Obs. Also 7 figge. [var. of FIKE v.1; cf. also FIDGE v.] intr. To move briskly and restlessly; to jog to and fro. Also, to fig about.
1595. Eglogue … Tripe-wife and Trickes (1881), 148.
| But since I trotted from my trotter stall, | |
| And figd about from neates feete neatly drest: | |
| I finde no pleasure nor content at all, | |
| But liue disdained, despisde, abusde, distrest. |
1598. Sylvester, Du Bartas, II. i., Handle-Crafts, 505.
| Like as a hound, that (following loose, behinde | |
| His pensive Master) a quick Hare doth finde; | |
| Leaves whom he loves, upon the sent doth ply, | |
| Figs to and fro, and fals in cheerfull cry. |
1644. Quarles, Barnabas & B. (1651), 73. They that are so pure, and make such conscience of their wayes, that run to Sermons, figge to Lectures, pray thrice a day by the hower [etc.].
a. 1734. North, Exam., I. iii. § 125 (1740), 204. Multitudes of factious People incessantly figed about.
Hence Figging vbl. sb., and ppl. a.
1577. B. Googe, Heresbach’s Husb. (1586), 6. Not medling with figging, chopping, & changing, nor seeking their living by handycrafts.
1601. Deacon & Walker, Answ. to Darel, 190. Being growne very wearie with your violent fiskings and figgings about those your idle vagaries.
a. 1627. Middleton, Chaste Maid, III. ii.
| How they have shuffled up the rushes too, Davy, | |
| With their short figging little shittle-cock heels! |
a. 1659. Osborne, Observ. Turks, Wks. (1673), 334. Our lesse Majestick Princes become so cheap by their daily figging up and down the streets after their pleasures unattended.
a. 1693. Urquhart, Rabelais, II. xxxii. By their stinging Acrimony, rending Nitrosity, figging Itch, wrigling Mordicancy, and smarting Salsitude.
a. 1734. North, Lives (1826), I. 99. His figging about at the first entrance.
