Heading
me of the origin of the term used to denote a spurious or fictitious vote, formed usually by the nominal transfer of a sufficient qualification to an otherwise unqualified man; this is called a faggot vote.
1879. Gladstone, 1st Midl. Speech, 25 Nov. Why, gentlemen, quite apart from every question of principle, nothing, I venture to say, can be so grossly imprudent as that which is familiarly known in homely but most accurate phrase as the manufacture of faggot votes.
1887. Cornhill Mag., June, p. 627. Faggot votes . . . . the name is probably taken from an old military term.
Fains! Fainits! Fain it! intj.
(schoolboys').—A call for truce
during the progress of a game without
which priority or place would
be lost; generally understood to be
peferred 'in bounds,' or when out
of danger. [Thought to be a corruption
of 'fend.']—See Bags!
Fair-gang, subs. (old).—Gypsies.
[From their habit of visiting fairs.]
Fair-rations, subs. (sporting).—Fair
dealings.
Fair-shake, subs. (American).—A
good bargain. [From a measure
well shaken down. Cf.,
Shake.
Fair-trade, subs, (nautical).—Smuggling.
Faithful. One of the faithful, subs. phr. (old).—1. A drunkard. For synonyms, see Elbow-crooker.
1609. The Man in the Moone. This fellow is one of the faithfull, as they prophanelie terme him, said Opinion; no Heliogabalus at meat, but he will drinke many degrees beyond a Dutchman.
2. (common).—A tailor giving long credit.
1786. Grose, Dict. Vulg. Tongue, s.v.
1859. Matsell, Vocabulum, or Rogue's Lexicon. Faithful. A tailor that gives long credit. 'I say, Sam, what kind of crib was that you cracked?' 'Oh! it belonged to one of the faithful.'
Faithful Durhams, subs. phr.
(military).—The Sixty-Eight Foot.
Fake, subs. (common).—An action;
a proceeding; a manœuvre; a
mechanical contrivance—an affair
of any kind irrespective of morals
or legality: generally used in a
sense specifically detrimental. In
America, a swindler. [Origin
dubious: Barrère says, 'a very
ancient cant word,' but gives
no evidence. Fakement (q.v.)
appears to be the older subs.
form (1785), while the verbal
usage is traced to Ainsworth's
'fake away'! in Rookwood
(1834). Conjecturally derived from
the Latin facere, to make, to
do: compare to which the French
slang use of faire.]
1827. Maginn, in Blackwood's Mag. . . . the fogle-hunters doing Their morning fake in the prigging lay.
[Circa, 1850, but date uncertain.] 'Bates' Farm.' I'm up to every little fake, But in me there's no harm.
1851-61. H. Mayhew, London Lab. and Lon. Poor, vol. I., p. 237. After that we had a fine fake—that was the fire of the Tower of London—it sold rattling.
1871. London Figaro, 21 Oct. Yet they've been known for many a fake to coolly set a trap.
1883. Greenwood, Tag, Rag, and Co. Naming the house in the ridiculous way it was named was merely a fake to draw attention to it.
1888. New York Mercury. Both ladies then came to the conclusion that the fortune-teller was a fake, and they decided to notify the police.
1889. Globe, 23 July, p. 2, col. 2. Good Gladstonites, flock up and take One bottle of the Parnell fake.
Verb (common).—1. To do anything; to fabricate; to cheat; to deceive, or devise falsely;
