Forms: 2–6 feble, (4 febele), 3–5 febul(l(e, 3–6 fieble, (4 fyble, 6 fybull), 4–6 feable, febil(l, -yl(e, 7 feoble, 6– feeble. Compar. 3 feblore; Superl. 4 fyebleste, 6 feobleste. [a. OF. feble, fieble, foible (mod. faible), later forms of fleible weak:—L. flēbilis that is to be wept over cf. FLEBILE a.), f. flēre to weep. Cf. Pr. feble, fible, freble, Sp. feble, Pg. febre, It. fievole of same origin and meaning.]
A. adj.
1. Of persons or animals, their limbs or organs: Lacking strength, weak, infirm. Now implying an extreme degree of weakness, and suggesting either pity or contempt. † Const. of, also to with inf.
c. 1175. Lamb. Hom., 47. Þa bi-com his licome swiðe feble.
a. 1225. Ancr. R., 276. Auh wostu hwat awilegeð monnes feble eien þet is heie iclumben?
1297. R. Glouc. (Rolls), 7664.
| & al þat þe deneis · no mete ne founde þere, | |
| Wanne hii come to worri · & so þe feblore were. |
c. 1305. St. Christopher, 216, in E. E. P. (1862), 65. Þu ert wel feble to fiȝte.
c. 1320. The Seuyn Sages (W.), 3775.
| Ful klenly was he cled and dyght, | |
| Bot he was lene and febil of myght. |
a. 1340. Hampole, Psalter, xxxvii. 15. As aran þan þe whilk na thynge is febiler.
c. 1400. Lanfranc’s Cirurg., 311. If the patient be maad feble wiþ medicyns laxativis.
c. 1450. Life of St. Cuthbert (Surtees), 3607. He was so febill be myght noȝt ga.
1483. Caxton, G. de la Tour, C viij b. And this lady felt herself al wery and feble of the aduysyons.
a. 1529. Skelton, The Bouge of Court, Prol. 27. His heed maye be harde, but feble his brayne.
a. 1533. Ld. Berners, Huon, liv. 182. Huon was mounted on his lene feble horse.
1611. Bible, Gen. xxx. 42. But when the cattel were feeble, hee put them not in: so the feebler were Labans, and the stronger Iacobs.
c. 1630. Milton, Passion, 45. Though grief my feeble hands up lock.
1764. Goldsm., The Traveller, 147.
| From these the feeble heart, and long-fall’n mind, | |
| An easy compensation seem to find. |
1829. Hood, Eugene Aram, xiv.
| One that had never done me wrong,— | |
| A feeble man and old; | |
| I led him to a lonely field,— | |
| The moon shone clear and cold: | |
| Now here, said I, this man shall die, | |
| And I will have his gold! |
1841–4. Emerson, Ess., Prudence, Wks. (Bohn), I. 100. Bring them hand to hand, and they are feeble folk.
absol. a. 1225. Ancr. R., 220. Þus ure Louerd spareð a uormest þe ȝunge & þe feble.
c. 1425. Wyntoun, Cron., VIII. xviii. 92. Rycht oft makis þe febil wycht.
1808. Med. Jrnl., XIX. 424. If acidity be troublesome, as often happens to the feeble and dyspeptic.
† 2. Of things: Having little strength; weak, frail, fragile; slight, slender. Of a fortress, etc.: Having little power of resistance. Obs.
1340. Ayenb., 227. Hit is grat wonder þet hi lokeþ zuich ane fieblene castel ase hare fyeble body.
c. 1384. Chaucer, H. Fame, III. 42. This were a feble fundament.
1387. Trevisa, Higden (Rolls), I. 235. Hem semede þat þe legges were to feble for to bere suche an ymage.
c. 1400. Lanfranc’s Cirurg., 322. The firste boon in a mannes necke is bounden with manye feble ligaturis.
c. 1400. Maundev. (1839), vii. 80. Before the Chirche of the Sepulcre, is the Cytee more feble than in ony other partie.
c. 1470. Henry the Minstrel, Wallace, XI. 1010. Thus semblyt thai about that febill hauld.
1540. Act 32 Hen. VIII., c. 18. Some houses be feble and very lyke to fall downe.
1697. Dryden, Virg. Georg., I. 163.
| And left he Stem, too feeble for the freight, | |
| Shou’d scarce sustain the Head’s unwieldy weight. |
1776. Withering, Brit. Plants (1796), II. 16. Bunches lateral, of few flowers … stem feeble.
absol. 1393. Gower, Conf., I. 24.
| The feble meind was with the strong, | |
| So might it nought wel stonde long. |
b. spec. with reference to a sword. [ad. F. faible: see B. 4.]
1684. R. H., School Recreat., 57. The feeble, weak, or second Part is accounted from the Middle to the Point, and is properly made use of in Offending or giving Thrusts or Blows.
1809. Roland, Fencing, 35. Be very careful to parry with the fort part of your blade against the feeble part of your adversary’s, whether he makes his thrust high or low.
3. Lacking intellectual or moral strength.
c. 1200. Trin. Coll. Hom., 191. He … al te secheð þat þonc þe was er swo fieble.
1377. Langl., P. Pl., B. XV. 341. Wherfore folke is þe feblere · and nouȝt ferme of bilieue.
a. 1400–50. Alexander, 1710.
| He þoȝt him sa feble, | |
| He dressis to him in dedeyne · & in dispite sendis: | |
| First a ball, says þ buke · þe barne with to play. |
c. 1440. York Myst., xxiii. 169. Þe ffebill of faithe! folke affraied.
1526. Pilgr. Perf. (W. de W., 1531), G b. We sholde not be ignoraunt, feble & weyke in these … thynges.
1639. Dk. Hamilton, in H. Papers (Camden), 77. I shall neuer proue false or feeble.
1692. Bentley, Serm., 3 Oct., 29. Though we be now miserable and feeble, yet we aspire after eternal happiness.
1828. Carlyle, Misc. (1857), I. 105. He was feeble and without volition.
a. 1859. Macaulay, Misc. Writ. (1860), II. 107. Rigid principles often do for feeble minds what stays do for feeble bodies.
† 4. Wanting in resources; ill-supplied, poor. Const. of. Obs.
c. 1314. Guy Warw. (A.), p. 448. (lxxxiv. 10). A feble lord þou seruest.
1375. Barbour, Bruce, XVI. 355.
| Tharfor he thoucht the cuntre was | |
| Febill of men. |
1523. Ld. Berners, Froiss., I. ccccxlviii. 791. The Duke of Aniowe began to wax feble, bothe of men and of money.
† b. Of a grant of money, a meal: Scanty. Obs.
1494. Fabyan, Chron., VII. 509. The sayd .iii. astatys ordeynyd a more feble money than they before hadde made.
1562. Turner, Baths, 12 a. Ye may go to a feble diner.
c. 1590. Greene, Fr. Bacon, ix. 246. I knew not of the friars feeble fare.
† 5. Of inferior quality, poor, mean. Often said of clothing, food, dwelling, etc. Obs.
c. 1275. A Lutel Soth Sermun, 41, in O. E. Misc., 188.
| Boþe heo makeþ feble | |
| heore bred and heore ale. |
c. 1290. S. Eng. Leg., I. 15/484. Vpon a seli asse he rod: in feble cloþes also.
c. 1340. Cursor Mundi, 23100. (Trin.). For here is febul abidynge.
1377. Langl., P. Pl., B. XV. 343. Þe merke of þat mone is good ac þe metal is fieble.
c. 1420. Pallad. on Husb., I. 292.
| And fewe or feble grapes in the same | |
| Have growe. |
c. 1470. Henry the Minstrel, Wallace, VI. 452. The man kest off his febill weid off gray.
† b. Of a period, event, etc.; Miserable, ill-starred, unhappy. Obs.
1297. R. Glouc. (Rolls), 6125. Febleliche he liuede al is lif · & deyde in feble deþe.
a. 1400[?]. Chester Pl. (Shaks. Soc.), I. 224. In feable tyme Christe yode me froo.
c. 1400. Destr. Troy, 1438. Ffele folke forfaren with a ffeble ende.
† c. In moral sense: Mean, base. Obs.
c. 1250. Gen. & Ex., 1072. Wicke and feble was here þoȝt.
c. 1440. Gesta Rom., xvii. 60 (Add. MS.). To fulfille her wille in feble dede.
6. Wanting in energy, force, or effect.
a. of natural agents, powers, qualities, or operations.
c. 1340. Richard Rolle of Hampole, Prick of Conscience, 744.
| For-whi þe complection of ilk man | |
| Was sythen febler þan it was þan. |
a. 1300. Cursor Mundi, 1995 (Trin.).
| Now is for synne & pride of man | |
| þe erþe feblere þen hit was þan. |
c. 1400. Lanfranc’s Cirurg., 221. Þan I tastide hir pous & it was wondir feble. Ibid., 353. In feble men … þou muste use feble medicyns.
1595. Shaks., John, V. iv. 35. The old, feeble, and day-wearied Sunne.
1671. R. Bohun, Disc. Wind, 14. Air alone might seeme able to create but a very feoble and languid VVind.
1700. Dryden, Fables, Palamon & Arcite, I. 164.
| Nor well alive, nor wholly dead they were, | |
| But some faint Signs of feeble Life appear. |
1719. London & Wise, The Complete Gard’ner, V. iii. 99. We shall have no Fruit upon our Wall-Trees, unless we contrive it so, that we may have some feeble Branches on them.
1794. Mrs. Radcliffe, Myst. Udolpho, iv. Her light was yet to feeble to assist them.
1806. Med. Jrnl., XV. 438. A feebler action of the poison.
1849. G. P. R. James, The Woodman, v. He has but feeble health, and will partake of your hospitality for the night.
b. of the mind, thoughts, etc.
1393. Langl., P. Pl., C. II. 183. Þat feith with-oute fet ys febelere þan nouht.
c. 1400. Maundev. (Roxb.), xx. 92. Bot after my feble witte me thinke, saue þaire grace, þat it es mykill mare aboute.
1535. Coverdale, 2 Esdras v. 14. My mynde was feble and carefull, so that I allmost swowned withall.
1590. Shaks., Com. Err., III. ii. 35.
| Lay open to my earthie grosse conceit: | |
| Smothred in errors, feeble, shallow, weake. |
1651. Hobbes, Leviath., III. xxxiv. 214. Have extorted from my feeble Reason, an acknowledgment, and belief, that there be also Angels substantiall, and permanent.
1836. J. Gilbert, Chr. Atonem., ix. (1852), 278. The thought of danger would possess but feeble power to resist temptation.
c. of actions, feelings, utterances, etc.
c. 1340. Cursor Mundi, 14849 (Fairf.). A feble counsail ȝe do to dragh.
1393. Gower, Conf., II. 318. That was a feble dede of armes.
c. 1400. Destr. Troy, 3188.
| At þe last, when the lede hade left of his speche, | |
| ffele of þe folke febull it thughten. |
1580. Baret, Alv., F 348. Feeble orations made to the people, without spirit or life.
1591. Shaks., Two Gent., II. vii. 10.
| Iul. A true-deuoted Pilgrime is not weary | |
| To measure kingdomes with his feeble steps. |
1697. Dryden, Virg. Æneid, VIII. 621. But feeble are the Succours I can send.
1738. Wesley, Psalms ii. iv.
| The Lord that calmly sits above, | |
| Enthron’d in everlasting love, | |
| Shall all their feeble threats deride, | |
| And laugh to scorn their furious pride. |
1801. Southey, Thalaba, I. xvii.
| For grief in Zeinab’s soul | |
| All other feebler feelings overpower’d. |
1818. Jas. Mill, Brit. India, II. IV. v. 166. The brilliancy of the exploit had no feeble attractions for the imagination of Clive; and after the recall of Bussy to Pondicherry, he imparted his intentions to the Council.
1838. Thirlwall, Greece, VII. 281. A feeble attempt was made by two generals.
1862. Ld. Brougham, Brit. Const., xii. 164. From the beginning of his reign he [John] had fallen into general contempt, by the feeble conduct which lost Normandy to the Crown; and the Barons resisted all his attempts to make them aid him in recovering it.
1876. Trevelyan, Macaulay, II. viii. 66. Sir Robert Peel, after expressing in handsome, and even chivalrous, terms, his satisfaction at finding himself once more confronted by so redoubtable an antagonist, proceeded to reply with a feeble and partial argument, set off by a fine quotation from Burke.
7. Of an effect, phenomenon, etc.: Faintly perceptible, indistinct.
1860. Tyndall, Glac., I. iii. 30. The effect became more and more feeble, until … it almost wholly disappeared.
1876. Tait, Rec. Adv. Phys. Sc., ix. 215. The feeble bands which cross the comparatively dark space between the spectra.
8. quasi-adv. = FEEBLY.
1768–74. Tucker, Lt. Nat. (1852), I. 202. Every one’s experience may convince him how feeble she [reason] acts unless seconded by some powerful motive retained in view, and how carefully she is forced to fortify herself all around with considerations of damage, or shame, or compunction.
9. Comb., parasynthetic, as, feeble-bodied, -eyed, -framed, -hearted, -minded (whence feeble-mindedness), -winged.
1774. Goldsm., Nat. Hist., VII. viii. 180. The viper … is but a slow, *feeble-bodied animal.
1814. Wordsw., Excursion, VIII. 208.
| Measuring the force of those gigantic powers | |
| That, by the thinking mind, have been compelled | |
| To serve the will of feeble-bodied Man. |
1600. Fairfax, Tasso, V. xii. 5.
| And, for weake Cupid was too *feeble eide | |
| To strike him sure, the fire in him was dead. |
1808. Cobbett, Pol. Reg., XIV. 193. The law gives him so much power over the poor *feeble framed creature whom he has married; he is so completely the master of her and of all she has; he has, if he be worthy of a wife, so decided an influence over her mind, that his cuckoldom appears to me to be almost impossible, unless from his own fault.
1550. Bale, Image Both Ch., I. ii. D iv b. If thou be *feble harted saye, lorde encrease my fayth.
1836. J. H. Newman, The Angel of the Church, in Lyra Apost. (1849), 150.
| And ere it reach Heaven’s gate, | |
| Blows frustrate o’er the earth thy feeble-hearted prayer. |
1534. Tindale, 1 Thess. v. 14. Comforte the *feble mynded.
1892. Daily News, 1 March, 3/3. The desirability of better provision being made for the care of ‘feeble-minded’ women.
1619. W. Sclater, Expos. 1 Thess. (1630), 481. Schoole Moralists treating of it, thus set out the Nature of *feeble-mindednesse.
1846. Worcester (citing E. Irving), Feeble-Mindedness.
1634. Ford, P. Warbeck, I. ii.
| Your goodness gives large warrants to my boldness, | |
| My *feeble-wing’d ambition. |
B. sb.
† 1. A feeble person. Obs.
(Quots. 1631 and 1826 refer to K. Hen. IV., III ii. 179.)
1340. Ayenb., 148. Þe guode man and þe wyse bereþ and uorbereþ alne way þe foles and þe fiebles.
[1631. T. Powell, Tom of All Trades, 24. The Taylor, who in one of his Customers cast suites had thrust himselfe in amongst the Nobilitie at a Court Maske, where pulling out his Handkercher, hee let fall his Thimble, and was so discovered, and handled, and dandled from hand to foote, till the Guard delivered him at the great Chamber doore, and cryed, farewell good feeble.
1826. Disraeli, Viv. Grey, IV. i. The most forcible of feebles.]
† 2. Weakness, feebleness. Obs.
Only in phrase for feeble, which may be explained as ellipsis = ‘For feeble that one is’; the substantival character of the sense is thus doubtful.
c. 1325. Coer de L., 778.
| That him ne thorst yt not wyte, | |
| For febyl his dynt to smyte. |
c. 1400. Destr. Troy, 8703.
| Suche a sorow full sodenly sanke in his hert, | |
| Þat he fainted for feble fell on his corse. |
a. 1400–50. Alexander, 4280. Ne for na febill at we fele.
3. = FOIBLE 1.
1678. Mrs. Behn, Sir Patient Fancy, I. i. You shall find ’em sway’d by some who have the luck to find their feables.
1694. R. L’Estrange, Fables, ccccxcvi. (ed. 6), 543. Every Man has his Feeble.
1823. Byron, Juan, XV. xxii.
| A modest hope—but modesty ’s my forte, | |
| And pride my feeble:—let us ramble on. | |
| I meant to make this poem very short, | |
| But now I can’t tell where it may not run. |
4. Fencing. The portion of a sword from the middle to the point; = FOIBLE 2.
1645. City Alarum, 1. Ther’s no good fencing without knowledge of the feeble of your Sword.
1776. G. Semple, A Treatise on Building in Water, 54. Like taking a Sword in the feeble of the Point, the further it goes the more Power it will gain.
1877. Blackie’s Pop. Encycl., III. 325/2. It should always be the care of the swordsman to receive the feeble of the enemy’s weapon on the forte of his own.
