FEINT

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 Dictionary entry overview: What does feint mean? 

• FEINT (noun)
  The noun FEINT has 1 sense:

1. any distracting or deceptive maneuver (as a mock attack)

  Familiarity information: FEINT used as a noun is very rare.

• FEINT (verb)
  The verb FEINT has 1 sense:

1. deceive by a mock action

  Familiarity information: FEINT used as a verb is very rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• FEINT (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Any distracting or deceptive maneuver (as a mock attack)

Classified under:

Nouns denoting acts or actions

Hypernyms ("feint" is a kind of...):

maneuver; manoeuvre; tactical maneuver; tactical manoeuvre (a move made to gain a tactical end)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "feint"):

fake; juke ((football) a deceptive move made by a football player)

Derivation:

feint (deceive by a mock action)

• FEINT (verb)

Present simple: I / you / we / they feint    ... he / she / it feints   
Past simple: feinted   
Past participle: feinted   
-ing form: feinting   

Sense 1

Meaning:

Deceive by a mock action

Classified under:

Verbs of sewing, baking, painting, performing

Context example:

The midfielder feinted to shoot

Hypernyms (to "feint" is one way to...):

assume; feign; sham; simulate (make a pretence of)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s something
Somebody ----s somebody

Derivation:

feint (any distracting or deceptive maneuver (as a mock attack))

 Context examples 

I recollect being very much surprised by the feint everybody made, then, of not having been to sleep at all, and by the uncommon indignation with which everyone repelled the charge.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

May not even this be a feint that will increase your triumph by affording a wider scope for your revenge?

(Frankenstein, by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley)

Seeing that I meant to dodge, he also paused; and a moment or two passed in feints on his part and corresponding movements upon mine.

(Treasure Island, by Robert Louis Stevenson)

Then he followed up a feint, right and left, was fiercely countered, and felt his cheek laid open to the bone.

(Martin Eden, by Jack London)

In came Wilson again with a feint at the mark and a flush hit on Harrison’s cheek; then, breaking the force of the smith’s ponderous right counter, he brought the round to a conclusion by slipping down upon the grass.

(Rodney Stone, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

It was but a feint.

(The White Company, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

I had soon dressed, as well as I was able, in clothes of my own size: had soon passed through the house, where Bradshaw stared and drew back at seeing Mr. Hyde at such an hour and in such a strange array; and ten minutes later, Dr. Jekyll had returned to his own shape and was sitting down, with a darkened brow, to make a feint of breakfasting.

(The Strange Case Of Dr. Jekyll And Mr. Hyde, by Robert Louis Stevenson)

This part of the business, however, did not last long; for the young rascal, being expert at a variety of feints and dodges, of which my aunt had no conception, soon went whooping away, leaving some deep impressions of his nailed boots in the flower-beds, and taking his donkey in triumph with him.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

With a quick feint he threw the other off his guard, and then, bounding upon him, threw his legs round his waist and his arms round his bull-neck, in the hope of bearing him to the ground with the sudden shock.

(The White Company, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)