[f. FAWN sb.1; cf. OF. faoner.]
1. intr. To bring forth young. Now only of deer.
1481. Caxton, Mirrour of the World, II. vi. They [lionesses] come to fede their fawnes the iii day after they haue fawned, as they that were deed and ben as reysed agayn from deth.
1530. Palsgr., 546/2. Haue your dere fawned yet?
1679. Blount, Anc. Tenures, 91. Because the Dear did then fawn, or bring forth their young.
1721–1800. in Bailey.
2. trans. Of deer: To bring forth (a fawn).
1576. Turberv., Venerie, 141. The Bucke is fawned in the end of May, and hath all properties common with an Harte.
1618. Earl of Cork, in Sir R. Boyle’s Diary, Ser. I. (1886), I. 192. The firste fawn that was fawned in my Park.
Hence Fawning vbl. sb.
1598. Manwood, Lawes Forest, xi. § 2 (1615), 81. When that our Agistors doe meete together for the fawning of our wilde beasts.
1685. R. Brady, trans. John’s Charter of Forests, § 7, in Hist. Eng., App. 141. The third Swainmote shall be holden … concerning the fawning of our Does.
