fame (2)

t. [Low Lat. famo, from Lat. fama.] 1. To make famous or renowned; to celebrate. "He watz famed for fre." E. Eng. Allit . Poems ; Cleanne , 275. 2. To defame, to slander. "False and fekylle was that wyghte That lady for to fame?" Tryamoure, 20. *fame (3) (*famen), v. t. [O. Fr. afamer .] To famish, to starve. "Steuen wille vs traueile and famen vs to dede." Robert de Brunne , p. 122. 1776 3. Well-known; brought into knowledge by frequent practice or custom. "Familiar in their mouths as household words." Shakesp.: Henry V. , iv. 3. Followed by to before the person. "Made familiar to me and to my aid." Shakesp.: Pericles, iii. 2. 4. Well acquainted; knowing thoroughly. "The mind by degrees growing familiar with some of them [ideas] they are lodged in the memory."-Locke. 5. Habituated to by use or custom. "Changed at length, and to the place confound In temper and in nature will receive Familiar the fierce heat, and void of pain." Milton: PL . , ii. 217-19. 6. Well known as a friend; intimate; on friendly terms. "We are familiar at first." Shakesp.: Cymbeline, i. 5. It is followed by with before the person with whom one is intimate. "To be as familiar with me as my dog." Shakesp.: Henry IV., Pt. II., ii. 2. 7. Having the qualities or characteristics of an intimate friend; affable; not formal; easy; unconstrained. "Be thou familiar, but by no means vulgar." Shakesp.: Hamlet, i. 3. 8. Unduly or unlawfully intimate. "A poor man found a priest familiar with his wife." Camden. (Ogilvie.) 9. Easily understood; of an ordinary kind; not abstruse or far-fetched; as, a familiar illustration. Shakesp.. Love's Labor's Lost , i. 2. "By a familiar demonstration of the working." 10. Attached to or attending on a person; in the service of or at the call of any one. "They shall say unto you, Seek unto them that have familiar spirits, and unto wizards that peep and mutter." IMG:content-1407.png:[blocks in formation] "Where is Pucelle now? I think her old familiar is asleep." Shakesp.: Henry VI., Pt. I., iii. 2. *4. The a istant of a magician or witch. "Vouchsafe to make me your familiar ."-Cotgrave. II. Ch. Hist.: In the Court of the Inquisition an officer employed in apprehending and imprisoning the accused, so called from the circumstance that he was admitted to the secrets of the society, and thus made, as it were, one of the family. For the difference between familiar and free, see FREE.