† fessn.
Obsolete.
ΚΠ
1716 London Gaz. No. 5439/4 A black Mare..With a Fess Tail, lately dock'd.
This entry has not yet been fully updated (first published 1972; most recently modified version published online June 2022).
fessv.
/fɛs/, U.S. /fɛs/ Originally U.S.
intransitive and transitive = confess v. Frequently with up.
ΘΚΠ
society > communication > manifestation > disclosure or revelation > disclose or make revelations [verb (intransitive)] > reveal one's true character > confess
subscribea1616
confess to1771
own1772
admit1830
to make a clean breast of1838
fess1840
to own up1844
to spit it out1855
to make a clean breast of it1878
cough1901
to come clean1919
to spill one's guts (out)1927
tell papa1929
1840 Knickerbocker 16 112 It would be a sad thing to die here all alone in the woods with a lie in your mouth; so 'fess clean.
1868 L. M. Alcott Little Women I. ix. 140 I shall tell them, myself, all about it, and ‘'fess’ to mother how silly I've been.
1876 C. M. Yonge Three Brides ii. 26 ‘Come 'fess, Julius,’ said she... ‘'Fess and make it up.’
1930 Randolph Enterprise (Elkins, W. Va.) 20 Nov. 1/1 The joke is on him and he may as well ‘Fess up’ to it.
1941 R. A. Heinlein Menace from Earth (1966) 75 If I had told you that you were going back to meet yourself face to face, would you have believed me? Come now, 'fess up.
1947 N. Marsh Final Curtain xiv. 214 I've come to ‘fess up’, like a good boy.
This entry has not yet been fully updated (first published 1933; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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n.1716
v.1840