Forms: adj. 1 fáh, fáȝ, 2–7 (see forms of the sb.); sb. sing. 1 ȝefá, 2–3 ifa, ifo, ivo, 2–6 fa(a, 3 south. va, (4 fau), 3–6 fo(o, 3 south. vo, (3 foa), 4–5 Sc. fai, fay, 8–9 Sc. fae, 5– foe. pl. α. weak forms: 1 ȝefán, 2–3 ifan, ifon, ivon, 3 fan, foan, south. voan, (feon), 4–7 fon(e, foon(e, 4 south. von, 6 foen, 5–6 foyn. β. strong forms: 4–5 fa(a)s, faes, fais, fase, 4–6 fois, foo(e)s, 5 fos(e, (5 fosse, 6 fowys, Sc. feys), 8–9 Sc. faes, 4– foes. [repr. two distinct. OE. words: (1) the simple fáh, fáȝ adj. (:—OTeut. *faiho-); (2) the compound ȝefá sb. (wk. masc.), originally an absolute use of *ȝefáh adj. (not recorded as such) = OHG. gifêh at feud, odious (MHG. gevêch, gevê):—OTeut. *ga-faiho-, where the prefix imports the notion of ‘mutually’ (see Y-). As in many other sbs., the prefix ȝe-, i-, fell away in early ME., so that the compound sb. and the absolute use of the simple adj. became coincident.
The Teut. adj. *faiho- (represented only in W.Ger.) is referred to the Aryan root *peiq- poiq- piq-, whence OIrish oech enemy (:—poiqos), Gr. πικρός bitter, Lith. pìkta-s angry, ‘the current statement that the word is etymologically akin to FIEND depends on the doubtful hypothesis that the root *peiq- is an extension of *pei- to hate.]
† A. adj. Obs. (In 16–17th c. the adjectival use is to be regarded as a new development from the sb., not as a continuation of the OE. adj.)
1. At feud with; hostile, inimical (to).
Beowulf, 811. He wæs faȝ wið god.
c. 1175. Cott. Hom., 231. Frend oðer fend, hold oðer fá.
c. 1425. Wyntoun, Cron., VIII. xxxvii. 164. Fortown forsyd hyr to be Fa.
a. 1568. Ascham, Scholem., II. (Arb.), 91.
| So fast to frende, so foe to few, so good to euery wight, | |
| I may well wishe, but scarcelie hope, agayne to haue in sight. |
1603. Florio, Montaigne, I. xlvii. 154. He might see his enemie consume & waste himselfe, by the difficulties which dayly must necessarily assult, environ and combate-him, as he who should be engaged in an enemie-country and foe-land.
2. Hindering progress, rough, rugged.
c. 1340. Gaw. & Gr. Knt. 1430. Bitwene a flosche in þat fryth & a foo cragge.
B. sb. (Now somewhat rhetorical; superseded in general use by ENEMY.)
1. In early use, an adversary in deadly feud or mortal combat; now in wider sense, one who hates and seeks to injure another; a personal enemy.
a. 1000. Laws Ælfred, II. (Thorpe), xlii. Gif he mæȝnes hæbbe þæt he his ȝefan beride.
c. 1175. Lamb. Hom., 87. God heom aredde wið heore ifan and heom fordude.
c. 1200. Trin. Coll. Hom., 219. Nu is euerihc man ifo þare he solde fren be.
a. 1225. Ancr. R., 274. Þauh þi foa hurte þe oðe vet.
a. 1250. Owl & Night., 1710.
| Moni man … Thurh belde worde an mid i-lete, | |
| Deth his i-vo for arehwe swete. |
a. 1300. Cursor M., 1593 (Cott.). Hijs faas to bring al o lijf.
1340. Ayenb., 255. He ualþ liȝtliche ine þe honden of his uon.
1375. Barbour, Bruce, II. 208. Robert the bruce, that wes his fa.
c. 1460. Towneley Myst. (Surtees), 223.
| My brethere that I cam forto by | |
| Has hanged me here, thus hedusly, | |
| And freyndes fynde I foyn. |
1526. Tindale, Matt. x. 36. A mannes fooes shalbe they of his owne housholde.
1625. Milton, On Death fair Infant, 64.
| But oh why didst thou not stay here below | |
| To bless us with thy heav’n-lov’d innocence, | |
| To slake his wrath whom sin hath made our foe | |
| To turn Swift-rushing black perdition hence, | |
| Or drive away the slaughtering pestilence. |
1728. Pope, The Dunciad, III. 177.
| Embrace, embrace, my sons! be foes no more! | |
| Nor glad vile Poets with true Critics gore. |
1787. Burns, Tam Samson’s Elegy, vii.
| Your mortal fae is now awa’, | |
| Tam Samson’s dead! |
1823. Byron, Juan, VIII. lxx.
| He was a jolly fellow, and could crack | |
| His jest alike in face of friend or foe. |
1859. Tennyson, Elaine, 1083. He makes no friend who never made a foe.
b. Our foe, the arch foe: the Devil; = ENEMY 1 b.
a. 1225. Ancr. R., 62. Vre vo, þe weorreur of helle.
c. 1366. Chaucer, A B C, 84. Lat not our alder foo make his bobaunce.
1667. Milton, P. L., VI. 259.
| The arch foe subdu’d | |
| Or Captive drag’d in Chains, with hostile frown | |
| And visage all enflam’d first thus began. |
c. In a weaker sense: An adversary, antagonist, opponent.
1697. Dryden, Virg. Georg., II. 773.
| He calls on Bacchus, and propounds the Prize; | |
| The Groom his Fellow-Groom at Buts defies; | |
| And bends his Bow, and levels with his Eyes. | |
| Or stript for Wrestling, smears his Limbs with Oil, | |
| And watches with a Trip his Foe to foil. |
1870. Morris, Earthly Par., I. 133.
| Made happy that the foe the prize hath won, | |
| She weeps glad tears for all her glory done. |
d. transf. and fig. (a) One who feels unfriendly or acts in opposition or prejudicially to (some thing), an ill-wisher; (b) Anything that harms or is likely to injure.
(a) 1607. Shaks., Cor., III. i. 176. A Foe to’th’ publike Weale.
1728. Pope, The Dunciad, IV. 459.
| Be that my task (replies a gloomy Clerk, | |
| Sworn foe to Myst’ry, yet divinely dark!) |
1813. Shelley, Q. Mab, IX. 175.
| The transient gulph-dream of a starting sleep | |
| Death is no foe to virtue. |
1859. Tennyson, Guinevere, 508.
| I hold that man the worst of public foes | |
| Who either for his own or children’s sake. |
(b) c. 1200. Trin. Coll. Hom., 33. Crist him hadde warned togenes þre fon, synne … sor and deað.
1413. Pilgr. Sowle (Caxton, 1483), IV. xx. 65.
| Engendred ye me, that am agreued soo? | |
| Myrthe is to me become a very foo! |
1607. Shaks., Timon, II. ii. 241. That thought is Bounties Foe.
1807. Crabbe, Village, II. 192.
| Grief is a foe—expel him then thy soul; | |
| Let nobler thoughts the nearer views control! |
2. One belonging to a hostile army or nation, an enemy in battle or war.
c. 1205. Lay., 215.
| Inne þane fehte | |
| his feon heo him binomen. |
1375. Barbour, Bruce, XVIII. 228. Deliuerit of sic felloune a faa.
c. 1470. Henry the Minstrel, Wallace, I. 53.
| Foly it was, forsuth it happynnyt sa, | |
| Succour to sek of thar alde mortale fa. |
1591. Spenser, Vis. Bellay, 66. A barbarous troupe of clownish fone.
1667. Milton, P. L., I. 436.
| Sunk before the Spear | |
| Of despicable foes. |
1704. Addison, Poems, Campaign.
| Give thy Brave Foes their Due, nor blush to own, | |
| The fatal Field by such great Leaders won. |
1838. Thirlwall, Greece, III. 251. Abundant opportunities of annoying their hereditary foes in the land of their fathers.
1887. Bowen, Virg. Æneid, II. 71. Trojans eye me in wrath, and demand my life as a foe!
3. collect. A hostile force; = ENEMY 3.
1593. Shaks., 3 Hen. VI., I. iv. 3.
| And all my followers, to the eager foe | |
| Turne back, and flye, like Ships before the Winde, | |
| Or Lambes pursu’d by hunger-starued Wolues. |
1633. Massenger, Guardian, I. i.
| For a flying foe, | |
| Discreet and provident conquerors build up | |
| A bridge of gold. |
1794. Burns, On the Seas & Far Away.
| How can I the thought forego, | |
| He’s on the seas to meet the foe. |
1816. Byron, Ch. Har., III. xxv.
| While throng’d the citizens with terror dumb, | |
| Or whispering, with white lips—‘The foe! they come! they come!’ |
1861. M. Pattison, Ess. (1889), I. 47. Long after London had ceased to fear a foreign foe.
4. attrib. and Comb., as foe-god; foe-reaped, -subduing adjs.; foe-like, adj. and adv.; also † foe-hearted a., having the heart of a foe, hostile; † foe-Troy a. (nonce-wd.), hostile to Troy.
1870. Rossetti, Eden Bower, 53.
| Is not the *foe-God weak as the foeman | |
| When love grows hate in the heart of a woman? |
1598. Rowlands, Betraying Christ, 6. Now *foe-harted, trecherous of intent.
1556. J. Heywood, Spider & F., lxiii. 57.
| These *folike freendes: otherwise feendlike fose, | |
| Are much like mermaides: thone halfe flesh thother fishe. |
1638. G. Sandys, Paraphr. Lament., ii. 13.
| Foe-like hath bent his Bow; his Hostile hand | |
| Advanc’t, and slaine the Beauty of the Land. |
1812. Byron, Curse Minerva, 301.
| The rifled mansion, and the *foe-reap’d field, | |
| Ill suit with souls at home, untaught to yield. |
1590. T. Watson, Eglogue Death Sir F. Walsingham, 300. Poems (Arb.), 169.
| Where Dominations rule and yet obaie: | |
| where Principalities to lower powers | |
| Deepe hidden misteries doe still bewraie: | |
| where arms are vsd by *foe-subduing powers. |
1615. Chapman, Odyss., XIV. 332.
| Till the Thunderer drew | |
| Our Forces out in his *foe-Troy decrees. |
