Feint
FEINT, noun
1. An assumed or false appearance; a pretense of doing something not intended to be done.
Courtley's letter is but a feint to get off.
2. A mock attack; an appearance of aiming at one part when another is intended to be struck. In fencing, a show of making a thrust at one part, to deceive an antagonist, when the intention is to strike another part.
FEINT, adjective or participle passive Counterfeit; seeming. [Not used.]