Now rare. [a. OF. fame-r, f. fame FAME sb.1; cf. med.L. fāmāre.]
† 1. trans. To tell or spread abroad, report. Obs.
1303. R. Brunne, Handl. Synne, 3654.
| Ȝyf he þat cunseyl fyrþer fame | |
| Þat þer of cumþ boþe synne and shame. |
1483. Cath. Angl., 122. To Fame, famare.
1555. Abp. Parker, Ps. xx. 5.
| In gods good name: his prayse to fame, | |
| thy vowes God shall fulfill. |
1671. trans. Palafox’s Conq. China, i. 7. It is famed, that they were both Generals in the Emperour of China’s Armies.
1681. W. Robertson, Phraseol. Gen. (1693), 575. It was fam’d, and reported frequently to him.
2. To report (a person or thing) as, for, to be (so and so), also to do (so and so). Chiefly in passive, to be currently reported or reputed.
c. 1325. E. E. Allit. P., B. 275. He watȝ famed for fre þat feȝt loued best.
c. 1384. Chaucer, H. Fame, III. 690.
| Ye wolde, | |
| Ben famed good, and nothyng nolde | |
| Deserue why. |
a. 1400–50. The Wars of Alexander, 2387.
| For þe auannt ser Alexander · is all þe werd famyd | |
| For ane of þe curtast kyng · þat euir croune werid. |
1550. Bale, Apol., 68 b. Samuel shulde be famed abroad to haue bene promysed and borne by myracle.
1593. Shaks., 3 Hen. VI., IV. iv. 26. Warw. Your Grace hath still beene fam’d for vertuous.
1615. G. Sandys, A Relation of a Journey, 175. This is famed to be the houshold Monument of certaine of the Kings of Iuda.
1638. Ford, Lady’s Trial, I. iii.
| One, however mask’d | |
| In colourable privacy, is famed | |
| The lord Adurni’s pensioner, at least. |
1646. Buck, Rich. III., III. 82. That Richard … should fame King Edward the fourth a bastard, and that the Dutchesse his Mother had wanton familiarity with a certaine Gentleman.
1671. Milton, Samson, 1094.
| Thou art famed | |
| To have wrought such wonders with an ass’s jaw! |
1820. Keats, Ode to a Nightingale, viii.
| Adieu! the fancy cannot cheat so well | |
| As she is fam’d to do, deceiving elf. |
1881. A. J. Duffield, Don Quix., III. xxiii. 141. To my seeming she was somewhat ugly, or not so beautiful as she was famed.
3. To make famous: a. To spread abroad the fame of, render famous by talk; to talk of.
1388. Wyclif, Matt. ix. 31. But thei … diffameden [v. r. famyden] hym thorou al that lond.
c. 1400. Cato’s Morals, 42, in Cursor M., App. iv. 1669.
| Þat þou be nane of þese | |
| Þat men famis in fable. |
1606. Shaks., Tr. & Cr., II. iii. 254.
| Fam’d be thy tutor, and thy parts of nature | |
| Thrice fam’d beyond, beyond all erudition. |
1616. B. Jonson, Epigr., I. xliii. Her foes enough would fame thee in their hate.
1635. A. Stafford, The Femall Glory (1869), 137.
| When we desire to fame | |
| Some other maid. |
1814. Byron, Corsair, I. ii.
| But who that Chief? his name on every shore | |
| Is famed and fear’d—they ask and know no more. |
† b. To render famous by some quality, deed, etc. Said also of the quality or deed. Obs.
a. 1552. Leland, Collect. (1725), I. II. 549. Syr Knight, ye be cum hither to fame your Helmet.
1592. Greene, Poems, 31.
| Her stature like the tall straight cedar-trees, | |
| Whose stately bulks do fame th’ Arabian groves. |
1613. W. Browne, Brit. Past., II. iv.
| Of holy Vrsula (that fam’d her age) | |
| With other Virgins in her pilgrimage. |
c. 1665. Mrs. Hutchinson, Mem. Col. Hutchinson, 3. In that magnanimity and virtue, which hath famed this island.
4. To spread an ill report of (a person); to defame. [Perh. short for DEFAME, DIFFAME: but cf. FAME sb.1 4.]
1393. Langl., P. Pl., C. IV. 232. Ac þow hast famede me foule · by-fore þe kynge here.
c. 1430. Syr Tryamoure, 21.
| False and fekylle was that wyght, | |
| That lady for to fame. |
c. 1475[?]. The Squyr of Lowe Degre, 392.
| For yf it may be founde in thee, | |
| That thou them fame for enmyte. |
† 5. nonce-use. To fame it: to become famous.
a. 1625. Fletcher, Hum. Lieutenant, II. ii.
| Never so thresh’d. Do you call this fame? I have famed it; | |
| I have got immortal fame, but I’ll no more on ’t. |
