Obs. Also 6 fonde. [f. FOND a.]
1. intr. To play the fool; to become foolish.
1530[?]. Exam. W. Thorpe, in Foxe, A. & M. (1563), 164/2. And the clarke sayde, I fonded, and that I sayde not truthe. Ibid. Thou wouldest make vs to fonde with the.
a. 1541. Wyatt, 7 Penit. Ps., Poet. Wks. (1861), 208.
| The sword shall pierce the heart of such that fonds: | |
| Their bow shall break in their most endeavour. |
2. Const. on, over, upon. To entertain a fond or foolish affection for; to dote upon. Also simply, to display fondness.
1530. Palsgr., 553/2. I fonde, or dote upon a thyng for inordynate love.
1567. Turberv., Ovid’s Epist., 154. Whilst thou … did fonde on Phyllis.
1590. Fenne, Frutes, I. 53. It remaineth euident & extant at this day, what miseries, calamities, enormities, infinit troubles and dayly vexations, consequently doo fall to man by that fond conceipt in doating folly, inordinately louing and immoderately fonding ouer wife, sonne, daughter.
1601. Shaks., Twel. N., II. ii. 35.
| How will this fadge? My master loues her deerely, | |
| And I (poore monster) fond asmuch on him. |
3. trans. To make a fool of; to befool.
1540. Hyrde, trans. Vives’ Instr. Chr. Wom., I. xvi. S i b. Ageynst whome I haue spoken sharpely, bycause they dote, and fonde [L. dementant] good yonge men, and bryng them to fylthynes and foly.
a. 1547. Surrey, Æneid, IV. 488.
| Did I not him, thrown up upon my shore | |
| In need receive, and fonded [demens] eke invest | |
| Of halfe my realme? |
1566. Drant, Horace’s Sat., iv. B viij.
| But loue of goods, or love of rule, | |
| doth fonde him now and then. | |
| Ibid. (1567), Horace’s Epist., i. C iij. | |
| In fyne, suche follye fondes a man, and fondlye makes him roue: | |
| The wyseman a nes vnfalliblie, second to onelye Ioue. |
4. To show fondness for; to caress, fondle.
1676. Dryden, Aurengz., IV. i.
| Howe’r unjust your jealousie appear, | |
| It shows the loss, of what you love, you fear; | |
| And does my pity, not my anger move: | |
| I’ll fond it, as the froward Child of Love. | |
| Ibid. (1697), Æneid, I. 961. | |
| That when, amidst the fervor of the feast, | |
| The Tyrian hugs and fonds thee on her breast. |
b. To beguile; also to beguile to (disaster).
1627–77. Feltham, Resolves, I. xxvi. 45. If those forbear, the Meretricious world claps our cheeks, and fonds us to a cozening fail.
1682. Southerne, Loyal Brother, II.
| My poor Heart | |
| Would fain be fonded with the hopes of Rest. |
Hence Fonded ppl. a., a. deluded, foolish; b. fondly loved. Fonding vbl. sb., fondness.
1566. Drant, Horace’s Sat., ii. B b.
| But they, the sillye fonded fooles, | |
| (suche be the youthfull braines) | |
| Do feaste him. |
1665. R. B., Comment on 2 Tales, 99. Sometimes I would not stick to put on a smooth Brow, and feign a kind of Fonding, with a strong desire to accept what was privately tendered by him.
1701. Steele, Chr. Hero, III. 52. Deserves a brighter diadem than ever Fortune bestowed on the most fonded and most gaudy of her favourites.
