What does feagued mean?
Feagued is the past tense of the archaic verb feague, which principally meant to beat, whip, or thrash, and by extension to drive or urge onward. Figuratively, it could mean to rouse or animate, surviving especially in the phrase 'feague up' — to stir someone into vigor or activity. A more colorful cant sense, recorded in Francis Grose's 1788 Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue, described making an old horse seem lively by fraudulent means, using ginger applied behind to make it prance at sale. The word has vanished from ordinary modern speech and is found today only in historical writing, dialect studies, and dictionaries of slang, where its equine anecdote keeps it memorable. Readers should take care not to confuse it visually with 'fatigued': a feagued horse was one being whipped or spurred along, not merely tired.
verbAn archaic verb chiefly meaning to beat, whip, or thrash; it also carried senses of driving or urging on, and figuratively of animating or spurring someone or something into liveliness (often in the phrase 'feague up').
- To beat, whip, or thrash.
- To drive, urge, or spur on; figuratively, to enliven or animate ('feague up').
- In cant usage, to make a horse appear lively by fraudulent means (as in Grose's account of ginger being used on horses at sale).
"The ostler feagued the jaded horse into a trot before the inn door."
"The driver feagued his weary mules along the frozen road."
"Her rallying speech feagued up the dispirited crew for one last attempt."
"To feague a horse" was once a con man's trick: inserting ginger where the sun doesn't shine to make an old nag seem spirited at auction — a cheat immortalized in Francis Grose's 1788 Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue.
Reviewed by Deb Chak, Editor. AI-assisted content curated by RJS Tech Solutions LLP.
Etymology of feagued
Feague entered English in the sixteenth or seventeenth century, apparently borrowed from a Low German or Dutch source akin to Dutch vegen and German fegen, meaning to sweep or strike — roots that also underlie senses of whipping and beating. From this core sense of striking developed both the literal 'thrash' meaning and the figurative 'enliven, spur on' sense recorded in phrases like 'feague up'. The word's notorious appearance in eighteenth-century slang dictionaries, describing tricks used to freshen up old horses for sale, shows how far its figurative life had traveled from simple physical beating. By the nineteenth century it had fallen almost entirely out of use.
Related word forms
How feagued is actually used
'Feagued' is obsolete in everyday English and survives mainly in historical texts, dialect glossaries, and dictionaries of slang. When encountered, it most often appears in the past tense or in the phrase 'feague up'. Because of its rarity, modern readers may misread it as 'fatigued', so context matters when quoting period sources.
Easily confused with feagued
'Fatigued' means worn out with tiredness, whereas 'feagued' means whipped, beaten, or spurred into action.