Both Uses of
feint
in
The Princess Bride
- The stride length, the quickness of the foot feints, all clearly revealed to his unfailing eye, made him reassess his second conclusion.†
p. 189.1 *
- He let the man in black feint and dodge and try a hold here, a hold there.†
p. 169.5
Definitions:
-
(1)
(feint) any distracting or deceptive maneuver; or the act of making the maneuverFeint is most typically used for physical maneuvers as when boxing, fencing, or moving troops where a mock attack diverts attention from the real attack. But it can also be used much more generally as when Charlotte Bronte wrote of "a mere feint of politeness."
-
(2)
(meaning too rare to warrant focus) meaning too rare to warrant focus:
Less commonly, feint is a non-standard spelling of faint in the sense of something that is barley perceptible.