fess
fess Lexical Profile
fess Game Scores & Validity
• verb
North American To confess or admit to a fault, mistake, or wrongdoing (usually used with 'up').
"When questioned about the missing cookies, the child finally decided to fess up."
• noun
In heraldry, a broad horizontal band running across the center of a coat of arms, typically occupying one-third of the shield's height.
"The family's coat of arms featured a golden fess between three silver stars on a blue field."
Word Nuance & Usage
As an informal verb meaning to confess, 'fess' is almost exclusively used with the particle 'up' in the phrasal verb 'fess up'. As a noun, it is a formal technical term restricted to heraldry.
• Rhymes for fess
Word Origin & Etymology
The heraldic noun derives from Middle English, borrowed from Old French 'fesse' (band or stripe), from Latin 'fascia' (band or bandage). The informal verb is a 19th-century American English aphetic shortening of 'confess'.