Also 6 fyȝche, feche, fyche, fiche. [a. (perh. through an unrecorded OF. form) MDu. visse, fisse, whence OF. fissel FITCHEW.]
1. = FITCHEW.
1550. J. Coke, Eng. & Fr. Heralds, § 213 (1877), 118. We have marterns, foynes, blacke and gray conys, otters, fitches, squerelles, whyte and blacke lambe, with other kyndes of furres.
1607. Topsell, Four-f. Beasts (1658), 172. They say they stink like an Iltis that is a fitch or Poul-cat.
1661. Lovell, Hist. Anim. & Min., 49. Fitch … The part of use taken from them is the skinne, which is used in garments.
1706. Phillips (ed. Kersey), Fitch, a Polecat.
2. The fur or hair of a polecat.
1502. Will of Sowerby (Somerset Ho.). [Furred with] fyȝches.
1663–73. Bullokar, Fitch, the furr of the Polecat.
1879. M. M. Backus, in Encycl. Brit., IX. 838/1. Fitch.—Size about that of the American mink; overhair fine, 11/2 inches long, with dark points; fur a golden yellow.
1884. J. C. Staples, in Girl’s Own Paper, 8 March, 354/3. Some [brushes] are made of sable, fitch, and other hairs.
3. A brush made of the hair of a fitchew or polecat; also, a small brush made of hog’s hair.
1873. Spon, Workshop Rec., Ser. I. 106/1. The smallest hog-hair brushes are called fitches, and are used for putting in small work where the tool would be too large.
4. attrib., as fitch-brush, -hair.
1840. Thackeray, Paris Sk. Bk., French Sch. Paint. (end). Can you describe it? No, not if pens were fitch-brushes, and words were bladders of paint.
