Forms: 4 faget(t, 4–6 faggott, 5 fagatt, -ot(t, 6 fagget, Sc. faggat, 4– fagot, 5– faggot. See also FAGALD. [a. Fr. fagot, of unknown origin; cf. It. fa(n)gotto.]
1. A bundle of sticks, twigs, or small branches of trees bound together: a. for use as fuel.
a. 1300. Cursor Mundi, 3164 (Gött.).
| Suord ne fir forgat he noght, | |
| And ȝong ysaac a fagett broght. |
1398. Trevisa, Barth. De P. R., XVII. cxlix. (1495), 703. Thornes … ben bounde in faggottes … and brent in ouens.
1478. Bury Wills (Camden), 77. The price of the c fagots iijs vjd.
1578. Psalm lxxxiii., in The Gude and Godlie Ballates (1868), 92.
| And as the flame burning quhair it can find | |
| The faggat, in the feild with grit impyre. |
1649. Blithe, Eng. Improv. Impr. (1652), 36. Thou must take good green Faggots, Willow, Alder, Elme, or Thorne.
1770. Goldsm., Des. Vill., 133.
| To pick her wintry fagot from the thorn, | |
| To seek her nightly shed, and weep till morn. |
1821. Clare, The Village Minstrel, and Other Poems, I. 128. Recollections after a Ramble.
| And Goody begg’d a helping hand | |
| To heave her rotten faggot up. |
1866. Rogers, Agric. & Prices, I. xviii. 424. The most common name for bundles of small wood is, as now, fagots; but in all probability the fagot was of very various sizes.
† b. Mil. for use in fascines. Obs.
c. 1400. The Sowdone of Babyloyne, 285.
| Fagotis to hewe and faste bynde, | |
| And fille the Dikes faste anoon. |
1548. Hall, Chron., 112. Castyng faggottes into the diches.
1603. Knolles, Hist. Turks (1621), 1064. [He] would oftentimes himselfe carrie a fagot or some other thing before him vpon his horse, for the raising of the mount.
1711. Addison, Spect., No. 165, 8 Sept., ¶ 3. The Black Prince … filled a Ditch with Faggots as successfully as the Generals of our Times do it with Fascines.
2. With special reference to the practice of burning heretics alive, esp. in phrase fire and faggot; † to fry a faggot, to be burnt alive; also, to bear, carry a faggot, as those did who renounced heresy. Hence fig. the punishment itself.
a. 1555. Latimer, Serm. & Rem. (1845), 277. Remember what they have been that were the beginners of your doctrine; none but a few flying apostates, running out of Germany for fear of the fagot.
1621. Bp. Mountagu, Diatribæ, 44. You deserued to fry a fagot, if you durst aduenture to pleade for them, and their reestablishment in a State, that hath long since iustly abolished them.
1649. Bp. Hall, Cases Consc., III. v. 274. Fagots were never ordained by the Apostle for arguments to confute hereticks.
1667. Poole, Dial. betw. Protest. & Papist (1735), 101. I perceive you answer our Arguments with Fire and Faggot: besides this, your Religion destroyes all civil Faith and Society; your principle is known, and so is your practice of equivocation, and keeping no faith with Hereticks.
1721. Strype, Eccl. Mem., I. viii. 86. He should go before the cross bare headed … carrying a faggot on his shoulder.
1741–8. Watts, Improv. Mind, I. xiv. 195. Mitres or Faggots have been the Rewards of different Persons according as they pronounced these consecrated Syllables, or not pronounced them.
1808. J. Barlow, The Columbiad, IV. 206. Racks, wheels and crosses, faggots, stakes and strings.
1868. J. H. Blunt, Ref. Ch. Eng., I. 85. Wolsey caused them to carry a faggot to the fire, or made them go about the world wearing one embroidered on the coat-sleeve: Henry placed them in the midst of actual faggots, which he kindled without scruple.
1888. J. Gairdner, Thomas Cranmer, in Dict. Nat. Biog., XIII. 30/2. It is not easy to answer arguments in prison, with fire and faggots in the background.
b. The embroidered figure of a faggot, which heretics who had recanted were obliged to wear on their sleeve, as an emblem of what they had merited.
1706. Phillips (ed. Kersey), Faggot.… In times of Popery, it was also taken for a Badge, or the Figure of a Faggot embroider’d on the Sleeve of the upper Garment, worn by those who had recanted what was then call’d Heresy.
1823. Crabb, Technol. Dict., Fagot (Ecc.) a badge which was formerly worn on the sleeve of the upper garments by such persons in the Romish church as had recanted and abjured heresy.
3. In wider sense. † a. A bundle or bunch in general, e.g., of rushes, herbs, etc. b. fig. A ‘bundle,’ collection (of things not forming any genuine unity).
1489. Caxton, Faytes of A., I. xiv. 38. Fyllyng of dyches wyth fagotis and bondellis of rede for to fynde passage.
1545. Brinkelow, Compl., 25 b. Yet must he eyther dye, beare a fagot, or recant, or at least pryuyly beare a fagot of russhes in his chamber.
1555. Eden, Decades (Arb.), 69. They founde faggottes of the bones of mennes armes and legges, which they reserue to make heades for theyr arrowes, bycause they lacke iron. The other bones they caste awaye when they haue eaten the flesshe.
1650. W. Cradock, in Spurgeon, Treas. Dav., Ps. lxxxiii. 1. That he may, as it were, gather the wicked into one fagot, into one bundle, that they may be destroyed together.
1737. Compl. Fam.-Piece, I. ii. 99. A little Faggot of Thyme, Savory, and Parsley.
1742. H. Walpole, Corr. (ed. 3), I. xxxviii. 154. My faggot of compliments.
1782. in Baker, Biogr. Dram., iii. (1812), 260. A faggot of utter improbabilities.
1854. Emerson, Lett. & Soc. Aims, Quot. & Orig., Wks. (Bohn), III. 214. Religious literature, the psalms and liturgies of churches, are of course of this slow growth,—a fagot of selections gathered through ages, leaving the worse, and saving the better.
4. A bundle of iron or steel rods bound together.
1540. Act 32 Hen. VIII., c. 14. Item for euery last of faggottes of yron iiii. s.
1640. in Entick, London, II. 181. For a faggot of steel 0 1d.
1706. Phillips (ed. Kersey), Faggot of Steel (in Traffick) the Quantity of 120 Pound-Weight.
1721–1800. in Bailey.
1825. J. Nicholson, Operat. Mechanic, 338. This is termed a faggot [of iron], being about 12 or 14 inches long, and six inches square.
1881. Greener, Gun, 221. The bars were then … fastened into a faggot.
5. (See quot. 1851.)
1851. Mayhew, Lond. Labour, II. 227. He then made his supper, or second meal, for tea he seldom touched, on ‘fagots.’ It [this preparation] is a sort of cake, roll, or ball, a number being baked at a time, and is made of chopped liver and lights, mixed with gravy, and wrapped in pieces of pig’s caul.
1858. G. A. Sala, Journ. due North, 308. Balls of pork mincemeat, resembling the curious viands known in cheap pork-butchery in England, I believe, as Faggots.
1881. in Oxford Gloss., Supp.
6. A term of abuse or contempt applied to a woman. dial.
1591. Lodge, Catharos, 4 b. A filbert is better than a faggot, except it be an Athenian she handfull.
1840. Barham, Ingol. Leg., Grey Dolphin. ‘What’s that you say, old faggot?’
1862. Mrs. H. Wood, Mrs. Hallib., II. xxi. 233. She turned and struck at me, she did, the good-for-nothing faggot!
† 7. A person temporarily hired to supply a deficiency at the muster, or on the roll of a company or regiment; a dummy. Obs.
a. 1700. B. E., Dict. Cant. Crew. Faggots, Men Muster’d for Souldiers, not yet Listed.
1708. The British Apollo, No. 105., 4/1.
| A. You call your self soldier, indeed, by your bluster, | |
| You may be some faggot to pass at a muster. |
1755. Mem. Capt. P. Drake, II. iii. 75. The Adjutants of the sieging Army, who came to treat and settle with me about the Fagots (Men deficient of the Number of Workmen, ordered from each Regiment).
1756. Ld. Chesterfield, Connoisseur, CII. William, a Faggot in the First Regiment of Guards.
1802. in James, Mil. Dict.
8. = FAGGOT-VOTE.
1817. Sir F. Burdett, in Parl. Deb., 1368. These faggots … returned the two members to the House of Commons.
1879. Daily News, 16 April, 6/6. He … had not the slightest doubt he would win, unless he were to be swamped by faggots.
1884. Truth, 13 March, 374/1. The art of manufacturing fagots.
9. In various occasional uses: (see quots.).
1727. Bradley, Fam. Dict., s.v. Faggots of Oranges, Orange-Peels turn’d or par’d very thin, in order to be preserv’d.
1867. Smyth, Sailor’s Word-bk., 287. Fagot. A billet for stowing casks.
1880. E. Cornw. Gloss., Faggot … a secret and unworthy compromise.
10. attrib. and Comb., as faggot-bearer; -boat, -flame, -maker, -making, -pile, -steel, -stick, -wood. Also, faggot-brief, a dummy brief (cf. 7); faggot-drain, a drain made by placing faggots at the bottom of a trench and then covering them with earth; † faggot-spray, the refuse twigs, etc., left in making faggots; † faggot-waisted a., arranged in pleats like a bundle of sticks. Also FAGGOT-VOTE.
c. 1515. Cocke Lorelle’s B. (Percy Society), 11. With lollers lordaynes and *fagot berers.
1616. Beaum. & Fl., The Scornful Lady, II. iii. If you ’scape with life, and take a *faggot-boat.
1859. Sala, Tw. round Clock (1861), 97. The briefless ones … pretend to pore over *‘faggot’ briefs.
1819. Communic. Board Agric., 245. Many of these *faggot-drains have failed.
1842. Sir A. de Vere, A Song of Faith, 243.
| Turkish cimeters | |
| Not fiercelier bite than Christian *faggot-flame. |
1584. R. Scot, Discov. Witchcr, V. i. 73. Three witches of great wealth, who transforming themselves into three cats, assailed a *faggot-maker.
1822. T. Mitchell, Aristoph., I. p. l. Originally a faggot-maker, his mode of tying up bundles excited the attention of Democritus; and the instructions of that philosopher subsequently enabled him to quit a trade, in which he might have been humbly useful, for a profession in which he unfortunately became splendidly mischievous.
1826. Miss Mitford, Our Village, 2nd Series (1863), 408. Its long open sheds for broom and *faggot-making. Ibid., 257. The cart-shed too, and the *faggot-pile, and the old horse grazing before the door, indicate a considerable portion of rustic prosperity.
1664. Evelyn, Kal. Hort. (1729), 204. Put some Rubbish of Lime-stones, Pebbles, Shells, *Faggot-spray, or the like, at the bottom of the Cases, to make the Moisture passage.
1831. J. Holland, Manuf. Metal, I. 234. The article known among dealers by the appellation of *faggot steel is manufactured by a process analogous to shearing.
1593. Tell-Troth’s N. Y. Gift, 13. Her husband, not able to overmaister her that way, began to beelabour her faire and handsomely with a *faggotstick, a present remedy to charme such diuelish tounges.
a. 1774. Goldsm., trans. Scarron’s Com. Romance (1775), II. 7. The maid followed puss, with a faggot-stick in her hand.
1581. Rich, Farewel Mil. Prof. (1846), 218. Their dublettes sometyme *faggotte wasted above the navill; sometymes cowebeallied belowe the flanckes, that the gentleman must undoe a button when he goes to pisse.
1704. Collect. Voy. (Church.), III. 727/2. Boats came … to fetch *Faggot-wood.
