Emily Dickinson Lexicon

faint (-er, -est), verbal adj. [OFr feint, sluggish, cowardly.] (webplay: breathe, day, fair, hearing, honor, houses, imperfect, lady, last, light, little, lose, loss, low, red, send, small, sound, spirit, striking, strong, timid, way, wines).

1. Dim; unseen; imperceptible; hardly visible; weak in color; not bright or vivid; [fig.] distant.
2. Losing vitality; lower in body temperature; fading physically as death approaches; [fig.] lost in another world.
3. Dismaying; unnerving; enervating; unsettling; [fig.] scary; frightening.
4. Muted; hushed; quiet; soft sounding; not loud; barely audible.
5. Weak; fallible; feeble; fragile; frail; imperfect; limited in power; [fig.] mortal; earthly; merely human.
6. Humble; unapparent; hardly perceptible; not obvious.