(French, faute, Latin, fallo, to fail.)
For fault of a better (Shakespeare: Merry Wives, i. 4). Having no better.
“I am the youngest of that name, for fault of a worse.”—Shakespeare: Romeo and Juliet, ii. 4.
In fault. To blame.
“Is Antony or we in fault for this?”
Shakespeare: Antony and Cleopatra, iii. 13.
To a fault: In excess; as, kind to a fault. Excess of every good is more or less evil.
To find fault. To blame; to express disapprobation.
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Entry taken from Dictionary of Phrase and Fable, edited by the Rev. E. Cobham Brewer, LL.D. and revised in 1895.
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