fetch 
In other cases the fetch of imagination was not so much 
after ideas to construe with as after feelings to luxuriate 
in. Jour, of Anthrop. Inst., IV. 342. 
2. The course through or over which anything 
is fetched or carried ; hence, the reach or stretch 
of space between two connecting or related 
points ; a line of progress or relation from point 
to point. 
In comparing an existing harbor with a proposed one, 
perhaps the most obvious element is what may be termed 
the line of maximum exposure or, in other words, the 
line of greatest fetch or reach of open sea. 
Kiiein: Brit., XI. 45ti. 
What is wanted is to ascertain in such shorter seas the 
height of waves in relation to the length of fetch in which 
they are geniT.-n. <!. KIH-IIC. Brit., XIV. 615. 
3. A stratagem by which a thing is indirectly 
brought to pass, or by which one thing seems 
intended and another is done; a trick; an ar- 
tifice. 
Deny to speak with me? They are sick? they are weary ? 
They have travell'd all the night? Mere fetches. 
Shak., Lear, 11. 4. 
"1'was Justice Bramble's fetch to get the wench. 
B. Jonsun, Tale of a Tub, lii. 1. 
For he [God] knows how to take the crafty in their own 
devices ; and very often brings to nought the most poli- 
tick fetches of self-designing men. 
Stillinyfteet, Sermons, II. iv. 
fetch' 2 (fech), . An obsolete and dialectal form 
of vetch. 
fetch 3 (fech), n. [E. dial.; origin uncertain; 
perhaps an accom. of Dan. rette = Norw. vette, 
rett = Sw. vatt = Icel. vaittr, a wight, a super- 
natural being, an elf, = E. wighfl, q. v. Cf. 
E. fetch-candle, fetch-light, with Dan. vettelys 
= Norw. vette-ljos = Sw. vatteljus, will-o'-the- 
wisp, jack-o'-lantern (Dan. lys = Norw. Jjos = 
Sw. ljus = Icel. Ijos, light, caudle, taper); Dan. 
vette-4ld, cairn-fire, a fire supposed to burn at 
night in the cairns of heroes (Dan. ild, fire).] 
The apparition of a living person ; a wraith. 
The very fetch and ghost of Mrs. Gamp, bonnet and all, 
might be seen hanging up, any hour in the day, in at least 
a dozen of the second-hand clothes shops. 
Dickenx, Martin Chuzzlewit, xix. 
XVhen the Earl of Cornwall met the fetch of his friend 
William Rufus carried black and naked on a black goat 
across the Bodmin moors, he saw that it was wounded 
through the midst of the breast ; and afterwards he heard 
that at that very hour the king had been slain in the New 
Forest by the arrow of Walter Tirell. 
E. B. Tylor, Prim. Culture, I. 408. 
fetch-candle (fech'kan'dl), . [</efc/3, q. v., 
+ candle.] A light seen at night and believed 
by the superstitious to portend a person's death. 
fetcher (fech'er), H. One who or that which 
fetches or brings. Chapman, Iliad, i. 
fetching (fech'ing), p. a. 1. Alluring; attrac- 
tive; fascinating; taking; "killing": as, an 
awfully fetching bonnet. [Slang.] 
A costume of black tulle worked in yellow straw em- 
broidery is very fetching on tall slender blondes. 
Mail and Express (New York), Nov. 8, 1888. 
2t. Crafty; tricky: as, " the fetching practice 
of prelates," Foxe, Martyrs (Cattley's ed.), III. 
367. 
fetch-light (fech'lit), . [< fetch*, q. v., + 
light 1 . ] Same us fetch-candle. 
fetchwatert (fech'wa"ter), n. [<fetchl + obj. 
water."] A drawer of water ; a water-carrier. 
But spin the Greek wives' webs of task, and their fetch- 
water be. > Chapman, Iliad, vi. 495. 
feteH, " A Middle English form of feat 1 . 
fete-t, a. A Middle English form of feat 2 . 
fte (fat), . [F., < OF. feste, > ME. feste, E. 
feast: see feast."} A feast; a holiday; a festi- 
val-day. F6te champe'tre, a festival or an entertain- 
ment in the open air ; an outdoor entertainment, such as 
a large garden-party. 
The battue system developed ink) the sort of fete cham- 
l/ftre, with hot lunch, champagne, and liveried attendants, 
ridiculed to our amusement on the stage. 
S. Dowell, Taxes in England, III. 281. 
Fete Dleu, the feast of Corpus Christ! (which see, under 
corpus). 
fete (fat), v. t. ; pret. and pp. fted, ppr. feting. 
[< Y.fSter, keep as a festival, feast, entertain, 
< fete, n. : see fete, and cf. feast, v."\ To en- 
tertain with a feast ; honor with a festive en- 
tertainment: as, he w&sfe'ted everywhere. 
The murder thus out, Hermann's feted and thanked, 
While his rascally rival gets tossed in a blanket. 
Barhain, Ingoldsby Legends, II. 385. 
fte-day (fat'da), . A festival day; a birth- 
day; specifically, a name-day, as of a person 
named after a saint, celebrated on the anniver- 
sary of the saint. 
A Councillor of the Parliament sent her on her fete-day 
bouquet. J. T. Fields, Underbrush, p. 227. 
2191 
fetial (fe'shial), a, and n. [< L.fetialis, improp. 
fecialis, pertaining to the fetiales, a Roman col- 
lege of priests, who sanctioned treaties when 
concluded and demanded satisfaction from the 
enemy before a formal declaration of war ; 
prob. < fari, pp. fatus, speak: see fate, fable, 
etc.] I. a. In Rom. hint., pertaining to the col- 
lege of fetials, or to the declaration of war by 
heralds : as, fctial law. 
The facial law in Rome's earlier days must have been 
the common property of all the Latin cities, a living law 
under the protection of the higher powers, introduced to 
prevent or to initiate a state of war. 
Woolsey, Introd. to Inter. Law, 8. 
II. n. One of the fetiales. 
Also fecial. 
fetiales (fe-shi-a'lez), . pi. [L., pi. otfetialis : 
see fetial.] Inltom. iintiq., a college of priests 
who served as guardians of the public faith. 
They conducted the formal religious ceremonies attendant 
upon demanding redress from a foreign people in case 
of offense and upon the declaration of war and the ratifi- 
cation of peace. Their president was styled the pater 
patratus. 
But its [the caduceus's] foreign origin is shown by the 
fact that, although it was a sign of peace, it was never 
borne by the fetiales, the old Italian heralds. 
Encyc. Brit., XVI. 31. 
fetich, fetichism, etc. See fetish, etc. 
feticidal (fe'ti-si-dal), . [< feticide + -a/.] 
Of, pertaining to, or iised in feticide. Also/a- 
ticidal. 
He still insists that needles are used in the faeticiilal 
art. Jl. P. Harris, Med. News, XLIX. 221. 
feticide (fe'ti-sid), H. [< L. fetus, a fetus, + 
-cidium, a killing, < cmdere, kill.] In med. juris- 
prudence, the destruction of the life of a fetus. 
Also fceticide. 
feticism (fe'ti-sizm), n. An improper and lit- 
tle-used form of fetishism. 
fetid (fe'tid or fet'id), a. [< "L.fetidiis, less cor- 
rectly fatidus, fa't iritis, stinking, fetid, < fetere, 
less correctly fcetere, fastere, stink, allied to fu- 
mus, smoke: see fume.'] Having an offensive 
smell; stinking. 
Most putrefactions . . . smell either fetid or mouldy. 
Bacon, Nat. Hist. 
Fetid aloes. See aloes. 
fetidness (fe'tid- or fet'id-nes), H. The qual- 
ity of smelling offensively ; a fetid or stinking 
quality. 
fetiferous (fe-tif 'e-rus), a. [< L. fetus, offspring, 
young, + fe'rre, = E. bear 1 , + -ous; ef. li.feti- 
fer, causing fruitfulness (of the Nile).] Pro- 
ducing young, as animals. Coles, 1717. [Rare.] 
fetiset, fetist, a. [ME., < OF. faitis, faitice, fe- 
tis, neat, well-made : see feat 2 and featong.] 
Neat; pretty; graceful: same as fea t*. 
Ryght anon than comen tombesteres 
Fetys and smale, and yonge fruytesteres. 
Chaucer, Pardoner's Tale, 1. 15. 
Faire fyngers unfolde fetise nailes. 
Alisamider of 1H acedoine (E. E. T. H.), 1. 188. 
Alle a- wondered thei were of the barn [child] him bi-hinde, 
So faire & sufetyse it was * freliche sehapen. 
William of Palerne (E. E. T. S.), 1. 393. 
In me is no poynte that may payre, 
I fele me fetys and fayre, 
My powar es passande my peres. 
York Plays, p. 3. 
Faire falle the my faire sone, sofettis of face ! 
York Plays, p. 125. 
fetiselyt, adv. [ME., < fetise + -ly 2 . Cf.featly, 
featously.] Neatly: same asfeatly. 
Frensch sche spak ful faire andfetysly, 
After the scole of Stratford atte Bowe. 
Chmicer, Geu. Prol. to C. T., 1. 123. 
fetish (fe'tish), n. [Also, after the French, fe- 
tich ; first in E. in the formfetisso (< Pg./cittyo) ; 
later after the F. (the word having come into 
general European use in consequence of the 
work of Charles de Brosses, "Du Culte des 
"Disra. fetiches," 1760) ; = D. fetiche = Sw. Dan. 
fetisch =. G. fetisch, < F. fetiche, < Pg. feitig o, 
artificial (cf. feitiyo, n., sorcery, charm, allure- 
ment, feiticeria, sorcery, witchcraft, feiticeiro, 
sorcerer, wizard, etc.), = Sp. hechizo, artificial, 
imitated (cf. hechizo, bewitchment, fascination, 
hechiceria, sorcery, witchcraft, hechicero, sor- 
cerer, etc.), = It. fqttizio, artificial, = OF. fai- 
tise, faitice (> ME. fetise), F. restored factice, 
artificial, < L. facticius, less correctly factitius, 
made by art, artificial, factitious, < facere, 
make: see fact, and cf. factitious, fetise, feat 2 , 
featous, which are thus doublets of fetish. The 
word seems to have been applied by the Portu- 
guese sailors and traders on the west coast 
of Africa to objects worshiped by the natives, 
which were regarded as charms or talismans.] 
1. Any material object regarded with awe, as 
having mysterious powers residing in it or as 
Fetishes of Dahomey, Africa. 
fetishist 
being the representative or habitation of a 
deity to which worship may be paid, and from 
which supernatural aid is to be expected. A 
fetish may be an 
animal, as a cock, 
a serpent, a bear, 
etc., or an inani- 
mate object, as a 
tree, a river, a 
stone, a tooth, a 
shell, a shaving, 
etc. The worship 
of fetishes belongs 
to a low and brut- 
ish stage or form 
of religion. 
When the king 
[in Guinea] will 
sacrifice to Fette- 
so, hee commands 
the Fetixsero [Pg. 
feiticeiro, sorcer- 
er] to enquire of a 
Tree, whereto he 
ascribeth Diuini- 
tie, what hee will 
demand. 
Purchas, Pilgrim- 
[age, p. 661. 
To class an object as a fetish demands explicit state- 
ment that a spirit is considered as embodied in it or act- 
ing through it or communicating: by it, or at least that the 
people it belongs to do habitually think this of such ob- 
jects ; or it must be shown that the object is treated as 
having personal consciousness and power, is talked with, 
worshipped, prayed to, sacrificed to, petted or ill-treated 
with reference to its past or future behaviour to its vota- 
ries. E. B. Tylm; Prim. Culture, II. 188. 
Before experience had yet taught men to distinguish 
between the possible and the impossible, and while they 
were ready on the slightest suggestion to ascribe unknown 
powers to any object and make a fetish of it, their con- 
ceptions of humanity and its capacities were necessarily 
vague and without specific limits. 
H. Spencer, Universal Progress, p. tj. 
Hence 2. An object of blind devotion; an 
idol: as, gold has become bis fetish. 
No faith in the cross that makes a fetich of the cross is 
going to stand proof. 
Bvshntll, Forgiveness and Law, p. 82. 
His return at any hour or any moment was the fetish 
that she let no misgiving blaspheme. 
HmttUt, Modern Instance, xxxv. 
A church without humanity '. 
Patron of pride, and prejudice, and wrong, 
The rich man's charm and fetish of the strong. 
Whittier, On a Prayer-Book. 
You are always against superstitions, and yet you make 
work & fetish. W. Black, Princess of Thule, x. 
Before the Civil War the Constitution was our national 
fetich. To doubt the wisdom of its founders was heresy. 
JV. A. Rev., CXLII. 454. 
3. Same a.s fetish-man. 
Anything which happens, even in the most ordinary 
course of nature, he may pronounce to be the work of a 
fetish or a wizard, and to need his assistance to ferret it 
out. Xineteenth Century, XXII. 801. 
fetishism (fe'tish-izm), H. [Also, after the 
French, fetichism, and sometimes feticism; = F. 
fetichisme; as fetish + -ism.] 1. Tho practice 
of worshiping a fetish ; that form of religious 
belief and practice in which fetishes are the 
objects of worship. See the extracts. 
The President de Brosses, a most original thinker of the 
last century, struck by the descriptions of the African wor- 
ship of material and terrestrial objects, introduced the word 
Fetichisme as a general descriptive term ; and since then 
it has obtained great currency by Comte's use of it to de- 
note a general theory of primitive religion, in which ex- 
ternal objects are regarded as animated by a life analo- 
gous to man's. ... It seems to me . . . more convenient 
to use the word Animism for the doctrine of spirits in 
general, and to confine the word Fetishism to that subor- 
dinate department which it properly belongs to : namely, 
the doctrine of spirits emb odied in, or attached to, or con- 
veying influence through, certain material objects. Fe- 
tishism will be taken as including the worship of "stocks 
and stones, "and thence it passes by an imperceptible gra- 
dation into Idolatry. If. B. Tylor, Prim. Culture, II. 132. 
Fetichittiit' is almost the opposite of Religion ; it stands 
towards it in the same relation as Alchemy to chemistry, 
or Astrology to Astronomy, and shows how fundamental- 
ly our idea of a deity differs from that which presents it- 
self to the savage. The Negro does not hesitate to pun- 
ish a refractory Fetish, and hides it in his waistcloth if lie 
does not wish it to know what is going on. Aladdin's lamp 
is, in fact, a well-known illustration of a Fetish. 
Sir J. Lultbock, Orig. of Civilisation, p. 349. 
A latent fetishism, which is betrayed in that love of per- 
sonification, or of applying epithets derived from sentient 
beings to inanimate nature, . . . is the root of a great part 
of our opinions. Lecky, Enrop. Morals, I. 372. 
Hence 2. Blind devotion to one object or idea ; 
abject superstition. 
fetishist (fe'tish-ist), n. and a. [Also fetichist; 
< fetish + -ist."] I. n. A worshiper of fetishes. 
The Voguls, though baptized, are in fact fetichisti, as 
much as the unconverted Samoyedes. 
Encyc. Brit., XXI. 81. 
II. a. Same as fetishistic. 
They [the tribe of Wolof Serrare) . . . have not yet en- 
tirely renounced fetichist practices. London Daily A'<w. 
