple on her hardy cheek.
2. Proverbs. February fill-dike: a popular appellation indicating the prevalence of either rain or snow in this month.
1557. Tusser, 100 Points Husb., cii.
| And feuerell fill dyke, doth good with his snowe. | |
| Ibid. (1573), Husb., xxxvii. (1878), 87. | |
| Feb, fill the dike, | |
| With what thou dost like. |
1633. B. Jonson, A Tale of a Tub, I. i.
| Februere | |
| Doth cut and shear. |
1670. Ray, Prov., 40. All the moneths in the year curse a fair Februeer.
Ibid.
| February fill dike, Be it black or be it white, | |
| But if it be white, It’s the better to like. |
1787. Best, Angling, 165.
| The Welchman had rather see his dam on the bier, | |
| Than see a fair Februeer. |
1889. Allan, Weather Wisdom, 15.
| If in February there be no rain, | |
| ’Tis neither good for hay nor grain. |
3. attrib.; February Red, a kind of fly.
1599. Shaks., Much Ado, V. iv. 41.
| What’s the matter? | |
| That you haue such a Februarie face, | |
| So full of frost, of storme, and clowdinesse. |
1867. F. Francis, Angling, vi. (1880), 200. The February red … belongs to the Perlideæ.
1870. Morris, Earthly Par. (1890), 422/2. Late February days.
