fig

 

 

• IPA^(key): /fɪɡ/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɪɡ

From Middle English fige, fygge (also fyke, from Old English fīc, see fike), borrowed from Anglo-Norman figue, borrowed from Old French figue, from Old Occitan figa, from Vulgar Latin *fīca (“fig”), from Latin fīcus (“fig tree”), from a pre-Indo European language, perhaps Phoenician 𐤐𐤂 (pg, literally “ripe fig”) (compare Biblical Hebrew פַּגָּה (paggâ, “early fallen fig”), Classical Syriac ܦܓܐ (paggāʾ), dialectal Arabic فَجّ (fajj), فِجّ (fijj)).^[1] (Another Semitic root (compare Akkadian 𒈠 (tīʾu, literally “fig”)) was borrowed into Ancient Greek as σῦκον (sûkon) (whence English sycophant; Boeotian τῦκον (tûkon)) and Armenian as թուզ (tʻuz).) The soap-making sense derives from the resemblance of the granulations in and texture of the soap to those of a fig. Doublet of fico.

fig (plural figs)

2. The fruit of the fig tree, pear-shaped and containing many small seeds. [from 12th c.]
3. A fruit-bearing tree or shrub of the genus Ficus that is native mainly to the tropics. [from 14th c.]
   • 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Genesis 3:7:

     And the eyes of them both were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together, and made themselves aprons.

4. The value of a fig, practically nothing; a fico; a whit. [from 15th c.]
   • 1591 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Second Part of Henry the Sixt, […]”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies. […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act II, scene iii]:

     I'll pledge you all; and a fig for Peter!

   • 1847 January – 1848 July, William Makepeace Thackeray, chapter 6, in Vanity Fair […], London: Bradbury and Evans […], published 1848, →OCLC:

     About Rebecca and Jos he did not care a fig.

   • 2004, David Mitchell, Cloud Atlas, London: Hodder and Stoughton, →ISBN:

     J. senses the entente between Eva and me and doesn't like it one fig.

5. A Lady Finger banana, also known as the "fig banana", (cultivar of Musa acuminata) [from 16th c.]
6. (Newfoundland, dated) A raisin (dried grape). [from 18th c.]
   • figgy duff - boiled pudding with raisins
7. A small piece of tobacco. [from 19th c.]
   • 1874, Marcus Clarke, For the Term of His Natural Life, Penguin, published 2009, page 109:

     “You may flog, and welcome, master,” said he, “if you'll give me a fig o' tibbacky.”

   • 1887, Harriet W. Daly, Digging, Squatting, and Pioneering Life in the Northern Territory of South Australia, page 289:

     This was followed by his presenting his sable acquaintance with a fig of tobacco, whereupon, instead of thanking the donor in the usual way, the black signified his gratitude by throwing a spear at twenty or thirty yards' distance.

• Tok Pisin: fik
• → Chuukese: fik
• → Maori: piki

fig (third-person singular simple present figs, present participle figging, simple past and past participle figged)

1. (obsolete) To insult with a fico, or contemptuous motion.
   • c. 1596–1599 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Second Part of Henry the Fourth, […]”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act V, scene iii]:

     When Pistol lies, do this, and fig me like / The bragging Spaniard.

2. (obsolete) To put into the head of, as something useless or contemptible.
3. (soap-making, dated) To develop, or cause (a soap) to develop, white streaks or granulations. [mid-1800s to mid-1900s]
   • 1893, Henry Gathmann, American Soaps, page 204:

     For filling figged soaps silicate of potash is best adapted, as soda prevents in a measure the proper crystallization. [...] Artificially figged soap [...makes] a very close imitation of the naturally figged soap.

   • 1897, The National Provisioner, page 27:

     Figging is usually considered to indicate a good quality of soft soap, but such is really not the case. A first-class soft soap can be made which will not fig, while, on the other hand, a poor soap can be produced which will fig.

   • 1938, Harry Bennett, The Standard Book of Formulas:

     In the cold soaps, the water soluble color is added in liquid form after saponification has started. In figged soaps, the color is crutched in after saponification is completed.

•   fig on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
•   fig tree on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
•   Ficus on Wikispecies.Wikispecies

Variation of fike.

fig (third-person singular simple present figs, present participle figging, simple past and past participle figged)

1. (intransitive) To move suddenly or quickly; rove about.

• figgle

fig (plural figs)

1. Abbreviation of figure (“diagram or illustration”).
2. (colloquial, dated) A person's figure; dress or appearance.

• (abbreviation): fig.

fig (third-person singular simple present figs, present participle figging, simple past and past participle figged)

1. (colloquial, dated, transitive) To dress; to get oneself up a certain way.

• figgery
• go fig
• in full fig

See figging.

fig (third-person singular simple present figs, present participle figging, simple past and past participle figged)

1. (transitive, rare) To insert a ginger root into the anus, vagina or urethra of (a horse): to perform figging upon; to feague, to feak.

   Synonym: ginger

   • 1874, The Slang Dictionary: Etymological, Historical, and Anecdotal, page 176:

     Ginger, a showy, fast horse — as if he had been figged with ginger under his tail; a red-haired man.

   • 1901, Natal Agriculture Journal, page 744:

     He must be "figged." Figging consists in pushing a piece of crushed ginger into the return of the wretched creature — a practice which is now illegal, and of which information should be given to the R.S.P.C.A. whenever detected.

   • 2015, Becky Lower, The Cotillion Ball Saga, Simon and Schuster, →ISBN:

     “Is something amiss with the horse, Parr?” His gaze left the horse for a second as he glanced at Grace. “Yes, the horse has been figged. Now I just need to figure out who the culprit is.”

fig (plural figs)

1. The piece of ginger root used in figging.

• FGI, GFI, GIF, IGF, gif

From French figue (“fig”).

• IPA^(key): /fiɡ/

fig

1. banana

   Synonym: bannann

• IPA^(key): /ˈfik/
• Rhymes: -ik
• Syllabification: fig
• Homophone: fik

fig f

1. genitive plural of figa

Borrowed from Latin ficus.

fig m (plural figi)

1. (obsolete) fig tree

• fig in Academia Română, Micul dicționar academic, ediția a II-a, Bucharest: Univers Enciclopedic, 2010. →ISBN

fig (nominative plural figs)

1. fig