Faint /(fānt)/

Faint

a.
  1. Lacking strength; weak; languid; inclined to swoon; as, faint with fatigue, hunger, or thirst.
  2. Wanting in courage, spirit, or energy; timorous; cowardly; dejected; depressed; as, “Faint heart ne'er won fair lady.”
  3. Lacking distinctness; hardly perceptible; striking the senses feebly; not bright, or loud, or sharp, or forcible; weak; as, a faint color, or sound.
  4. Performed, done, or acted, in a weak or feeble manner; not exhibiting vigor, strength, or energy; slight; as, faint efforts; faint resistance.
    The faint prosecution of the war.

Faint

n.
  1. The act of fainting, or the state of one who has fainted; a swoon. [R.] See Fainting, n. [R.]
    The saint, Who propped the Virgin in her faint.

Faint

v. i.

imp. & p. p. Fainted; p. pr. & vb. n. Fainting

  1. To become weak or wanting in vigor; to grow feeble; to lose strength and color, and the control of the bodily or mental functions; to swoon; -- sometimes with away. See Fainting, n.
    Hearing the honor intended her, she fainted away.
    — Guardian.
    If I send them away fasting . . . they will faint by the way.
    — Mark viii. 8.
  2. To sink into dejection; to lose courage or spirit; to become depressed or despondent.
    If thou faint in the day of adversity, thy strength is small.
    — Prov. xxiv. 10.
  3. To decay; to disappear; to vanish.
    Gilded clouds, while we gaze upon them, faint before the eye.

Faint

v. t.
  1. To cause to faint or become dispirited; to depress; to weaken. [Obs.]
    It faints me to think what follows.