Also sb. (a.) and adv. Forms: 4–6 farwel(l(e, 4–8 farewel, (5 fayrwell, 6 fairewell, fearewele), 5– farewell. [The phrase fare well (see FARE v. 9) treated as one word.]
A. int.
1. An expression of good wishes at the parting of friends, originally addressed to the one setting forth, but in later use a mere formula of civility at parting; Goodbye! Adieu! Now poet. or rhetorical, and chiefly implying regretful feeling.
1377. Langl., P. Pl., B. XI. 41. ‘Ȝee, farewel phippe!’ quod fauntelte.
c. 1440. York Myst., xli. 458. Fayrwell! Godson, thowe grant vs thy blyssng.
1509. Hawes, The Pastime of Pleasure, XVI. vii. Fare well, she sayde, for I must parte you fro.
1601. Shaks., All’s Well that ends Well, II. i. 36. 2 Lo. E. I am your accessary, and so farewell.
1697. Dryden, Virg. Georg., IV. 718.
| And now farewel, involv’d in Shades of Night, | |
| For ever I am ravish’d from thy fight. |
1821. Byron, Mar. Fal., IV. i. Farewell! we meet no more in life!—farewell!
1871. R. Ellis, Catullus, xlvi. 9.
| Farewell company true, my lovely comrades | |
| You so joyfully borne from home together, | |
| Now o’er many a weary way returning. |
2. fig. An expression of regret at leaving anything, or a mere exclamation = Goodbye to, no more of. Also farewell to, and farewell it.
c. 1385. Chaucer, L. G. W., Prol. 39.
| Whan that the month of May | |
| Is comen, and that I here the foules singe, | |
| And that the floures ginnen for to springe, | |
| Farwel my book and my devocioun! | |
| Ibid. (c. 1386), Knt.’s T., 1902. | |
| Farewel physike; go here the man to cherche. |
c. 1475[?]. The Squyr of Lowe Degre, 941.
| Farewell golde, pure and fyne; | |
| Farewell velvet, and satyne. |
1584. R. Scot, Discov. Witchcr., III. ii. 33. All the vertue thereof is gone, and farewell it.
1656. B. Harris, trans. Parival’s The History of This Iron Age, 139. And if she yeilded, farewel Bavaria.
1697. Dryden, Virg. Pastorals, VIII. 82.
| Farewel, ye secret Woods, and shady Groves, | |
| Haunts of my Youth, and conscious of my Loves! |
1766. Fordyce, Serm. Yng. Wom. (1767), I. v. 193. Where the heart may not expand and open itself with freedom, farewel to real friendship, farewel to convivial delight!
1784. Cowper, Task, I. 247.
| So farewell envy of the Peasants’ Nest. | |
| If solitude make scant the means of life, | |
| Society for me! |
† b. Proverb, Farewell fieldfare; said to one of whom the speaker wishes to see no more, with allusion to the fieldfare’s departure northward at the end of winter. Obs.
c. 1374. Chaucer, Troylus, III. 812. The harme is don, and farewel feldyfare.
c. 1400. Rom. Rose, 5513. And synge ‘Go fare-wel, feldefare.’
c. In the name of a plant (see quot.).
1878–86. Britten & Holland, Plant-n. Farewell Summer, Saponaria officinalis L. … From its flowering in the months of August and September.
B. sb.
1. a. The int. used subst. as a name for itself, and hence for any equivalent, as in To say farewell to. With this has now coalesced the originally distinct use in To bid farewell, where farewell represents historically the infinitive, not as elsewhere the imperative, of the vbl. phrase. b. An utterance of the word ‘farewell’; any expression or act equivalent to this; a parting salutation, formal leave-taking, adieu.
1393. Gower, Conf., II. 268.
| But farewell she was ago | |
| Unto Pallas. |
1526. Tindale, Acts xviii. 21. When they desyred hym to tary longer tyme with them, he consented nott, butt bad them feare wele.
1570. T. North, trans. The Morall Philosophie of Doni (1888), IV. 229. For a farewell, and that on a sodeine (when a man thinketh not of it) he will yerke out behinde and put him in daunger of his life.
1587. Janes, in Hakluyt’s Voy., III. 113. But we, little regarding their curtesie, gaue them the gentle farewell, and so departed.
1633. Ford, The Broken Heart, IV. iv.
| Phil. She call’d for music, | |
| And begg’d some gentle voice to tune a farewell | |
| To life and griefs. |
1684. Bunyan, Pilgr., II. 12. So their Visitor bid them farewel.
1710. Addison, The Whig-Examiner, No. 1, 14 Sept., ¶ 14. Before I take my farewel of this subject, I shall advise the Author for the future to speak his meaning more plainly.
1758. S. Hayward, Serm., xvi. 490. He was not terrified either by looking back or looking forward; but triumphed when he was going to bid all things here an everlasting farewel.
1770. Goldsm., Des. Vill., 365.
| When the poor exiles, every pleasure past, | |
| Hung roung the bowers, and fondly look’d their last, | |
| And took a long farewell, and wish’d in vain | |
| For seats like these beyond the western main. |
1838. Lytton, Alice, 53. She had wept her last farewell on her mother’s bosom.
1850. Tennyson, In Mem., cxxiii.
| But in my spirit will I dwell, | |
| And dream my dream, and hold it true; | |
| For tho’ my lips may breathe adieu, | |
| I cannot think the thing farewell. |
1880. Ouida, Moths, I. iii. 116. ‘I came to bid you farewell,’ he said softly.
1884. Illust. Lond. News, 1 Nov., 410/2. The ‘farewells’ … of actors and singers are not always to be depended on.
† 2. A payment on quitting a tenancy. Obs.
1523. Fitzherb., Surv., 25 b. The tenant … shall make a fyne with the lorde for his dep[ar]tyng … and it is called a farefee or a farewell.
† 3. transf. An after-taste, twang. Obs.
1634. Sir T. Herbert, Trav., 183. The Jacke … leaves a clammy farewell in the mouth, but addes a double benefit to the stomacke.
1648. Sanderson, Serm., II. 245. All temporal advantages of Wealth, Honour, Power, Pleasure, and the like … have a very ill farewell with them at the last.
1759. Boyer, Fr. & Eng. Dict., s. v. This wine has a sad farewell with it.
4. attrib. passing into an adj.: Pertaining to a farewell, accompanying or signifying a farewell. (In this use the stress is variable: most commonly fa·rewell.)
a. 1711. Ken, Hymns Evang., Poet Wks. 1721, I. 182.
| He num’rous Farewell-Blessings on them pour’d, | |
| They with Congratulations him ador’d. |
1711. Addison, Spect., No. 445, 31 July, ¶ 2. Writers, who have taken their Leave of the Publick in farewel Papers.
1713. Tickell, Prospect of Peace, 41.
| The hardy Vet’ran, proud of many a scar … | |
| Leans on his Spear to take his farewell View. |
1769. Falconer, Dict. Marine (1789). Coup de parlance, a farewell gun.
1822–56. De Quincey, Confess. (1862), 108. A few final or farewell farewells.
1856. Kane, Arct. Expl., I. x. 115. We gave them three cheers, and I accompanied them with my dogs as a farewell escort for some miles.
b. applied to the point where one ‘bids farewell to’ or parts from a person or thing.
1669. Sturmy, Mariner’s Mag., A ij. The Lizard being the farewel Cape to most Ships that sail out of the British Seas.
1865. D. Page, Handbk. Geol. Terms (ed. 2). Farewell Rock. The familiar term in the South Welsh coal-field for the Millstone Grit, because on striking it the miner bids farewell to all workable seams of coal.
† C. adv. (cf. ADIEU adv. 1) To go farewell: to go away, be dismissed. Obs.
c. 1391. Chaucer, Astrol., II. § 23. Let A & F [two stars] go farwel til agayns the dawenyng a gret while.
