Definify.com
Webster 1913 Edition
Fain
Fain
,Adj.
1.
Well-pleased; glad; apt; wont; fond; inclined.
Men and birds are
fain
of climbing high. Shakespeare
To a busy man, temptation is
fain
to climb up together with his business. Jer. Taylor.
2.
Satisfied; contented; also, constrained.
Shak.
The learned Castalio was
fain
to make trechers at Basle to keep himself from starving. Locke.
Fain
,adv.
With joy; gladly; – with wold.
He would
fain
have filled his belly with the husks that the swine did eat. Luke xv. 16.
Fain
Would I woo her, yet I dare not. Shakespeare
Fain
,Verb.
T.
& I.
To be glad ; to wish or desire.
[Obs.]
Whoso fair thing does
fain
to see. Spencer.
Webster 1828 Edition
Fain
FAIN
, a.1.
Glad; pleased; rejoiced. but the appropriate sense of the word is, glad or pleased to do something under some kind of necessity; that is, glad to evade evil or secure good. Thus, says Locke, 'The learned Castalio was fain to make trenches at Basil, to keep himself from starving.' this appropriation of the word, which is modern, led Dr. Johnson into a mistake in defining the word. The proper signification is glad, joyful.FAIN
,adv.
He would fain flee out of his hand. Job 28.
He would fain have filled his belly with husks. Luke 15.
FAIN
,Verb.
I.
Definition 2024
fain
fain
English
Adjective
fain (comparative more fain, superlative most fain)
- (archaic) Well-pleased; glad; apt; wont; fond; inclined.
- 1485, Sir Thomas Malory, chapter primum, in Le Morte Darthur, book XVII:
- Thus Gawayne and Ector abode to gyder / For syre Ector wold not awey til Gawayne were hole / & the good knyȝt Galahad rode so long tyll he came that nyghte to the Castel of Carboneck / & hit befelle hym thus / that he was benyghted in an hermytage / Soo the good man was fayne whan he sawe he was a knyght erraunt
- William Shakespeare (c.1564–1616)
- Men and birds are fain of climbing high.
- Jeremy Taylor (1613–1677)
- To a busy man, temptation is fain to climb up together with his business.
- (Can we date this quote?) Dante Gabriel Rossetti, A Death-Parting, line 11
- O love, of my death my life is fain,
- 1900, Ernest Dowson, To One in Bedlam, lines 9-10
- O lamentable brother! if those pity thee, / Am I not fain of all thy lone eyes promise me;
- 1485, Sir Thomas Malory, chapter primum, in Le Morte Darthur, book XVII:
- (archaic) Satisfied; contented.
- 2004, W. Ross Winterowd, quoting John Donne, Holy Sonnet XIV, Searching for Faith: A Skeptic's Journey, Parlor Press, ISBN 9781932559309, page 29:
- Yet dearly I love you, and would be loved fain,
-
Translations
Adverb
fain (comparative fainer, superlative fainest)
- (archaic) With joy; gladly.
- 1599, William Shakespeare, Much Ado About Nothing, Act 3 Scene 5
- LEONATO: I would fain know what you have to say.
- 1633, John Donne, Holly Sonnets, XIV
- Yet dearly I love you, and would be loved fain,/ But am betroth’d unto your enemy
- 1719, Daniel Defoe, Robinson Crusoe
- The second thing I fain would have had was a tobacco-pipe, but it was impossible to me to make one…
- 1599, William Shakespeare, Much Ado About Nothing, Act 3 Scene 5
Translations
gladly
Verb
fain (third-person singular simple present fains, present participle faining, simple past and past participle fained)
Translations
References
- ↑ fain in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913
- ↑ fahs and faginon in Köbler's Gotisches Wörterbuch
Anagrams
Norman
Etymology
From Old French foin, fein, from Latin faenum.
Noun
fain m (uncountable)
Derived terms
- fagot d'fain (“bundle of hay”)
Romanian
Etymology
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /fajn/
Adjective
fain m, n (feminine singular faină, masculine plural faini, feminine and neuter plural faine)
Declension
declension of fain
Romansch
Alternative forms
Etymology
Noun
fain m
Derived terms
- (Rumantsch Grischun) far fain
- (Puter) fer cul fain
- (Vallader) far cun fain
Related terms
- (Rumantsch Grischun, Sutsilvan) fanar