feal

See also: féal

English

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /fiːl/
  • Audio (US)(file)
  • Rhymes: -iːl

Etymology 1

From Middle English fele, fæle (“proper, of the right sort”), from Old English fǣle (“faithful, trusty, good; dear, beloved”), from Proto-Germanic *failijaz (“true, friendly, familiar, good”), from Proto-Indo-European *pey- (“to adore”). Cognate with Scots feel, feelie (“cosy, neat, clean, comfortable”), West Frisian feilich (“safe”), Dutch veil (“for-sale”), Dutch veilig (“safe”), German feil (“for-sale”), Latin pīus (“good, dutiful, faithful, devout, pious”).

Alternative forms

Adjective

feal (comparative fealer or more feal, superlative fealest or most feal)

  1. (Britain dialectal, Northern England, Scotland) (of things) Cosy; clean; neat.
    • 1847, Henry Scott Riddell, Poems, songs and miscellaneous pieces:
      But if it stands in humble hame The bed, — I'll say this far in't, — Is clean and feel as ony lair King ever lay on — and that is mair Than mony ane could warrant.
  2. (Britain dialectal, Northern England, Scotland) (of persons) Comfortable; cosy; safe.
    • 1822, Allan Cunningham, "Death of the Laird Of Warlsworm", in Traditional Tales of the English and Scottish Peasantry, v. 2, p. 330:
      [...] when I care na to accompany ye to the kirkyard hole mysel, and take my word for't, ye'Il lie saftest and fealest on the Buittle side of the kirk; [...]
  1. (Britain dialectal, Northern England, Scotland) Smooth; soft; downy; velvety.
Derived terms

Adverb

feal (comparative fealer or more feal, superlative fealest or most feal)

  1. In a feal manner.

Etymology 2

From Middle English felen, from Old Norse fela (“to hide”), from Proto-Germanic *felhaną (“to conceal, hide, bury, trust, intrude”), from Proto-Indo-European *pele(w)-, *plē(w)- (“to hide”). Cognate with Old High German felahan (“to pass, trust, sow”), Old English fēolan (“to cleave, enter, penetrate”).

Verb

feal (third-person singular simple present feals, present participle fealing, simple past and past participle fealed)

  1. (transitive, dialectal) To hide.

Etymology 3

From Middle English felen (“to come at (one's enemies), advance”), from Old English fēolan (“to cleave, enter, penetrate”), from Proto-Germanic *felhaną.

Verb

feal (third-person singular simple present feals, present participle fealing, simple past fale or fealed, past participle folen or fealed)

  1. (obsolete) To press on, advance.
    Durst none of them further feal.
    (Mannyng's Chronicle)

References

Etymology 4

Inherited from an unattested Middle English word, from Old French feal, collateral form of feeil, from Latin fidelis.

Adjective

feal (comparative fealer or more feal, superlative fealest or most feal)

  1. (archaic) faithful, loyal
Derived terms

Etymology 5

You can help Wiktionary by providing a proper etymology.

Noun

feal (plural feals)

  1. alternative form of fail (piece of turf cut from grassland)

Anagrams

Galician

Etymology

From feo (“hay”) +‎ -al, suffix which forms place names. From Latin fēnum (“hay”).

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /feˈal/

Noun

feal m (plural feais)

  1. place which abounds in hay

References

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