Meaning

noun something that is a counterfeit; not what it seems to be

noun a person who makes deceitful pretenses

noun (football) a deceptive move made by a football player

originThe 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”), itself from German Low German fegen, from Middle Low German vēgen, from Old Saxon fegōn, from Proto-West Germanic *fegōn (“to clean up, polish”). Akin to Dutch veeg (“a swipe”),…

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 3.0