a. [ OE. fain, fagen, AS. fægen; akin to OS. fagan, Icel. faginn glad; AS. fægnian to rejoice, OS. faganōn, Icel. fagna, Goth. faginōn, cf. Goth. fahēds joy; and fr. the same root as E. fair. Srr Fair, a., and cf. Fawn to court favor. ]
Men and birds are fain of climbing high. Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]
To a busy man, temptation is fainto climb up together with his business. Jer. Taylor. [ 1913 Webster ]
The learned Castalio was fain to make trechers at Basle to keep himself from starving. Locke. [ 1913 Webster ]
v. t. & i. To be glad ; to wish or desire. [ Obs. ] [ 1913 Webster ]
Whoso fair thing does fain to see. Spencer. [ 1913 Webster ]
adv. With joy; gladly; -- with wold. [ 1913 Webster ]
He would fain have filled his belly with the husks that the swine did eat. Luke xv. 16. [ 1913 Webster ]
Fain Would I woo her, yet I dare not. Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]
The mask of sneering faineance was gone. C. Kingsley. [ Webster 1913 Suppl. ]
. A deity believed to be real but conceived as not acting in human affairs, hence not worshiped. [ Webster 1913 Suppl. ]
v. t. To cause to faint or become dispirited; to depress; to weaken. [ Obs. ] [ 1913 Webster ]
It faints me to think what follows. Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]
n. The act of fainting, or the state of one who has fainted; a swoon. [ R. ] See Fainting, n. [ 1913 Webster ]
The saint,
Who propped the Virgin in her faint. Sir W. Scott. [ 1913 Webster ]
v. i.
Hearing the honor intended her, she fainted away. Guardian. [ 1913 Webster ]
If I send them away fasting . . . they will faint by the way. Mark viii. 8. [ 1913 Webster ]
If thou faint in the day of adversity, thy strength is small. Prov. xxiv. 10. [ 1913 Webster ]
Gilded clouds, while we gaze upon them, faint before the eye. Pope. [ 1913 Webster ]