• IPA: /fɪɡ/

fig (plural figs)

1. A fruit-bearing tree or shrub of the genus Ficus that is native mainly to the tropics.
   • 1611, King James Version, Genesis 3:7:

     And the eyes of them both were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together, and made themselves aprons.

2. The fruit of the fig tree, pear-shaped and containing many small seeds.
3. A small piece of tobacco.
4. The value of a fig, practically nothing; a fico; a whit.
   • 1591, William Shakespeare, Henry VI, Part 2, Act II, sc. 3:

     I'll pledge you all; and a fig for Peter!

   • 1848, William Makepeace Thackeray, Vanity Fair, Chapter 6:

     About Rebecca and Jos he did not care a fig.

5. (Newfoundland, dated) a raisin (dried grape)
   • figgy duff - boiled pudding with raisins

• French: figuier
• German: Feigenbaum
• Italian: fico
• Portuguese: figueira
• Russian: инжи́рное де́рево
• Spanish: higuera

• French: figue
• German: Feige
• Italian: fico
• Portuguese: figo
• Russian: инжи́р
• Spanish: higo, breva

fig (figs, present participle figging; past and past participle figged)

1. (obsolete) To insult with a fico, or contemptuous motion.
   • c. 1596–1599, William Shakespeare, “The Second Part of Henry the Fourth, […]”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies: Published According to the True Originall Copies (First Folio), London: Printed by Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, OCLC 606515358 ↗, [Act V, scene iii]:

     When Pistol lies, do this, and fig me like / The bragging Spaniard.

2. (obsolete) To put into the head of, as something useless or contemptible.
3. (soap-making, dated) To develop, or cause (a soap) to develop, white streaks or granulations. [mid-1800s to mid-1900s]
   • 1893, Henry Gathmann, American Soaps, page 204:

     For filling figged soaps silicate of potash is best adapted, as soda prevents in a measure the proper crystallization. [...] Artificially figged soap [...makes] a very close imitation of the naturally figged soap.

   • 1897, The National Provisioner, page 27:

     Figging is usually considered to indicate a good quality of soft soap, but such is really not the case. A first-class soft soap can be made which will not fig, while, on the other hand, a poor soap can be produced which will fig.

   • 1938, Harry Bennett, The Standard Book of Formulas:

     In the cold soaps, the water soluble color is added in liquid form after saponification has started. In figged soaps, the color is crutched in after saponification is completed.

fig (figs, present participle figging; past and past participle figged)

1. (intransitive) To move suddenly or quickly; rove about.

fig (plural figs)

1. Abbreviation of figure#English|figure. diagram or illustration
2. (colloquial, dated) A person's figure; dress or appearance.

fig (figs, present participle figging; past and past participle figged)

1. (colloquial, dated, transitive) To dress; to get oneself up a certain way.

• figgery

fig (figs, present participle figging; past and past participle figged)

1. (rare) To insert a ginger root into the anus, vagina or urethra of: to perform figging upon.
   • 1874, The Slang Dictionary: Etymological, Historical, and Anecdotal, page 176:

     Ginger, a showy, fast horse — as if he had been figged with ginger under his tail; a red-haired man.

   • 1901, Natal Agriculture Journal, page 744:

     He must be "figged." Figging consists in pushing a piece of crushed ginger into the return of the wretched creature — a practice which is now illegal, and of which information should be given to the R.S.P.C.A. whenever detected.

   • 2015, Becky Lower, The Cotillion Ball Saga, Simon and Schuster (ISBN 9781440596162):

     “Is something amiss with the horse, Parr?” His gaze left the horse for a second as he glanced at Grace. “Yes, the horse has been figged. Now I just need to figure out who the culprit is.”

1. The 95th sura (chapter) of the Qur'an.

• The Fig-tree