Fainaigue

Word of the Day for Monday, November 26, 2012

Fainaigue \fuh-NEYG\, verb:

1. To shirk; evade work or responsibility.
2. To renege at cards.

I finally fainaigue a tin plate out of the mess department, for which I am required to give two lire.
-- Harry Partch, Thomas McGeary, Bitter Music: Collected Journals, Essays, Introductions, and Librettos

I've a two-year stretch up here, unless I quit or fainaigue a transfer.
-- "Astounding Science fiction, Volume 31, issue 21943"

Fainaigue stems from British dialect, but its exact origins are unclear. Whether or not it has a relationship to finagle is a source of debate.

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