Forms: 1 féȝ-an, 3–4 feȝjen, 3 feien, (flen), south. veien, 4 fey, south. vie, 5 fye, 6 faie, 5– fay. [OE. féȝ-an = OS. fôgian Du. voegen), OHG. fuogen (MHG. vüegen, mod.G. fügen):—OTeut. *fogjan to fit, adapt, join (cf. OFris. fôgia, which differs in conjugation), f. *fôg- (cf. OHG. fuoga, mod.G. fuge fitting together, joining), ablaut-form of Teut. root fag- in fag-ro- FAIR a.]

1

  † 1.  trans. To fit, adapt, or join (whether in material or immaterial sense); to put together, add, compose; to fix or fasten in position. Obs.

2

a. 1000.  Riddles, xxvi. 9 (Gr.). Heo … feȝeð mec on fæsten.

3

c. 1000.  Sax. Leechd., III. 206. Herculem ȝesihð freo[n]dscipe feȝð.

4

c. 1200.  Trin. Coll. Hom., 25. Ure fader shop us and feide þe lemes to ure licame. Ibid. Forþi we clepeð him fader for þat he us feide here.

5

c. 1200.  Ormin, 11501.

        Forr manness bodiȝ feȝedd iss
  Off fowwre kinne shaffte.
    Ibid., 11523.
& ȝiff õ feȝesst õreo wiõõ õreo,
Þa findesst tu õær tene.

6

a. 1225.  Ancr. R., 78. Vordi ueieð Isaie hope & silence boðe togederes. Ibid., 396. Auh ure Louerd willeliche to-tweamede his soule urom his bodie vorto ueien ure boðe togederes.

7

  † b.  ? To fit, furnish with. Obs.

8

c. 1205.  Lay., 649. He lette makien enne dic … & feiede heo mid þornen.

9

  † c.  To fay upon long: to fix at a distant point (in time); to postpone. Obs.

10

c. 1400.  Destr. Troy, 5616.

        And ay the ferrer þat we fay our fare opon longe,
The more we procure our payne & our pure shame.

11

  † 2.  intr. To suit; to match with. Obs.

12

c. 1300.  Against the Pride of the Ladies, in Pol. Songs (Camden), 154. The bout and the barbet wyth frountel shule feȝe.

13

  b.  U.S. Of a coat: To fit. To fay in: to fit into its place; also trans. to fill up (a gap).

14

1866.  Lowell, Biglow P., Poems, 1890, II. 374. Ther’ ’s gaps our lives can’t never fay in.

15

1868.  Mrs. Whitney, P. Strong, xi. (1869), 128. One of the things that fayed right in.

16

1889.  Farmer, Americanisms. ‘Your coat fays well.’

17

  3.  To suit, do, go on favourably, succeed. Obs. exc. dial.

18

c. 1300.  Beket, 657.

        Of houndes ich was and hauekes: wardyn with the Kyng;
And wardeyn am of soules nouthe: that ne vieth nothing.

19

c. 1425.  Seven Sag., 2981 (P.).

          Quod the stywarde, ‘That may nouȝt fye,
And he se the with hys eye,
Anon as he haves a syght,
He wyl knowe the anoon ryghte.’

20

1542.  Udall, Erasm. Apoph., II. 336 b.

        This waye it will not frame ne faie,
Therefore must we proue another waye.

21

1863.  Barnes, Dorset Gloss., ‘Things dont fay as I should wish em.’

22

1886.  T. Hardy, Mayor of Casterbridge, xx. It came to pass that for ‘fay’ she said ‘succeed.’

23

  4.  Ship-building, etc. [Special uses of 1, 2] a. trans. To fit (a piece of timber) closely and accurately to (another). b. intr. Of the timber: To fit close, so as to leave no intervening space.

24

  a.  1754.  M. Murray, Shipbuilding, 188. Fay … to fitt two pieces of wood so as to join close together. The plank is said to fay to the timbers when it bears, or lies close to all the timbers.

25

1769.  Falconer, Dict. Marine (1789), C iv b. The wing-transom … is fayed across the stern-post, and bolted to the head of it.

26

1775.  Falck, Day’s Diving Vessel, 5. Two-inch planks … were fayed and nailed to all the timber of the external frame.

27

1867.  in Smyth, Sailor’s Word-bk.

28

  b.  1794.  Rigging & Seamanship, I. 23. The mast where it fays is paid over with soft tar.

29

c. 1850.  Rudim. Navig. (Weale), 102. The butts are rabbeted, and must fay close.

30

1867.  Smyth, Sailor’s Word-bk., The plank is said to fay to the timbers, when it lies so close to them that there shall be no perceptible space between them.

31

  Hence Fayed ppl. a.; Faying vbl. sb., the action of the vb. FAY1; also attrib.

32

1748.  F. Smith, Voy. Disc. N.-W. Pass., I. 133. The House was … built of Logs of Wood laid one on the other, with two Sides plain or fayed, that they might be the closer.

33

c. 1200.  Trin. Coll. Hom., 25. Swo digeliche hit al dihte þat on elch feinge is hem on sene.

34

a. 1225.  Ancr. R., 78. Þis is nu þe reisun of þe veiunge.

35

1858.  Simmonds, Dict. Trade, Faying, in maritime phraseology, the union of two pieces so close that no intervening space occurs.

36

1869.  Sir E. J. Reed, Shipbuild., x. 193. The rivet-holes shall be punched from the faying surfaces, and countersunk through the outer plating, in order to preserve a comparatively flush surface. Ibid., xvii. 338. The holes for the rivets are usually punched, care being taken to punch from the faying-side.

37