Also 3 fam, 6 fayme. [a. F. fame, ad. L. fāma report, fame, = Gr. φήμη (Dor. φᾶμᾶ) f. root fā-, φᾶ- (OAryan *bhā-) in L. fārī, Gr. φάναι to speak.]
1. That which people say or tell; public report, common talk; a particular instance of this, a report, rumour. Now rare.
c. 1300. Cursor M., 8750 (Gött.).
| Of þis dome sua spredd þe fam, | |
| þat all spac of þis king salamon. |
1387. Trevisa, Higden (Rolls), I. 71. Me schal trowe olde fame, þat is nouȝt wiþseide.
1388. Wyclif, 1 Sam. ii. 24. It is not good fame which Y here.
1482. Monk of Evesham (Arb.), 47. Not verely certifide of so soroful a fame and happe.
1513. More, in Grafton, Chron., II. 758. As the fame runneth.
a. 1626. Bacon, Ess., Fame (Arb.), 580. Mucianus undid Vitellius by a Fame, that he scattered.
1679. Hatton Corr. (1878), 199. I heare this only from publicke fame.
1730–6. Bailey (folio), s.v. Common Fame’s seldom to blame.
1747. Franklin, Ess., Wks. 1840, III. 20. The very fame of our strength … would be a means of discouraging our enemies.
1818. Jas. Mill, Brit. India, III. VI. i. 38, note. The sentiments of the King, whose zeal for Mr. Hastings was the object of common fame.
1855. Macaulay. Hist. Eng., III. 163. At the fame of his approach, the colonists … retreated northward.
b. (quasi-) personified.
1393. Gower, Conf., I. 350.
| The fame with her swifte winges | |
| Aboute fligh and bare tidinges. |
a. 1547. Surrey, Æneid, IV. (1557), Ej/2.
| A mischefe Fame, there is none else so swift; | |
| That mouing growes, and flitting gathers force. |
1548. Hall, Chron., 11. These monasticall persones, lerned and vnliterate, better fed then taught, toke on them to write and regester in the boke of fame, the noble actes, the wise dooynges, and politike gouernances of kynges and princes.
1703. Maundrell, Journ. Jerus. (1721), 137. On each side of the Eagle is describ’d a Fame likewise upon the Wing.
1828. Scott, F. M. Perth, xvi. I would thou couldst clear him of other charges, with which fame hath loaded him.
† c. Without fame: ? = ‘without fable,’ certainly. Obs.
c. 1430. Hymns Virg. (1867), 116.
| Alle þingis sche trowiþ wiþ-out fame | |
| Þat goddis lawe techiþ truþe to be. |
c. 1450. Guy Warw. (C.), 108.
| Segwarde was the stewardys name, | |
| A trewe man, wythowten fame. |
2. The character attributed to a person or thing by report or generally entertained; reputation. Usually in good sense.
a. 1225. Ancr. R., 222. Heo schal luuien eihte and þenchen þe lesse of God and leosen hire fame.
1297. R. Glouc. (1724), 367. Þer nas prince in þe al worlde of so noble fame.
1375. Barbour, Bruce, IX. 574. A knycht … Curtass [and] fair and of gude fame.
1387. Trevisa, Higden (Rolls), VI. 281. His virtues passed his fame.
1456. Political Poems (Rolls), II. 183.
| Allas! allas! why dede wee these offence, | |
| Ffully to shende the olde Englisshe fames. |
1548. Hall, Chron., 169. This is the most spot that was … euer moste to be caste in the Dukes fame.
1662. Petty, A Treatise of Taxes and Contributions, 58. Such whose fames are yet entire.
1708. J. Chamberlayne, The Present State of Great-Britain, II. II. iii. (1743), 366. If a married Woman, whose Husband has been known to have been absent longer than Women go with Child, be with Child, it may give Ground for the Kirk-Session to proceed against her; but then in such Case they ought to act prudently, and to enquire into her former and present Fame.
1800–24. Campbell, Poems, Adelgitha, i.
| The Ordeal’s fatal trumpet sounded, | |
| And sad, pale Adelgitha came, | |
| When forth a valiant champion bounded, | |
| And slew the slanderer of her fame. |
1848. M. Arnold, Bacchanalia, Poems, 1877, II. 136.
| Where many a splendour finds its tomb, | |
| Many spent fames and fallen nights. |
b. House of ill fame: see HOUSE.
3. The condition of being much talked about. Chiefly in good sense: Reputation derived from great achievements; celebrity, honour, renown.
c. 1290. The Early South-English Legendary, 27/26. On of heom: þat was of grete fame.
a. 1340. Hampole, Psalter, viii. 1. Þe coy and þe fame of þi name ihesu.
c. 1450. Life of St. Cuthbert (Surtees), 19. A man of mykil fame.
1553. Eden, Treat. Newe Ind. (Arb.), 5. The fame of Achilles was no lesse notable to hys posteritie by homers writing, then it was in hys lyfe tyme by hys owne marcial affayres.
1634. Massinger, A Very Woman, V. iv.
| Tho’ the desire of fame be the last weakness | |
| Wise men put off. |
1711. Pope, The Temple of Fame, 505. Fame … that second life in others’ breath.
1816. Byron, Ch. Har., III. cxii.
| Fame is the thirst of youth,—but I am not | |
| So young as to regard men’s frown or smile, | |
| As loss or guerdon of a glorious lot; | |
| I stood and stand alone,—remember’d or forgot. |
1848. Macaulay, Hist. Eng., I. 295. Bands which had long sustained on the continent the fame of English valour.
† b. With adj. in pejorative sense. Obs. rare.
a. 1300. Cursor M., 2476 (Cott.).
| Þe land of sodome had gret blame, | |
| For it was in an iuel fame. |
1651. Life Father Sarpi (1676), 42. This Father himself either for truth or for some near respect of service to the Princess, was also in a sinister fame, to have either in confession, or some other discourse (being himself corrupted) by large promises and great hopes, perswaded the Dutchess to adhere to the Ecclesiastical Faction.
† c. concr. One who constitutes the fame of a place; its ‘glory.’ Obs. rare.
c. 1590. Marlowe, Faust., Wks. (Rtldg.), 122/2.
| The learned Faustus, fame of Wittenberg, | |
| The wonder of the world for Magic Art. |
† 4. Evil repute, infamy. Obs.
c. 1325. Poem Times Edw. II., 111, in Pol. Songs (Camden), 328. And natheles thise gode men fallen oft in fame.
c. 1375. Cato Major, II. xxiii., in Anglia, VII.
| Þei ben two wikked vices | |
| And bringe men ofte in fame. |
c. 1425. Seven Sag. (P.), 3412.
| For, certis, I may forsake nowt | |
| The fame that on me hys broght. |
1592. Daniel, The Complaint of Rosamond (1717), 37.
| A sheet could hide my face, but not my sin, | |
| For fame finds never tomb t’ inclose it in. |
5. Comb.: a. objective, as fame-catcher, -seeker, -spreader sbs.; fame-achieving, -giving, -thirsting, -thirsty, -worthy adjs.; b. instrumental, as fame-blazed, -crowned, -ennobled, -sung adjs.
1601. Chester, Love’s Mart., cx. (1878), 71. *Fame-atchieving Arthur.
c. 1611. Chapman, Iliad, XVI. 57. Take thou my *fame-blaz’d arms.
1682. Hickeringill, Black Non-Conformist, Wks. (1716), II. 3. Let *Fame-catchers mind their stops.
1811. Mariana Starke, The Beauties of Carlo Maria Maggi Paraphrased, 36. Dear, classic soil, whence *fame-crown’d Tasso sprang.
1777. R. Potter, Æschylus’ Furies (1779), II. 294.
| Mine, in the glorious toils of war to grace | |
| Their *fame-ennobled arms with victory. |
1756. Cambridge, Fakeer, 51. In retirement he sigh’d for the *fame-giving chair.
1886. W. Graham, Social Problem, 20. Men, not self-seekers, nor *fame-seekers.
1552. Heloet, *Fame spreader, famiger.
1649. G. Daniel, Trinarch., Hen. V., ccxlviii.
| Let not that Day, *fame-Sung, fill vp the mouth | |
| Of Honour, Large enough, to Sound ’em both. |
1598. Sylvester, Du Bartas, II. ii. II., Babylon, 486.
| Or else, because *Fame-thirsting wits, that toyl | |
| In golden tearms to trick their gracious stile. |
1605. Play Stucley, 1503, in Simpson, Sch. Shaks. (1878), 219.
| What your opinion is touching the suit | |
| Of neighbouring Portingales *fame-thirsty king? |
1610. Healey, St. Augustine, Of the Citie of God, 655. Athens was very famous in Greece: I thinke indeed it was more famous, then *fame-worthy.
1855. Singleton, Virgil, I. 146.
| Thee too, greal Pales, and thee will we chant, | |
| Fame-worthy shepherd from Amphrysus. |
