Forms: α. 1 fæȝen, fæȝn, 3 fæin, fein, vein, vayn, 3–6 fayn(e, (5 faynne), 4 (fyne), 4–5 feyn(e, 4–7 faine, 5 fyene, 5–6 fane, 6 faint, (fayen, feene), (7–9 feign), 3– fain. Also compar. 3 fenre. β. 3–4 faȝe(n, 3 vawe, 4–5 fawe(n, (5 faue). [OE. fæʓen, fæʓn = OS. fagan, fagin, ON. feginn; allied to OE. ʓeféon (pa. t. feah), OHG. (gi-) fehan (pa. t. fah) to rejoice.]
A. adj.
1. Glad, rejoiced, well-pleased. Often in phrases, full fain, glad and fain. Const. of; also followed by inf. or subord. cl. Now chiefly dial. or poet.
α. Beowulf, 1633. Ferdon foroð þonon feþelastum ferhþum fæʓne.
c. 888. K. Ælfred, Boeth., xl. § 5. Ic bio swiþe swiþe ʓefæʓen ʓif ðu me lædst þider ic ðe bidde.
c. 1205. Lay., 4891. Þe duc þer fore fain wes.
a. 1300. Cursor Mundi, 20452 (Cott.). I am ful fain yee ar me mid.
c. 1340. Richard Rolle of Hampole, Prick of Conscience, 4552. Of þair dede þai sal be fayn.
c. 1420. Chron. Vilod., 974. Bot þen was þis wrechede mon full fayne.
c. 1460. Towneley Myst., 84. Now in hart fulle fane.
1535. Stewart, Cron. Scot., II. 589. He … of thair cuming wes so glaid and fane.
a. 1569. Kingsmill, A Viewe of Mans Estate, i. (1580), 7. He is very faine of the findyng of suche a fielde.
1591. Shaks., 1 Hen. VI., III. ii. 114. Are glad and faine by flight to saue themselues.
1640. J. Dyke, Worthy Commun., 56. Then full faine wilt thou be to have Christ Jesus receive thy soule.
1664. Floddan F., vii. 65. And of his welfare all were fain.
1787. Burns, Twa Dogs, 137. My heart has been sae fain to see them.
1801. Wordsw., The Cuckoo and the Nightingale, xxvi.
| Then mean I, that I should be wondrous fain | |
| That shamefully they one and all were slain. |
1863. Mrs. Gaskell, Sylvia’s L., I. x. 195. The Corneys made us acquaint first, and my master is quite fain of his company.
1876. Morris, Sigurd, III. 176. And fain and full was my heart.
β. 1297. R. Glouc. (1724), 218. So þat hii mette hem þer, boþe hii were wel vawe.
c. 1380. Sir Ferumb., 3800. War-for y am wel fawe.
b. Proverb.
1471. Ripley, Comp. Alch., V. in Ashm. (1652), 157. Fayre promys makyth folys fayne.
1579. Lyly, Euphues (Arb.), 69. There may you see … the faire wordes that make fooles faine.
1829. Scott, Anne of G., iv. Fine words to make foolish maidens fain.
2. Const. to with inf. Glad under the circumstances; glad or content to take a certain course in default of opportunity for anything better, or as the lesser of two evils.
α. c. 1330. R. Brunne, Chron. (1725), 28. Þei were fayn to ask pes.
1393. Gower, Conf., III. 230. He was faine him self to save.
1559. in Strype, Ann. Ref., I. App. ix. 26. They were faine to patche uppe the matter with a little piece of paper clapped over the foresaid wordes.
1593. Shaks., 2 Hen. VI., II. i. 153. I must be faine to pawne both my plate & the tapestry of my dining chambers!
1631. Gouge, God’s Arrows, ii. § 26. 170. In King William the Conquerours daies there was such a dearth thorow all England, especially thorow Northumberland, and the countries next adjoyning, that men were faine to eate horse-flesh, cats, dogs, and mans flesh.
1693. Locke, Education, § 89. 105. Castalio was fain to make Trenchers at Basle to keep himself from starving.
1812. W. Combe (Dr. Syntax), Picturesque, XVI. (Chandos), 60.
| Pleas’d with the prospect, he was feign | |
| To yawn, and go to sleep again. |
1839. Thirlwall, Greece, VII. liv. 52. It still blew so hard from the sea, that he [Alexander] was fain to take shelter in a canal pointed out by the Indians.
1882. Miss Braddon, Mt. Royal, II. vi. 115. Having pledged herself to remain with her aunt to the end, Christabel was fain to make the best of her life at Mount Royal.
β. c. 1330. Arth. & Merl., 208. To fle sone he was wel fawe.
b. This passes gradually into the sense: Necessitated, obliged.
1513. More, Rich. III., in Grafton, Chron., II. 785. Pinkye … so loste his voyce, that he was fayne to leave off.
1676. Hale, Contempl., I. 103. In this condition, he is fain to bear his burdensom Cross towards the place of his Execution.
a. 1682. Sir T. Browne, Tracts, i. 7. Many Plants are mention’d in Scripture which are not distinctly known in our Countries, or under such Names in the Original, as they are fain to be rendred by analogy.
1685. H. More, Paralip. Proph., 315. A Cannon of so vast a bigness, that it was fain to be drawn by seventy yoke of Oxen.
1722. Sewel, Hist. Quakers (1795), I. Preface, p. xxiii. I have been fain to trust the oversight and correction of my work to others, who may have been more liable to let errors escape than myself should have been.
1841. Disraeli, Amen. Lit. (1867), 360. Ascham, indeed, was fain to apologise for having written in English.
1884. F. M. Crawford, Rom. Singer, I. 93. She spoke so reasonably that he was fain to acknowledge that she was right.
3. Disposed, inclined or willing, eager. Const. † of, † for, to with inf. arch. or dial.
c. 1205. Lay., 6994. For elchen vuele he wes fein.
1340–70. Alexander and Dindimus, 237. So it farus bi folk þat fain is to teche.
a. 1605. Montgomerie, Natur passis Nurriture, 34. To fang his friendship they war fane.
1802. R. Anderson, Cumberld. Ball., 32.
| And sleet and snow are nought at aw | |
| If yen were fain to gang. |
1851. L. Mariotti, Italy in 1848, 75. The gentle and respectful behaviour of the soldiery in what they were fain to look upon as a land of conquest,—nay, their ‘meek endurance of the most contemptuous treatment.’
1884. W. C. Smith, Kildrostan, 83.
| Vain for a man to think that he | |
| Can hide what a woman is fain to know! |
† b. Apt, wont. Obs.
1596. Spenser, F. Q., IV. viii. 37. Whose steadie hand was faine his steed to guyde.
1650. Jer. Taylor, Holy Living, i. § 1. 7. To a busie man temptation is fain to climbe up together with his businesses, and sins creep upon him onely by accidents and occasions.
† 4. Well-disposed, favorable. Const. of or dat. Also in phr. fair and fain. Obs.
c. 1205. Lay., 12719.
| Lauer king Aldroein | |
| ofte þe wurðe godd fæin [c. 1275, fain]. |
c. 1305. The 11,000 Virgins, 134 in E. E. P. (1862), 69.
| Ourse of britaigne | |
| Þo hi fonde such a creatoure: so fair & so fayne. |
c. 1440. Sir Gowther, 679.
| Fader, and Sone, and Holy Gost, | |
| Of owre sowles be fayne! |
[a. 1850. Rossetti, Dante & Circ., I. (1874), 77.
| I felt a spirit of love begin to stir | |
| Within my heart, long time unfelt till then; | |
| And saw Love coming towards me fair and fain.] |
B. adv. Gladly, willingly, with pleasure. Frequent in I, he, etc. would († had) fain; otherwise Obs. or arch.
α. c. 1175. Lamb. Hom., 35. Ic walde fein pinian and sitten on forste and on snawe.
a. 1225. Ancr. R., 192. Vor uein wolde þe hexte cwemen ou.
c. 1290. S. Eng. Leg., 272/53. I chulle þe telle fayn.
c. 1440. York Myst., xx. 121. And if þou wolde neuere so fayne.
1483. Caxton, Gold. Leg., 430/3. The soppes of which he fayne ete made theyr remenaunte or relyef to be brought before hym.
1513. Douglas, Æneis, IX. iv. 64. To bring agane Eneas full fane thai wald.
1523. Ld. Berners, Froiss., I. cxxv. 151. The kyng … demaunded of them whyther they wolde faynest go.
1590. Spenser, F. Q., I. iv. 10.
| And in her hand she held a mirrhour bright, | |
| Wherein her face she often vewed fayne. |
1610. Shaks., Temp., I. i. 72. I would faine dye a dry death.
1709. Berkeley, Th. Vision, § 86. I would fain know wherein consists that sharpness, which is esteemed so great an excellency of sight.
1801. Southey, Thalaba, X. iv.
| His limbs move slow with heaviness, | |
| And he full fain would sleep. |
1858. Neale, Bernard de M., 32.
| And though my body may not, | |
| My spirit seeks thee fain, | |
| Till flesh and earth return me | |
| To flesh and earth again. |
1874. Morley, Compromise (1886), 85. We have been considering the position of those who would fain divide the community into two great castes; the one of thoughtful and instructed persons using their minds freely, but guarding their conclusions in strict reserve; the other of the illiterate or unreflecting, who should have certain opinions and practices taught them, not because they are true or are really what their votaries are made to believe them to be, but because the intellectual superiors of the community think the inculcation of such a belief useful in all cases save their own.
1876. Morris, Sigurd, III. 172.
| And she gathers the laps of the linen, and they meet in the hall, they twain, | |
| And she taketh her hands in her hands and kisseth her sweet and fain. |
1880. Miss Broughton, Sec. Th., II. vii. She had fainer not.
β. c. 1330. King of Tars, 1058.
| Ageyn the soudan he gan hyghe, | |
| And wolde hym sle ful fawe. |
c. 1380. Sir Ferumb., 308.
| Þanne wolde þay wel faȝe, ȝif þei miȝt helpe to | |
| Þat sir Olyuer hadde be slaȝe. |
