foin

See also: fóin

English

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /fɔɪn/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɔɪn

Etymology 1

From Old French foene (“harpoon, fizgig”), from Latin fuscina (“trident”).

Noun

foin (plural foins)

1. (archaic) A thrust.
   • 1485, Thomas Malory, Le Morte Darthur Book XXI, Chapter iiij, leaf 424r:

     And there kyng Arthur smote syr mordred vnder the shelde wyth a foyne of his spere throughoute the body more than a fadom.
     "And there King Arthur smote Sir Mordred under the shield, with a foin of his spear, throughout the body, more than a fathom."

   • 1600, Edward Fairfax (translator), Jerusalem Delivered, Tasso, XII, lv:

     They move their hands, steadfast their feet remain, / Nor blow nor foin they struck or thrust in vain.

Derived terms

• foinery

Verb

foin (third-person singular simple present foins, present participle foining, simple past and past participle foined)

1. (archaic) To thrust with a sword; to stab at.

   Synonyms: jab, run through; see also Thesaurus:stab

   • 1593, Thomas Nashe, The Choice of Valentines, lines 140-141:

     And then he flue on hir as he were wood, / And on hir breeche did hack and foyne a-good.

   • 1700, [John] Dryden, “Palamon and Arcite: Or, The Knight’s Tale. In Three Books.”, in Fables Ancient and Modern; […], London: […] Jacob Tonson, […], →OCLC:

     They lash, they foin, they pass, they strive to bore / Their corselets, and the thinnest parts explore.

   • 1976, Robert Nye, Falstaff:

     These Fastulfrs and Falsts could drink as well as they could foin or fight, and this has also been the case with me.

   • 1596, Edmund Spenser, “Book IV, Canto III”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC, stanza 25:

     He stroke, he soust, he foynd, he hewd, he lasht,

2. (archaic) To prick; to sting.

Etymology 2

From French fouine (“a marten”).

Noun

foin (plural foins)

1. The beech marten (Martes foina, syn. Mustela foina).
2. A kind of fur, black at the top on a whitish ground, taken from the ferret or weasel of the same name.
   • 1642, Thomas Fuller, The Holy State, Cambridge, Cambridgeshire: […] Roger Daniel for John Williams, […], →OCLC:

     He came to the stake in a fair black gown furred and faced with foins.

Anagrams

• Fino, Info., ONFI, fino, info, info-

Bavarian

Verb

foin (past participle gfoin) (Central Bavarian)

1. alternative spelling of fåin (“to fall; to drop”)

French

Etymology

Inherited from Middle French foin, from Old French fein, from Latin fēnum, monophthongized variant of Latin faenum (“hay”), from Proto-Indo-European *dʰeh₁(y)-no-, from *dʰeh₁(y)-.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /fwɛ̃/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Audio (Canada (Shawinigan)):

  (file)

• Audio (France (Vosges)):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -wɛ̃

Noun

foin m (plural foins)

1. hay

Derived terms

• bête à manger du foin
• chercher une aiguille dans une botte de foin
• faire tout un foin de
• meule de foin
• rhume des foins

Related terms

• faner
• fenaison
• fenasse
• fenil

Interjection

foin

2. (dated, literary) Used to express disdain [with de ‘of someone/something’].
   • 1678, Jean de La Fontaine, “Le Loup, la Chèvre et le Chevreau”, in Fables de La Fontaine:

     Et d’une voix papelarde / Il demande qu’on ouvre, en diſant Foin du Loup,

     (please add an English translation of this quotation)

Further reading

• “foin”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012

Anagrams

• fion, info

Manx

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /foːnʲ/

Pronoun

foin (emphatic foinyn)

1. first-person plural of fo (“under us”)

Old French

Alternative forms

• fain
• fein

Etymology

From earlier fein, from Latin faenum.

Noun

foin oblique singular, m (oblique plural foinz, nominative singular foinz, nominative plural foin)

1. hay

Related terms

• fener

Descendants

• French: foin
• Norman: fain