subs. (thieves’).—A prostitute or procuress.—GROSE [1785].
Verb (schoolboys’).—(also FEND, FAIN, FAINITS, etc.). A term of warning, or of prohibition: as to prevent any change in the existing conditions of a game; e.g., at marbles, FEN-PLACINGS = no alteration in position of marbles is permissible; FEN-CLEARANCES = removal of obstacles is forbidden. [FEND = M.E. defend in sense of ‘to forbid.’] FAIN, FAIN I, (with which cf., BAGS I) are corruptions. At Winchester, FINGY YOU or FINGY THAT are analagous; but at Christ’s Hospital FIN = ‘I won’t have,’ the reverse of BAGS I.
ante. 1815. E. C. HARRINGTON, in Notes and Queries, 5 S., vii., 98. Respecting the word FEN … I can testify to the use of the term by schoolboys prior to the battle of Waterloo … meaning that we protested against an exceptional action.
1852. DICKENS, Bleak House. ‘I’m fly,’ says Jo. ‘But FEN larks, you know.’
1877. Notes and Queries, 5 S., vii., 178. A comical application, was, I remember well, ‘FEN live lumber’! which, if pronounced in time, would disable your opponent from moving a bystander out of the way of his shot.
