Obs. Also 7 fowrb. [a. F. fourbe masc. and fem. (two distinct words), f. fourbir to FURBISH, taken in fig. sense. Cf. FOB sb.1]
1. A cheat, an impostor.
1668. Denham, Passion of Dido, 107. Thou art a false Impostor and a Fourbe.
1680. C. Blount, Philostratus, 43. I have never met with greater Fourbs than those Quaking Saints, who cheat by the Spririt.
1736. Carte, Ormonde, II. 273. Bennet was a fine person of a man, and understood the arts of a Court; he had exceeding good parts and was very fit for business: but he was a fourbe in his politicks, loose in his principles, and thought to be a secret convert to the Roman Catholick Religion.
1761. W. Sandby, Port. Inquis., 17, note. The various tricks put in practice by this notable Fourbe, to introduce the Inquisition, were exposed to public mockery.
2. A trick, an imposture.
1654. trans. Scudery’s Curia Politiæ, 133. Many Polititians yeeld and perswade, that … fraud and fowrbs are commendable and innocent instruments.
1691. Baxter, Cert. of Worlds of Spirits, 89. I began to suspect a Fourbe.
