a. chiefly Sc. Forms: 1 fǽȝe, 3 fæiȝe, south. væiȝe, vaiȝe, fæie, south. væie, faie, 3–4 feie, south. veie, feye, 4 feiȝe, south. veiȝe, fei, 4–5 fay, (8 fie), 4– fey. [Common Teut.; OE. fǽȝe = OS. fégi (MDu. vêge, Du. veeg), OHG. feigi (MHG. veige in same sense, also timid, cowardly, mod.G. feige cowardly), ON. feigr:—OTeut. *faigjo-; the ulterior etymology is uncertain: see Kluge and Franck.]
1. Fated to die, doomed to death; also, at the point of death; dying. In literary use now arch. Still in popular use in Scotland: see quot. 1861.
Beowulf, 1568 (Gr.). Bil eal þurhwod fæȝne flæschoman. Ibid., 2141. Næs ic fæȝe þa ȝyt.
a. 1000. Byrhtnoth, 119 (Gr.). Æt fotum feoll fæȝe cempa.
c. 1205. Lay., 517. Heo weren summe faie [c. 1275, veie].
1393. Langl., P. Pl., C. XVI. 2.
| As a frek þat feye were · forth gan ich walke | |
| In manere of a mendinaunt · meny ȝeres after. |
c. 1450. Henryson, Mor. Fab., 58.
| Death on the fayest fall, | |
| Thus scorned they the Swallow ane and all. |
c. 1470. Henry the Minstrel, Wallace, IV. 92.
| The thrid he hyt with gret ire in that steid; | |
| Fey on the feld he has him left for deid. |
1535. Stewart, Cron. Scot., II. 378. Throw misgyding, or than the man wes fey.
17[?]. Jock o’ the Side, xxx. in Scott, Minstr. Scott. Bord. (1869), 103. There ’l nae man die but him that’s fie.
1790. Burns, Sheriffmuir, ii.
| And thro’ they dash’d, and hew’d, and smash’d, | |
| Till fey men died awa, man. |
1828. Scott, F. M. Perth, xvi. Man! art thou fey!
1861. Ramsay, Remin., Ser. II. 75. When a person does anything that is contrary to his habits or disposition, it is common in Aberdeenshire to say, ‘I wish the bodie be na fey’; that is, that this unwonted act may not be a prelude to his death.
1882. A. Lang, Helen of Troy, VI. xvi.
| Yet still the men of Troy were glad at heart, | |
| And o’er strange meat they revell’d, like folk fey, | |
| Though each would shudder if he glanced apart, | |
| For round their knees the mists were gather’d grey. |
absol. a. 1000. Andreas, 1532 (Gr.). Fæȝe swulton … on ȝeofene.
c. 1205. Lay., 31227. Feollen þa uaiȝe.
a. 1250. The Proverbs of Ælfred, 168, in O. E. Misc., 112.
| For nys no wrt uexynde | |
| a wude. ne a velde. | |
| þat euer mvwe þas feye | |
| furþ vp-holde. |
1799. A. Johnston, in Statist. Acc. Scotl., XXI. 148. The Fye gave due warning by certain signs of approaching mortality. Ibid., 149. [Superstition having diminished,] the Fye has withdrawn his warning, and the elf his arrows. [In Hone’s Every-day Bk., II. 1019, followed by many later writers, fye in quots. 1799 is taken as a synonym of FETCH. This seems to be a mistake.]
† 2. Leading to or presaging death; deadly, fatal. Obs.
c. 1470. Henry the Minstrel, Wallace, IX. 1341.
| Sum wyndowys socht for till haiff brokyn out, | |
| Bot all for nocht, full fey was maid that rout. |
1513. Douglas, Æneis, X. Proloug, 124.
| Bittyr was that frute for his ofspring and fey, | |
| Mayd deid onknawin be fund, and lyfe go hens. |
1799. Statist. Acc. Scotl., XXI. 150. What Fye token do ye see about me?
† 3. Accursed, unfortunate, unlucky. Obs.
a. 1000. Crist, 1534 (Gr.).
| On þæt deope dæl deofol ȝefeallað | |
| in sweartne leg synfulra here | |
| under foldan sceat fæȝe gæstas. |
1340–70. Alisaunder, 397. For ðis feye folk ðer · so fouli was harmed.
1513. Douglas, Æneis, III. ix. 48.
| Of the realme Ithachia I am, but les, | |
| And of the company of fey Vlixes. |
† 4. Feeble, timid; sickly, weak. Obs.
a. 1000. Guthlac, 280 (Gr.).
| Nis min breostsefa | |
| forht ne fæȝe. |
c. 1350. Med. MS., in Archæol., XXX. 376.
| Parvenke is an erbe grene of colour; | |
| In tyme of may he beryth blo flour, | |
| His stalkys are so feynt and feye. |
c. 1420. Avow. Arth., iv.
| Quen that he schalle feȝte; | |
| And ther-to, blake as a bere, | |
| Feye folke will he fere; | |
| Ther may no dyntus him dere. |
1513. Douglas, Æneis, XII. v. 41.
| That now, thus sleuthfully, sa fant and fey | |
| Huvis still on thir feldis, as we war deid. |
Hence Feydom, the state of being ‘fey.’
1823. Galt, Entail, I. 156. ‘I would hae thought the half o’t an unco almous frae you. I hope it’s no a fedam afore death.’
