fangle

/ˈfæŋ.ɡəl/

Etymology

From Middle English fangelen (verb), from fangel (“inclined to take”, adjective), from Old English *fangol, *fangel (“inclined to take”), from fōn (“to take, seize”). Compare Old English andfangol (“undertaker, contractor”), Old English underfangelnes (“undertaking, hospitality”), Middle English fangen (“to take, seize, catch”), German fangen (“to catch”). More at fang.

Why this word is great

FANGLE — [Verb, Noun] To fashion or create, often with a sense of novelty or showiness; a newly fashioned item or novelty. From Middle English fangelen (verb), from fangel ("inclined to take"), from Old English *fangol, *fangel ("inclined to take"), from fōn ("to take, seize"). Compare Old English andfangol ("undertaker, contractor"), Old English underfangelnes ("undertaking, hospitality"). Unlike "newfangled" (which scorns novelty as frivolous) or "contrive" (which strains for cleverness), "fangle" is the unburdened act of making, neither defensive nor desperate. It is the jeweler twisting wire into an unexpected clasp, the tailor adding a hidden pocket where none was before, or the child cobbling together a crown from fallen leaves—small acts of defiance against the tyranny of the unaltered. To fangle is to insist that the world is still soft in your hands.

verb

To fashion, manufacture, invent, or create.“[…]not hereby to control and new fangle the Scripture, God forbid, but to mark how corruption and apostasy crept in by degrees, and to gather up wherever we find the remaining sparks of original truth,[…]”
To trim showily; entangle; hang about.
To waste time; trifle.

noun

A prop; a taking up; a new thing.
Something newly fashioned; a novelty, a new fancy.
A foolish innovation; a gewgaw; a trifling ornament.
A conceit; whim.