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Webster 1913 Edition

Fairy

Fair′y

,
Noun.
;
pl.
Fairies
(#)
.
[OE.
fairie
,
faierie
, enchantment, fairy folk, fairy, OF.
faerie
enchantment, F.
féer
, fr. LL.
Fata
one of the goddesses of fate. See
Fate
, and cf.
Fay
a fairy.]
[Written also
faëry
.]
1.
Enchantment; illusion.
[Obs.]
Chaucer.
The God of her has made an end,
And fro this worlde’s
fairy

Hath taken her into company.
Gower.
2.
The country of the fays; land of illusions.
[Obs.]
He [Arthur] is a king y-crowned in
Fairy
.
Lydgate.
3.
An imaginary supernatural being or spirit, supposed to assume a human form (usually diminutive), either male or female, and to meddle for good or evil in the affairs of mankind; a fay. See
Elf
, and
Demon
.
The fourth kind of spirit [is] called the
Fairy
.
K. James.
And now about the caldron sing,
Like elves and
fairies
in a ring.
Shakespeare
5.
An enchantress.
[Obs.]
Shak.
Fairy of the mine
,
an imaginary being supposed to inhabit mines, etc. German folklore tells of two species; one fierce and malevolent, the other gentle, See
Kobold
.
No goblin or swart
fairy of the mine

Hath hurtful power over true virginity.
Milton.

Fair′y

,
Adj.
1.
Of or pertaining to fairies.
2.
Given by fairies;
as,
fairy
money
.
Dryden.
Fairy bird
(Zool.)
,
the Euoropean little tern (
Sterna minuta
); – called also
sea swallow
, and
hooded tern
.
–
Fairy bluebird
.
(Zool.)
See under
Bluebird
.
–
Fairy martin
(Zool.)
,
a European swallow (
Hirrundo ariel
) that builds flask-shaped nests of mud on overhanging cliffs.
–
Fairy rings
or
Fairy circles
,
the circles formed in grassy lawns by certain fungi (as
Marasmius Oreades
), formerly supposed to be caused by fairies in their midnight dances; also, the mushrooms themselves. Such circles may have diameters larger than three meters.
–
Fairy shrimp
(Zool.)
,
a European fresh-water phyllopod crustacean (
Chirocephalus diaphanus
); – so called from its delicate colors, transparency, and graceful motions. The name is sometimes applied to similar American species.
–
Fairy stone
(Paleon.)
,
an echinite.

Webster 1828 Edition

Fairy

FA'IRY

,
Noun.
[The origin of this word is not obvious, and the radical letters are uncertain. the conjectures of Baxter, Jamieson and others throw no satisfactory light on the subject.]
1.
A fay; an imaginary being or spirit, supposed to assume a human form, dance in meadows, steal infants and play a variety of pranks. [See Elf and Demon.]
2.
An enchantress.
Fairy of the mine, an imaginary being supposed to inhabit mines, wandering about in the drifts and chambers, always employed in cutting ore, turning the windlass, &c., yet effecting nothing. The Germans believe in two species; one fierce and malevolent; the other gentle. [See Cobalt.]
Fairy ring or circle, a phenomenon observed in fields, vulgarly supposed to be caused by fairies in their dances. This circle is of two kinds; one about seven yards in diameter, containing a round bare path, a foot broad, with green grass in the middle; the other of different size, encompassed with grass.

FA'IRY

, a.
1.
Belonging to fairies; as fairy land
2.
Given by fairies; as fairy money or favors.

Definition 2024

fairy

fairy

English

Alternative forms

Noun

fairy ‎(plural fairies)

  1. (uncountable, obsolete) The realm of faerie; enchantment, illusion.
  2. A mythical being with magical powers, known in many sizes and descriptions, although often depicted in modern illustrations only as small and spritely with gauze-like wings, and revered in some modern forms of paganism; a sprite.
  3. (Northern England, US, derogatory, colloquial) A male homosexual, especially one who is effeminate.
  4. Two species of hummingbird in the genus Heliothryx.

Synonyms

Translations

Derived terms

Etymology

From Middle English fairie, from Old French faerie, the -erie abstract of fae, from Vulgar Latin Fāta ‎(“goddess of fate”), from Latin fātum ‎(“fate”)

English from ca. 1300, first in the sense of "enchantment, illusion, dream" and later "realm of the fays, fairy-land" or "the inhabitants of fairyland as a collective". The re-interpretation of the term as a countable noun denoting individual inhabitants of fairy-land can be traced to the 1390s, but becomes common only in the 16th century.

Pronunciation

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