What does feaguing mean?
Feaguing is the gerund form of the obscure English verb 'feague', which historically meant to whip or beat, and more specifically to enliven a horse artificially before selling it. Horse dealers were notorious for feaguing their animals — inserting a piece of ginger, or in some accounts a live eel, beneath the horse's tail so that the irritation caused it to hold its tail high and appear spirited and healthy when, in fact, it might be exhausted or infirm. This made feaguing a byword for fraud in the horse trade, and it survives today only as a curiosity encountered in historical dictionaries and writing about eighteenth- and nineteenth-century commerce. Both its senses — flogging and deceptive doctoring — carry connotations of cruelty and dishonesty. While no longer in living use, the word offers a vivid glimpse into the shady practices of historical markets and remains useful to anyone interested in the history of slang, animal husbandry, or consumer fraud.
verb (gerund/present participle of 'feague')The act of whipping or beating; historically, also the practice of inserting ginger (or a live eel) into a horse's anus to make it carry its tail high and appear lively before a sale.
- To whip or beat (archaic).
- To prepare or enliven a horse artificially for sale, especially by inserting ginger or an eel under its tail so it holds its tail up (historical horse-dealing practice).
"The dishonest dealer was caught feaguing his horses so they would seem spirited at market."
"The stable boy was reprimanded for feaguing the horses before dawn."
"Victorian writers described dealers feagging their mounts with ginger to disguise a drooping tail."
Before horse-traders resorted to fraud by feaguing — inserting ginger where the sun doesn't shine — they simply whipped their animals to make them prance; either way, buyer beware.
Reviewed by Deb Chak, Editor. AI-assisted content curated by RJS Tech Solutions LLP.
Etymology of feaguing
'Feague' entered English in the early modern period, appearing in seventeenth-century sources, though its ultimate origin is uncertain; some dictionaries connect it tentatively to Scandinavian or Low German words meaning to whip or flog. It developed two recorded senses: to beat generally, and to doctor a horse with ginger to make it raise its tail. The verb is chiefly remembered through later dictionary citations and satirical writing rather than through continuous everyday use, and no secure cognates in other languages can be stated with confidence.
Related word forms
How feaguing is actually used
Both senses are archaic and appear almost exclusively in historical texts and dictionaries. The word carries strongly negative connotations of deception and cruelty, whether describing a physical beating or the fraudulent doctoring of horses for sale.
Easily confused with feaguing
'Faguing' is not an established English word; 'feaguing' is sometimes misspelled this way but derives from the verb 'feague', meaning to whip or trick.