fard
Language: English
Part of speech: verb
Pronunciation: ipa: /fɑːd/
ipa: /fɑɹd/
rhymes: -ɑː(ɹ)d
Forms: form: fards
form: farding
form: farded
form: farded
Etymology: The verb is derived from Middle English farden (“to apply cosmetics”) or Middle French farder, from Old French farder (“to make up or paint the face; to disguise; to represent in a false light”), from Frankish *farwidōn (“to colour, dye”), from Proto-Germanic *farwiþōną (“to colour”), from *farwō (“colour”), from Proto-Indo-European *perḱ- (“coloured; motley”).
The word is cognate with Icelandic farða, Latin pulcher (“beautiful”), Old High German farwjan (“to colour”) (modern German Farbe (“colour”)), Middle Low German varwe (“colour”) (Low German Farwe (“colour”)), Welsh erch (“dark brown”).
The noun derived is from French fard (“cosmetics, make-up”), from Old French fart (“cosmetics, make-up”) (masculine) (farde (feminine)); further etymology is uncertain, but a possible derivation is from Old High German gifarwit (“coloured, painted”), past participle of farwjan (“to colour”), from Proto-West Germanic *faru (related to the verb).
Senses: examples: text: The fairest are but farded like the face of Jezebel […]
ref: 1856, Mark Napier, quoting Zachary Boyd, chapter XXXIII, in The Memoirs of the Marquis of Montrose, volume II, Edinburgh: Thomas G. Stevenson, […]; London: Hamilton, Adams & Co., →OCLC, footnote 1, page 701:
text: Some of the 177 affiliates to the Manhattan-based Rush Limbaugh program complained last Wednesday when the cantankerous national talk show host said he endorsed the efforts of a fellow talk host in Atlanta who called for an end to women "farding in their cars." Limbaugh, who is heard locally on WNTR-AM (1050), told listeners that "farding on the highway is very dangerous as well as offensive to others." Not until Thursday did Limbaugh provide listeners with the meaning of the word "fard," which is to paint with cosmetics.
ref: 1989 December 27, Jeffrey Yorke, “Limbaugh’s play on words”, in The Washington Post, published 2 January 1990, archived from the original on 27 Aug 2017:
glosses: To paint, as the cheeks or face.
examples: text: For looke how far fellonie may glory in her fetters, so far may we in our funerals wherewith we but feard death. For as some Gentiles, where gold is vernaculous and plentifull, their catiues thogh therewith enchained, yet remaines catiues: so to vs, thogh our graue were of enamelled gold, yet it is but our graue, the monument of our common misery, that by diuine mercy onely may be remedied without farther meanes.
ref: 1606, William Birnie, “Against Seculare Pompe in Funerals”, in The Blame of Kirk-bvriall, Tending to Persvvade Cemiteriall Civilitie. […], Edinburgh: Printed by Robert Charteris, […], →OCLC; republished as W[illiam] B[arclay] D[avid] D[onald] Turnbull, editor, The Blame of Kirk-buriall, Tending to Perswade Cemiteriall Civilitie, London: W[illiam] Pickering, […]; Edinburgh: G. A. Douglas, 1833, →OCLC:
text: [I]t is but bare, simple, plain, honest, homely truth, without welt, without guard. It will abide none but native colours. It scorneth to woo favour with farding and licking and counterfeisance. It hates either bought or borrowed beauty; and therefore, like some native face among the painted, looks coarse and rusty.
ref: 1623 September 21, Joseph Hall, “Sermon X. The Best Bargain: A Sermon Preached to the Court at Theobald’s on Sunday, September 21, 1623”, in Philip Wynter, editor, The Works of the Right Reverend Joseph Hall, D.D., new revised and corrected edition, volume V, Oxford: At the University Press, published 1863, →OCLC, page 179:
text: [Y]e handle this matter too tenderly, nor will my conscience permit me to fard or daub over the causes of divine wrath […]
ref: 1816, Jedadiah Cleishbotham [pseudonym; Walter Scott], chapter VIII, in Tales of My Landlord, […], volume III (Old Mortality), Edinburgh: […] [James Ballantyne and Co.] for William Blackwood, […]; London: John Murray, […], →OCLC, pages 155–156:
glosses: To embellish or gloss over.