fig
/fɪɡ/ noun, verb, proper noun
Forms figs figging figged the Fig fig.
- noun The fruit of the fig tree, pear-shaped and containing many small seeds.
- noun A fruit-bearing tree or shrub of the genus Ficus that is native mainly to the tropics.
- noun The value of a fig, practically nothing; a fico; a whit.
- noun A Lady Finger banana, also known as the "fig banana", (cultivar of Musa acuminata)
- noun (Newfoundland, dated) A raisin (dried grape).
- noun A small piece of tobacco.
- noun A fico, a contemptuous gesture.
- verb (obsolete) To insult with a fico, a contemptuous gesture.
- verb (obsolete) To put into the head of, as something useless or contemptible.
- verb (soap-making, dated) To develop, or cause (a soap) to develop, white streaks or granulations.
- verb (intransitive) To move suddenly or quickly; rove about.
- noun (colloquial, dated) A person's figure; dress or appearance.
- verb (colloquial, dated, transitive) To dress; to get oneself up a certain way.
- verb (transitive, rare) To insert a ginger root into the anus, vagina or urethra of (a horse): to perform figging upon; to feague, to feak.
- noun The piece of ginger root used in figging.
- proper noun The 95th sura (chapter) of the Qur'an.
- proper noun (slang) Figueroa Street (street in Los Angeles)
Synonyms
ginger the Fig-tree figure common fig common fig tree Ficus carica Libyan Islamic Fighting Group Al-Jama'a al-Islamiyyah al-Muqatilah bi-Libya Libyan Fighting Group Libyan Islamic Group
Etymology
From Middle English fige, fygge (also fyke, from Old English fīc, see fike), borrowed from Anglo-Norman figue, borrowed from Old French figue, from Old Occitan figa, from Vulgar Latin *fīca (“fig”), from Latin fīcus (“fig tree”), from a pre-Indo European language, perhaps Phoenician 𐤐𐤂 (pg, literally “ripe fig”) (compare Biblical Hebrew פַּגָּה (paggâ, “early fallen fig”), Classical Syriac ܦܓܐ (paggāʾ), dialectal Arabic فَجّ (fajj), فِجّ (fijj)). (Another Semitic root (compare Akkadian 𒈠 (tīʾu, literally “fig”)) was borrowed into Ancient Greek as σῦκον (sûkon) (whence English sycophant; Boeotian τῦκον (tûkon)) and Armenian as թուզ (tʻuz).) The soap-making sense derives from the resemblance of the granulations in and texture of the soap to those of a fig. Doublet of fico.
Variation of fike.
See figging.
Calque of Arabic التِين (at-tīn), after the first word of the sura.
Webster’s 1913
- noun A small fruit tree (Ficus Carica) with large leaves, known from the remotest antiquity. It was probably native from Syria westward to the Canary Islands.
- noun The fruit of a fig tree, which is of round or oblong shape, and of various colors.
- verb To insult with a fico, or contemptuous motion. See Fico. [Obs.]
- verb To put into the head of, as something useless o [Obs.] L'Estrange.
Etymology [F. figue the fruit of the tree, Pr. figa, fr. L. ficus fig tree, fig. Cf. Fico.]
Etymology [See Fico, Fig, n.]
Sources: Wiktionary · WordNet 3.0 · Webster’s 1913 — from the Wiktionary entry “fig”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details