Webster
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Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary · 1913

Fain

Fain (fān), 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.] 1. Well-pleased; glad; apt; wont; fond; inclined.

Men and birds are fain of climbing high. Shak.

To a busy man, temptation is fainto climb up together with his business. Jer. Taylor.

2. Satisfied; contented; also, constrained. Shak.

The learned Castalio was fain to make trechers at Basle to keep himself from starving. Locke.

Fain, adv. With joy; gladly; — with wold.

He would fain have filled his belly with the husks that the swine did eat. Luke xv. 16.

Fain Would I woo her, yet I dare not. Shak.

Fain, v. t. & i. To be glad ; to wish or desire. [Obs.]

Whoso fair thing does fain to see. Spencer.

Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Noah Porter, editor (Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913). Public domain. Text as transcribed by MICRA, Inc., from Project Gutenberg. Changed for Deep Dive Bible: Greek, which our source spelled in Latin letters, set in Greek letters; entries of one spelling merged into one article; Greek words our source left out (shown as “?”), read from the 1898 printing, from the same plates (the Library of Congress’s copy), where the place could be found with certainty. Of the others, 1,362 (a word or a single letter each) were inferred by AI from the context by the dictionary’s own rules and are marked with a wavy underline (tap or point at one to see the note); the rest, which could not be inferred with confidence, are left as “?”.