Chess. Obs. Also 5 fiers, 6 ferse, 7 feers. [a. OF. fierce, fierche, fierge (in med.L. fercia, farzia), ad. (ultimately) Pers. ferzēn, Arab. firzān, also ferz. The Pers. word means ‘wise man,’ ‘counsellor.’]
1. The piece now known as the queen.
c. 1369. Chaucer, Dethe Blaunche, 654.
| She stal on me, and took my fers | |
| And whan I saw my fers aweye, | |
| Alas! I couthe no lenger pleye. |
a. 1547. Surrey, in Tottell’s Misc. (Arb.), 21.
| And when your ferse is had, | |
| And all your warre is done: | |
| Then shall your selfe be glad | |
| To ende that you begon. |
1663–76. Bullokar, Fers, the Queen at Chess-play.
2. A pawn which has passed to the eighth square (see quot.).
1474. Caxton, Chesse, IV. vii. (1860), L iv. He may not goo on neyther side til he hath been in the fardest ligne of theschequer, & that he hath taken the nature of the draughtes of the quene; & than he is a fiers.
3. The ferses twelve: according to Prof. Skeat, all the men exc. the king (the bishops, knights, and rooks, being counted as one each).
c. 1369. Chaucer, Dethe Blaunche, 723.
| Thogh ye had lost the ferses twelve, | |
| And ye for sorwe mordred your-selve. |
[1671. Skinner, Fers, Feers, Feerses, men at Chess.
1692–1732. in Coles.]
