fair-natured 
fair-natured (far'na'turd), a. Well-disposed; 
good-natured: as, "ajiiir-iintiired prince, "Ford. 
fairness (t'ar'nes), n. [< tlK.fairi:w.fiiirin'x, 
etc., < AH. faymtcx, beauty, (.fteyer, beautiful: 
see fair and -ness.'} The quality or character 
of being fair, in any sense of that word. 
I ayi rst nf faire, t hat fairrnesse doest exivll. 
This happie day I have to greete you well. 
Spenttr, V. (J., IV. ii. 23. 
If she be fair and wise fairness, and wit, 
The one's for use, the other useth it. 
Shak., Othello, ii. 1. 
I have let myself to anothe r, even to the King of Princes ; 
and how can I with/fl/m*'** go buck with thee? 
Bunyan, Pilgrim's Progress, p. 126. 
With so mucli unfairness in his policy there was an ex- 
traordinary degree tit fairness in his intellect. 
Macaulait, Machiavelli. 
fair-seeming (t'ar'se"mrng), a. Appearing to 
be fair. 
In giving a fdir-nesiniitu appearance to common goods, 
we are not only liehincl some of our continental rivals, but 
we arc lamentably behind in the conditions which pro- 
mote excellence. n'rxfmiiuter Kev., CXXVIII. 197. 
fairshipt, >< [ME. feirscliipe ; </ai> 1 + -ship.] 
Beauty. Lydyate. 
fair-spoken (far'spo"kn), a. Using fair speech ; 
bland; civil; courteous; plausible. 
Arius, a priest in the church of Alexandria, a subtle- 
witted and a marvelous fair.tpoken man. 
Hooker, Eccles. Polity. 
May never saw dismember thee, 
Nor wielded axe disjoint, 
That art the fairest-spoken tree 
From here to Uzard-poiut. 
Tennyson, Talking Oak. 
fairway (far'wa), . [< /oiri, a., 6, + way.] 
The part of a road, river, harbor, etc., where 
the navigable channel for vessels lies. 
As the river is rather narrow at this point [Cork], the 
line of fairway for vessels passing through the bridge is 
confined nearly to the center of the river. 
Sci. Amer. Supp., p. 446. 
fair-weather (far'weTH*er), a. Existing or 
done in or fitted for only pleasant weather; 
hence, figuratively, appearing in or suited to 
onlv favorable circumstances ; not capable of 
withstanding or outliving opposition or adver- 
sity: as, a fair-weather voyage; fair-weather 
friends or Christians; fair-weather kindness. 
No, master, I would not hurt you ; methinks I could 
throw a dozen of such fair-weather gentlemen as you are. 
Brooke, Fool of Quality, il. 165. 
Such weather as snitsfainceather sailors. 
E. A. Freeman, Venice, p. 85. 
A state of prosper- 
fair-worldt (far'werld), n. 
ity or well-being. 
They think it was never fair-world with them since. 
.Vilton. 
fairy (far'i, formerly fa'e-ri), n. and a. [Some- 
times written archaically (after OF.) faery, fa- 
erie (as in Spenser), particularly in the 1st and 
2d senses; <. ME./ntn/e, fayry, fayerye, feyrye, 
faierie, feiri, etc., enchantment, fairy folk, 
fairy-land, rarely a fay or fairy, < OF. faerie, 
faierie, enchantment, mod. F.f eerie (>Q.feerei), 
enchantment, fairy-land, < OF.fae, mod. F.fee, 
ME. fay, E. fay*, a fairy: see /a#3.] J, . ; p i. 
fairies (-iz). If. Enchantment ; magic. 
God of her has made an end, 
And fro this worlde's/airy 
Hath taken her into company. Gower. 
But evermore her moste wonder was, 
How that it [a horse] coude gou, and was of bras ; 
It was offairye, as the peple semed. 
Chaucer, Squire's Tale, 1. 183. 
No man dar taken of that frute, for it is a thing of 
fayrie. Mandevitte, Travels, p. 273. 
To preve this world al way, iwis, 
Hit nis but fantiim and feiri. 
Early Eng. Poems (ed. Furnivall), p. 134. 
2. An imaginary being or spirit, generally rep- 
resented as of a diminutive and graceful hu- 
man form, but capable of assuming any other, 
and as playing pranks, frolicsome, kindly, mis- 
chievous, or spiteful, on human beings or 
among themselves ; a fay. 
This makith that ther ben no/iwx. 
Chaucer, Wife of Bath's Tale, 1. 16. 
The feasts that underground the Faerie did him make, 
And there how he enjoy'd the Lady of the Lake. 
Drayton, Polyolbion, iv. 807. 
Trip the pertfaerus and the dapper elves. 
Milton, Comus, 1. 118. 
3f. Fays collectively; fairy folk. 
In olde daycs of tin- king Arthmir, 
Of which that Britons speken gret honour, 
Al was this loud fiilHld of fayrie. 
Chaucer, Wife of Bath's Tale, 1. 3. 
The dawn is my Assyria, the sunset and moonrise my 
Paphos, and unimaginable realms <>t faerie. 
Einerson, Misc., p. 22. 
2121 
4f. Fairy-laud; elf -land. 
He [Arthur] is a king ycrowned iiifairif. Lydyate. 
Where men fynden a Sparehauk upon a Perche ri^htf 
fair, and righte we! made; and a fayre Lady "!' /W//-, 
that kepetbe it. MttiuleriUe, Travels, p. 145. 
5f. An enchantress. 
To this Kreat. fair/I [rleopatraj I'll commend thy acts, 
Mako her thanks bless thee. Shak., A. and C., iv. 8. 
Fairy Of the mine, an imaginary being supposed to in- 
habit mines; a kobold. In (Germany two species are 
siwken of, one tierce and malevolent, the other gentle. 
No goblin, or swart .faery of the mine, 
Hatli hurtful power o'er true Virginity. 
Milton, (Jomus, 1.436. 
= Syn. 2. l-'tiirii, E(f, Fay; Sjtlph, Gnome; Jinn, Genie; 
Goblin. Fair;/ is the most general name for a diminu- 
tive imaginary being, generally in human form, sometimes 
very benevolent or inclined to teach moral lessons, as the 
fairy godmother of Cinderella; sometimes malevolent in 
the extreme, as in many fairy stories. Spenser took up the 
word in Chaucer's spelling, faerie or faery, and gave it an 
extended meaning, which is now commonly confined to that 
spelling and to his poem ; the personages in " The Faery 
Queene " live in all unlocated region, essentially like the 
rest of the world, and are of heroic and occasionally su- 
pernatural powers ; these personages he sometimes calls 
elves or elfins. In ordinary use an elf differs from afairy 
only in generally seeming young, and being more often 
mischievous. Pope, in "The Rape of the Lock," has given 
a definite cast to sylph and gnome; these two words are 
elsewhere often associated, gnomes having always been 
fabled as living in underground abodes, and especially as 
being the guardians of mines and quarries, while giflphg 
are denizens of the air. From this difference of place it 
has followed that gnomen are generally thought of with 
repugnance or dread, and sylphs, although of both sexes 
in literature, are popularly thought of as young, slender, 
and graceful females: hence the expression "a nylph-lika 
form." To Oriental imagination is due the jinn, djinn, 
or jinnee; the form genie is most vividly associated with 
the "Arabian Nights": as, the genie of Aladdin's lamp; 
the genie that the fisherman let out of the bottle. A gob- 
lin is wicked, mischievous, or at least roguish, and fright- 
ful or grotesque in appearance. See the definitions of 
kobold, sylph, brovmie, banshee, sprite, pixie, nixie, nymph, 
etc. 
II. a. 1. Pertaining to or in some manner 
connected with fairies ; done by or coming 
from fairies. See phrases below. 2. Resem- 
bling in some way a fairy; hence, fanciful, 
graceful, whimsical, fantastic, etc.: as, fairy 
creatures or favors. 
Shrunk like & fairy changeling lay the mage. 
Tennyson, Coming of Arthur. 
We laughed a hundred voices rose 
In airiest f airiest laughter. 
H. P. Spoford, Poems, p. 14. 
Bale upon bale of silks and fairy textures from looms of 
Samarcaud and Bokhara. 
T. B. Aldrich, Ponkapog to Pesth, p. 243. 
Fairy beads. See St. Cuthuert's beads, under bead. Fairy 
circle, fairy dance. See fairy ring. Fairy hammer, 
the name given in the Hebrides to an ancient stone (usu- 
ally porphyry) hammer, shaped like the head of a hatchet, 
used to medicate the drink given to patients afflicted with 
certain diseases. Fairy hillocks, verdant knolls found 
in many parts of Scotland, which have received this de- 
nomination from the popular idea that they were an- 
ciently inhabited by the fairies, or that the fairies used 
to dance on them. Fairy millstone, a flat disk of stone 
or slate with a central perforation, such as are frequently 
found with paleolithic remains, and are now thought to 
be whorls of spindles. Fairy money, money imagined 
in old legends to be given by fairies, which soon turned 
into withered leaves or rubbish ; also, money found, from 
the notion that it had been dropped by a good fairy out of 
favor to the finder. 
In one day Scott's high-heaped money-wages became 
fairy-money and nonentity. Carlyle, Misc., IV. 181. 
Pisistratus draws the bills warily from his pocket, half- 
suspecting they must already have turned into withered 
leaves \ikefairy-money. Bulwer, Caxtons, xvii. 6. 
Fairy pipes, pipes and pipe-bowls, usually of baked clay 
and very small, found in the north of England, some- 
times with objects of remote antiquity. It is possible that 
they point to a practice of smoking earlier than the reign 
of Elizabeth and with other material than tobacco; but it 
seems probable that they are of the sixteenth century and 
later. Also called Celtic pipes and elfin pipes. Fairy ring 
or circle, or dance, a phenomenon' observed in fields, long 
popularly supposed to be caused by fairies in their dances. 
It is caused by the growth of certain fungi, especially 
Agaricux oreades, A. aehimenes, and one of the Myxomy- 
cetett, Phyttarum einereum. The latter may appear in a 
single night, forming a circle on the grass as if sprinkled 
with ashes. The agarics grow outward from a center, 
spreading further year by year, while the central and inner 
portions die away. Similar but smaller rings are some- 
times formed on old trees and rocks by the growth of a 
lichen in a corresponding manner. Fairy sparks, the 
phosphoric light from decaying wood, flsh, ana other sub- 
stances, believed at one time to be lights prepared for the 
fairies at their revels. 
fairy-bird (far'i-berd), n. A name of the least 
tern, Sterna minitta, from its graceful move- 
ments. [Local, British.] 
fairy-butter (far'i-but"er), n. A name in the 
northern counties of England for certain ge- 
latinous fungi, as Tremella albula and Exidia 
glandulosa, formerly "believed to be the pro- 
duct of the fairies' dairy." 
fairy-cups (far'i-kups), . A bright-red cup- 
like fungus, Peziza, coccinea. 
faith 
fairy-fingers (far'i-fing"gerz), ii. The foxglove, 
l>i;/italin jiarj>nrea. 
fairyism (far'i-izm), . [< fairy + -inm.'] 1. 
The state of being fairy-like; resemblance to 
fairies or fairy-laud in customs, nature, appear- 
ance, etc. 
The air of enchantment and fairyism which is the tutu- 
of the place. \\'uljiole. Letters, II. 431. 
2. Belief in fairies ; a narrating of fairy tales ; 
fairy myths or legends. 
Tliis curious and very ancient medley of Druidism and 
/f///-///.vm I have abridged from the ancient Leabhar na-h- 
Uidhre, so often referred to in these lectures. 
O'Curry, Anc. Irish, I. ix. 
Thomson is beautiful in rural descriptions, but he has 
not the distinctness mid fairyism of Milton. 
Sir E. Bridges, On Milton's Comus. 
fairy-land (far'i-land), n. The imaginary land 
or abode of fairies. 
Hark ! 'tis an elfin storm horn fairy land. 
Keats, Eve of St. Agnes. 
It cheered mild Spenser, called from Faeryland 
To struggle through dark ways. 
Wordmvoi th, Sonnet on the Sonnet. 
fairy-loaf (far'i-lof), . A kind of fairy-stone; 
a fossil spatangoid sea-urchin, as of the genus 
-Inancliytes (which see). [Local, Eng.] 
fairy-martin (far'i-mar"tin), n. A book-name 
of an Australian swallow, Hirundo ariel. 
fairy-purses (far'i-per"sez), . A cup-like fun- 
gus containing small bodies thought to resem- 
ble purses; probably Hidularia campatmlata. 
fairy-shrimp (far'i-shrimp), . The popular 
name of a small British fresh-water phyllopo- 
Fairy-shrimp (BrancHiptts diaphanus], about twice natural size. 
dous crustacean, Brancliipus (or Chirocephalus) 
diaphamiS. It swims on its back, is almost transparent, 
has stalked eyes and no carapace, and is about an inch 
long. It is named from its diaphanous appearance and 
active motions. 
fairy-Stone (far'i-ston), n. A provincial (south 
of England) name of an echinite or fossil sea- 
urchin found in the Cretaceous. 
faisceau (fe-so'), n. In math., a singly infinite 
family of curves ; especially, a series of curves 
of the n th order passing through $(n' 2 + 3 2 ) 
fixed points. 
faisiblet, a. An obsolete form of feasible. 
faitif, n. A Middle English form offeaft. 
faitH, . t. [< OF. fait, pp. affaire, do, make : 
se&faifl,n.,= feat* = fact.] To make; cause. 
Andfaite thy faucones to culle wylde foules ; 
For the! comen to my croft my corn to defoule. 
Piers Plowman (C), ix. 30. 
fait 2 t, '' [ME. fatten, fayten, a verb developed 
from the noun faitor, faitour: see faitor.] I. 
intratis. To practise deceit; feign; go about 
begging under pretense of poverty, religion, or 
physical misfortune. 
Bydders and beggers faste a-boute soden, 
Tyl hure bagge and hure bely were bretful ycrammyd", 
Faytynge for hure fode and fouhten atten ale. 
In glotenye, god wot goth they to bedde. 
Pirn Plomnan (C), i. 43. 
II. trans. To deceive. 
My fleissche in ouerhope wolde mefaite, 
And into wanhope it wolde me caste. 
Hymns to Virgin, etc. (E. E. T. S.), p. 76. 
fait accompli (fat a-k6ii-ple'). [P.: fait, a 
fact (see/eai, fact) ; accompli, pp. of accomplir, 
accomplish.] A fact accomplished; a thing 
done; a scheme already carried into execu- 
tion. 
faiteroust. a. [<faitrorfaitery + -ous.] De- 
ceiving; dissembling. 
The whole court from all parts thereof cryed out, and 
said that this was a fraudulent and faiterotts Carthaginian 
trick. Holland, tr. of Livy, p. 755. 
faiteryt, n. [ME. faiterie, faiterye, fayterye, < 
fatten, deceive: see faifi, faitor."] Deceit; 
hypocrisy, as that of one who goes about beg- 
ging under pretense of poverty, religion, or 
physical misfortune. 
Ac hye Treuthe wolde 
That no faiterye were founde in folk that gon a-hegged. 
Piers Plowman (C), ix. 138. 
She wiste wele 
My word stood on an other whele, 
Withouten uny faiterye. 
Gower, Couf. Amant., I. 47. 
faith (fath), n. [< ME. faith, feitli, faytli, feyth 
(the -th being an accom., to the common E. 
