fake

Etymology 1

The origin is not known with certainty, although first attested in 1775 C.E. in British criminals' slang. It is probably from feak, feague (“to give a better appearance through artificial means, spruce up, embellish”); akin to Dutch veeg (“a swipe”), Dutch vegen (“to sweep, wipe”); German fegen (“to sweep, to polish”). Compare also Old English fācn (“deceit, fraud”). Perhaps related also to Old Norse fjúka (“to fade, vanquish, disappear”), Old Norse feikn (“strange, scary, unnatural”).

adj

1. Not real; false, fraudulent
   Which fur coat looks fake?
2. (of people) Insincere

noun

1. Something which is not genuine, or is presented fraudulently.
   I suspect this passport is a fake.
2. (sports) A move meant to deceive an opposing player, used for gaining advantage for example when dribbling an opponent.
3. (archaic) A trick; a swindle

verb

1. (transitive) To make a counterfeit, to counterfeit, to forge, to falsify.
2. (transitive) To make a false display of, to affect, to feign, to simulate.
   to fake a marriage
   to fake happiness
   to fake a smile
3. (archaic) To cheat; to swindle; to steal; to rob.
4. (archaic) To modify fraudulently, so as to make an object appear better or other than it really is
   He had a hundred similar tricks, but I never knew him fake a horse, or sell one as sound if it was not. 1944, George Henderson, The Farming Ladder
5. (music, transitive, intransitive) To improvise, in jazz.
   Occasionally the opportunity arises to stand up and "fake" a jazz standard. 1994, ITA Journal, volume 22, page 20
   In the face of this print music culture, 'faking' was the ability—at once respected and disrespected—to improvise a song (or a part in an arrangement) without reading the notation. Denning, cited in 2020, Matt Brennan, Kick It: A Social History of the Drum Kit (page 110)

Etymology 2

From Middle English faken (“to coil a rope”).

noun

1. (nautical) One of the circles or windings of a cable or hawser, as it lies in a coil; a single turn or coil.

verb

1. (nautical) To coil (a rope, line, or hawser), by winding alternately in opposite directions, in layers usually of zigzag or figure of eight form, to prevent twisting when running out.