fair
EnglishEdit
PronunciationEdit
- (Received Pronunciation) IPA(key): /fɛə/, /fɛː/
- (General American) IPA(key): /fɛəɹ/
Audio (GA) (file) - (General Australian) IPA(key): /feː(ə)/
- (New Zealand) IPA(key): /fɪə/
- Rhymes: -ɛə(ɹ)
- Homophone: fare
Etymology 1Edit
From Middle English fayr, feir, fager, from Old English fæġer (“beautiful”), from Proto-West Germanic *fagr, from Proto-Germanic *fagraz (“suitable, fitting, nice”), from Proto-Indo-European *peh₂ḱ- (“to fasten, place”).
Cognate with Scots fayr, fare (“fair”), Danish feir, faver, fager (“fair, pretty”), Norwegian fager (“fair, pretty”), Swedish fager (“fair, pretty”), Icelandic fagur (“beautiful, fair”), Umbrian pacer (“gracious, merciful, kind”), Slovak pekný (“good-looking, handsome, nice”). See also peace.
AdjectiveEdit
fair (comparative fairer, superlative fairest)
- (archaic or literary) Beautiful, of a pleasing appearance, with a pure and fresh quality.
- Synonyms: beautiful, pretty, lovely
- Monday's child is fair of face.
- There was once a knight who wooed a fair young maid.
- 1460-1500, The Towneley Playsː
- He is so fair, without lease, he seems full well to sit on this.
- 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Genesis 6:2, column 1:
- That the ſonnes of God ſaw the daughters of men, that they were faire, and they took them wiues, of all which they choſe.
- 1912 February–July, Edgar Rice Burroughs, “Under the Moons of Mars”, in The All-Story, New York, N.Y.: Frank A. Munsey Co., →OCLC; republished as “Champion and Chief”, in A Princess of Mars, Chicago, Ill.: A[lexander] C[aldwell] McClurg & Co., 1917, →OCLC, page 96:
- "It was a purely scientific research party sent out by my father's father, the Jeddak of Helium, to rechart the air currents, and to take atmospheric density tests," replied the fair prisoner, in a low, well-modulated voice.
- 2010, Stephan Grundy, Beowulf (Fiction), iUniverse, →ISBN, page 33:
- And yet he was also, though many generations separated them, distant cousin to the shining eoten-main Geard, whom the god Frea Ing had seen from afar and wedded; and to Scatha, the fair daughter of the old thurse Theasa, who had claimed a husband from among the gods as weregild for her father's slaying: often, it was said, the ugliest eotens would sire the fairest maids.
- Unblemished (figuratively or literally); clean and pure; innocent.
- Synonyms: pure, clean, neat
- one's fair name
- After scratching out and replacing various words in the manuscript, he scribed a fair copy to send to the publisher.
- 1605, The Booke of Common Prayer, and Administration of the Sacraments, London: Robert Barker, “The order for the administration of the Lords Supper, or holy Communion,”[1]
- The Table hauing at the Communion time a faire white linnen cloth vpon it, shall stand in the body of the Church, or in the Chancell, where Morning prayer and Euening prayer be appointed to be said.
- 1665, Robert Hooke, Micrographia, London, Observation 21, “Of Moss, and several other small vegetative Substances,” p. 135,[2]
- […] I have observ’d, that putting fair Water (whether Rain-water or Pump-water, or May-dew, or Snow-water, it was almost all one) I have often observ’d, I say, that this Water would, with a little standing, tarnish and cover all about the sides of the Glass that lay under water, with a lovely green […]
- Light in color, pale, particularly with regard to skin tone but also referring to blond hair.
- Synonym: pale
- She had fair hair and blue eyes.
- 1677, Matthew Hale, The Primitive Origination of Mankind, Considered and Examined According to the Light of Nature, page 200
- the northern people large and fair-complexioned
- 1910, Emerson Hough, chapter I, in The Purchase Price: Or The Cause of Compromise, Indianapolis, Ind.: The Bobbs-Merrill Company, →OCLC:
- This new-comer was a man who in any company would have seemed striking. In complexion fair, and with blue or gray eyes, he was tall as any Viking, as broad in the shoulder.
- Just, equitable.
- 1910, Emerson Hough, chapter I, in The Purchase Price: Or The Cause of Compromise, Indianapolis, Ind.: The Bobbs-Merrill Company, →OCLC:
- “[…] it is not fair of you to bring against mankind double weapons ! Dangerous enough you are as woman alone, without bringing to your aid those gifts of mind suited to problems which men have been accustomed to arrogate to themselves.”
- Adequate, reasonable, or decent, but not excellent.
- Synonyms: OK, okay
- Their performance has been only fair.
- The patient was in a fair condition after some treatment.
- 1913, Joseph C. Lincoln, chapter 3, in Mr. Pratt's Patients:
- My hopes wa'n't disappointed. I never saw clams thicker than they was along them inshore flats. I filled my dreener in no time, and then it come to me that 'twouldn't be a bad idee to get a lot more, take 'em with me to Wellmouth, and peddle 'em out. Clams was fairly scarce over that side of the bay and ought to fetch a fair price.
- 1953, Samuel Beckett, Watt, Olympia Press:
- The words of these songs were either without meaning, or derived from an idiom with which Watt, a very fair linguist, had no acquaintance.
- (nautical, of a wind) Favorable to a ship's course.
- 1885–1888, Richard F[rancis] Burton, transl. and editor, “Night 563”, in A Plain and Literal Translation of the Arabian Nights’ Entertainments, now Entituled The Book of the Thousand Nights and a Night […], volume (please specify the volume), Shammar edition, [London]: […] Burton Club […], →OCLC:
- I shipped with them and becoming friends, we set forth on our venture, in health and safety; and sailed with a fair wind, till we came to a city called Madínat-al-Sín; […]
- Not overcast; cloudless; clear; pleasant; propitious; said of the sky, weather, or wind, etc.
- a fair sky; a fair day
- 1909, Frank R. Stockton, The adventures of Captain Horn Chapter 42
- They had good weather and tolerably fair winds, and before they entered the Straits of Magellan the captain had formulated a plan for the disposition of Garta.
- Free from obstacles or hindrances; unobstructed; unencumbered; open; direct; said of a road, passage, etc.
- a fair mark; in fair sight; a fair view
- c. 1610?, Walter Raleigh, A Discourse of War:
- The caliphs obtained a mighty empire, which was in a fair way to have enlarged.
- (shipbuilding) Without sudden change of direction or curvature; smooth; flowing; said of the figure of a vessel, and of surfaces, water lines, and other lines.
- (baseball) Between the baselines.
- (rugby, of a catch) Taken direct from an opponent's foot, without the ball touching the ground or another player.
- (cricket, of a ball delivered by the bowler) Not a no ball.
- (statistics) Of a coin or die, having equal chance of landing on any side, unbiased.
Derived termsEdit
- a fair bit
- all's fair in love and war
- by fair means or foul
- culture-fair
- faint heart never won fair lady
- fair and square
- fair ball
- fair bet
- fair cake-cutting
- fair catch
- fair cop
- fair copy
- fair crack of the whip
- fair dealing
- fair dinks
- fair dinkum
- fair division
- fair doos
- fair dos
- fair do's
- fair enough
- fair exchange is no robbery
- fair game
- fair go
- fair is fair
- fair leather
- fair linen
- fair list
- fair market value
- fair play
- fair sex
- fair shake
- fair shake of the sauce bottle
- fair suck of the sauce bottle
- fair suck of the sav
- fair to meddling
- fair to middlin'
- fair to middling
- fair trade
- fair trial
- fair use
- fair value
- fair warning
- fair weather fan
- fair weather friend
- fair wind
- fair-built
- fair-haired
- fair-mannered
- fair-minded
- fair-sized
- fair-skinned
- fair-to-middlin'
- fair-to-middling
- fair-weather
- fair-weather friend
- fair-weather friendship
- fair-world
- fairhanded
- Fairhaven
- fairhood
- fairness
- fair's fair
- fancy fair
- make fair weather
- no fair
- play fair
- set fair
- set-fair
- snout-fair
- to be fair
- turn about is fair play
- turnabout is fair play
- you can't say fairer than that
TranslationsEdit
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NounEdit
fair (plural fair)
- Something which is fair (in various senses of the adjective).
- When will we learn to distinguish between the fair and the foul?
- (obsolete) A woman, a member of the ‘fair sex’; also as a collective singular, women.
- 1744, Georg Friedrich Händel, Hercules, act 2, scene 8
- Love and Hymen, hand in hand,
Come, restore the nuptial band!
And sincere delights prepare
To crown the hero and the fair.
- Love and Hymen, hand in hand,
- 1749, Henry Fielding, The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling, volume (please specify |volume=I to VI), London: A[ndrew] Millar, […], →OCLC:
- Here Jones, having ordered a servant to show a room above stairs, was ascending, when the dishevelled fair, hastily following, was laid hold on by the master of the house, who cried, “Heyday, where is that beggar wench going? Stay below stairs, I desire you.”
- 1821 August 8, [Lord Byron], Don Juan, Cantos III, IV, and V, London: […] Thomas Davison, […], →OCLC, canto III, stanza 24:
- If single, probably his plighted Fair
Has in his absence wedded some rich miser […].
- 1744, Georg Friedrich Händel, Hercules, act 2, scene 8
- (obsolete) Fairness, beauty.
- c. 1594 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Comedie of Errors”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act II, scene i]:
- My decayed fair
- A fair woman; a sweetheart.
- 1743, William Shenstone, A Pastoral Ballad
- I have found out a gift for my fair.
- 1743, William Shenstone, A Pastoral Ballad
- (obsolete) Good fortune; good luck.
- c. 1590–1592 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Taming of the Shrew”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act V, scene ii]:
- Now, fair befall thee, good Petruchio!
VerbEdit
fair (third-person singular simple present fairs, present participle fairing, simple past and past participle faired)
- (transitive) To smoothen or even a surface (especially a connection or junction on a surface).
- (transitive) To bring into perfect alignment (especially about rivet holes when connecting structural members).
- (transitive, art) To make an animation smooth, removing any jerkiness.
- 1996, Computer Animation '96: June 3-4, 1996, Geneva, Switzerland (page 136)
- Since the sequence of data contain sampling noises, the captured motion is not smooth and wiggles along the moving path. There are well-known fairing algorithms in Euclidean space based on difference geometry.
- 1996, Computer Animation '96: June 3-4, 1996, Geneva, Switzerland (page 136)
- (transitive) To construct or design with the aim of producing a smooth outline or reducing air drag or water resistance.
- 1920, Technical Report of the Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (page 206)
- Two forward cars were provided with the model. One of these (shown detached in Fig. 1) was faired at its after end, with a view to possible reduction of head resistance, and to induce a better flow of air to the propeller.
- 1920, Technical Report of the Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (page 206)
- (transitive, obsolete) To make fair or beautiful.
- 1609, William Shakespeare, “Sonnet 123”, in Shake-speares Sonnets. […], London: By G[eorge] Eld for T[homas] T[horpe] and are to be sold by William Aspley, →OCLC:
- Fairing the foul with art’s false borrow’d face
SynonymsEdit
- (to reduce air drag or water resistance): to streamline
Derived termsEdit
TranslationsEdit
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AdverbEdit
fair (comparative more fair or fairer, superlative most fair or fairest)
Derived termsEdit
Etymology 2Edit
From Middle English feyre, from Old French foire, from Latin fēriae.
NounEdit
fair (plural fairs)
- A community gathering to celebrate and exhibit local achievements.
- An event for public entertainment and trade, a market.
- 1918, W[illiam] B[abington] Maxwell, chapter VII, in The Mirror and the Lamp, Indianapolis, Ind.: The Bobbs-Merrill Company, →OCLC:
- The turmoil went on—no rest, no peace. […] It was nearly eleven o'clock now, and he strolled out again. In the little fair created by the costers' barrows the evening only seemed beginning; and the naphtha flares made one's eyes ache, the men's voices grated harshly, and the girls' faces saddened one.
- An event for professionals in a trade to learn of new products and do business, a trade fair.
- A travelling amusement park (called a funfair in British English and a (travelling) carnival in US English).
Derived termsEdit
TranslationsEdit
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- The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.
ReferencesEdit
- fair at OneLook Dictionary Search
- fair in Keywords for Today: A 21st Century Vocabulary, edited by The Keywords Project, Colin MacCabe, Holly Yanacek, 2018.
- fair in The Century Dictionary, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911
AnagramsEdit
DutchEdit
PronunciationEdit
Etymology 1Edit
Borrowed from English fair, from Middle English fayr, from Old English fæġer, from Proto-West Germanic *fagr, from Proto-Germanic *fagraz.
AdjectiveEdit
fair (comparative fairer, superlative fairst)
InflectionEdit
Inflection of fair | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|
uninflected | fair | |||
inflected | faire | |||
comparative | fairder | |||
positive | comparative | superlative | ||
predicative/adverbial | fair | fairder | het fairst het fairste | |
indefinite | m./f. sing. | faire | fairdere | fairste |
n. sing. | fair | fairder | fairste | |
plural | faire | fairdere | fairste | |
definite | faire | fairdere | fairste | |
partitive | fairs | fairders | — |
Etymology 2Edit
Borrowed from English fair, from Middle English feyre, from Old French foire, from Latin fēriae.
NounEdit
fair m (plural fairs)
Related termsEdit
GermanEdit
EtymologyEdit
Borrowed from English fair, from Old English fæġer, from Proto-West Germanic *fagr, from Proto-Germanic *fagraz, whence also Middle High German vager (“splendid, wonderful”).
PronunciationEdit
AdjectiveEdit
fair (strong nominative masculine singular fairer, comparative fairer, superlative am fairsten)
- (especially sports) fair (just, honest, equitable, adequate)
- Synonyms: anständig, ehrlich, gerecht, gleich, ausgeglichen, angemessen, sauber
- Antonym: unfair
- ein faires Spiel ― an honest game, a fairly played game
- Unsere einzige Möglichkeit, fair zu sein, besteht darin, alle gleich schlecht zu behandeln.
- The only way we can be fair is by treating everybody equally badly.
DeclensionEdit
number & gender | singular | plural | |||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
masculine | feminine | neuter | |||
predicative | er ist fair | sie ist fair | es ist fair | sie sind fair | |
strong declension (without article) |
nominative | fairer | faire | faires | faire |
genitive | fairen | fairer | fairen | fairer | |
dative | fairem | fairer | fairem | fairen | |
accusative | fairen | faire | faires | faire | |
weak declension (with definite article) |
nominative | der faire | die faire | das faire | die fairen |
genitive | des fairen | der fairen | des fairen | der fairen | |
dative | dem fairen | der fairen | dem fairen | den fairen | |
accusative | den fairen | die faire | das faire | die fairen | |
mixed declension (with indefinite article) |
nominative | ein fairer | eine faire | ein faires | (keine) fairen |
genitive | eines fairen | einer fairen | eines fairen | (keiner) fairen | |
dative | einem fairen | einer fairen | einem fairen | (keinen) fairen | |
accusative | einen fairen | eine faire | ein faires | (keine) fairen |
number & gender | singular | plural | |||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
masculine | feminine | neuter | |||
predicative | er ist fairer | sie ist fairer | es ist fairer | sie sind fairer | |
strong declension (without article) |
nominative | fairerer | fairere | faireres | fairere |
genitive | faireren | fairerer | faireren | fairerer | |
dative | fairerem | fairerer | fairerem | faireren | |
accusative | faireren | fairere | faireres | fairere | |
weak declension (with definite article) |
nominative | der fairere | die fairere | das fairere | die faireren |
genitive | des faireren | der faireren | des faireren | der faireren | |
dative | dem faireren | der faireren | dem faireren | den faireren | |
accusative | den faireren | die fairere | das fairere | die faireren | |
mixed declension (with indefinite article) |
nominative | ein fairerer | eine fairere | ein faireres | (keine) faireren |
genitive | eines faireren | einer faireren | eines faireren | (keiner) faireren | |
dative | einem faireren | einer faireren | einem faireren | (keinen) faireren | |
accusative | einen faireren | eine fairere | ein faireres | (keine) faireren |
number & gender | singular | plural | |||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
masculine | feminine | neuter | |||
predicative | er ist am fairsten | sie ist am fairsten | es ist am fairsten | sie sind am fairsten | |
strong declension (without article) |
nominative | fairster | fairste | fairstes | fairste |
genitive | fairsten | fairster | fairsten | fairster | |
dative | fairstem | fairster | fairstem | fairsten | |
accusative | fairsten | fairste | fairstes | fairste | |
weak declension (with definite article) |
nominative | der fairste | die fairste | das fairste | die fairsten |
genitive | des fairsten | der fairsten | des fairsten | der fairsten | |
dative | dem fairsten | der fairsten | dem fairsten | den fairsten | |
accusative | den fairsten | die fairste | das fairste | die fairsten | |
mixed declension (with indefinite article) |
nominative | ein fairster | eine fairste | ein fairstes | (keine) fairsten |
genitive | eines fairsten | einer fairsten | eines fairsten | (keiner) fairsten | |
dative | einem fairsten | einer fairsten | einem fairsten | (keinen) fairsten | |
accusative | einen fairsten | eine fairste | ein fairstes | (keine) fairsten |
Derived termsEdit
- Fairness (rarely Fairheit)
- Fairplay
- Fair-Use-Doktrin
Further readingEdit
Haitian CreoleEdit
EtymologyEdit
VerbEdit
fair
- (Saint-Domingue) to do
- Ly doi fair nion l'autre quichoy avant cila là. ― He should do another thing before that one.
DescendantsEdit
- Haitian Creole: fè
ReferencesEdit
- S.J Ducoeurjoly, Manuel des habitans de Saint-Domingue, contenant un précis de l'histoire de cette île
HungarianEdit
EtymologyEdit
PronunciationEdit
AdjectiveEdit
fair (comparative fairebb, superlative legfairebb)
- fair (just, equitable)
- Synonyms: méltányos, tisztességes, becsületes, igazságos, korrekt, sportszerű
DeclensionEdit
Inflection (stem in -e-, front unrounded harmony) | ||
---|---|---|
singular | plural | |
nominative | fair | fairek |
accusative | fairt | faireket |
dative | fairnek | faireknek |
instrumental | fairrel | fairekkel |
causal-final | fairért | fairekért |
translative | fairré | fairekké |
terminative | fairig | fairekig |
essive-formal | fairként | fairekként |
essive-modal | fairül | — |
inessive | fairben | fairekben |
superessive | fairen | faireken |
adessive | fairnél | faireknél |
illative | fairbe | fairekbe |
sublative | fairre | fairekre |
allative | fairhez | fairekhez |
elative | fairből | fairekből |
delative | fairről | fairekről |
ablative | fairtől | fairektől |
non-attributive possessive - singular |
fairé | faireké |
non-attributive possessive - plural |
fairéi | fairekéi |
Derived termsEdit
Further readingEdit
- fair in Bárczi, Géza and László Országh. A magyar nyelv értelmező szótára (‘The Explanatory Dictionary of the Hungarian Language’, abbr.: ÉrtSz.). Budapest: Akadémiai Kiadó, 1959–1962. Fifth ed., 1992: →ISBN
IrishEdit
EtymologyEdit
See aire (“watching, attention”)
PronunciationEdit
VerbEdit
fair (present analytic faireann, future analytic fairfidh, verbal noun faire, past participle fairthe)
- to watch
ConjugationEdit
* Indirect relative
† Archaic or dialect form
‡ Dependent form
‡‡ Dependent form used with particles that trigger eclipsis
MutationEdit
Irish mutation | ||
---|---|---|
Radical | Lenition | Eclipsis |
fair | fhair | bhfair |
Note: Some of these forms may be hypothetical. Not every possible mutated form of every word actually occurs. |
Old IrishEdit
Alternative formsEdit
PronunciationEdit
PronounEdit
fair
PolishEdit
EtymologyEdit
Unadapted borrowing from English fair.
PronunciationEdit
AdjectiveEdit
fair (not comparable)
DeclensionEdit
Indeclinable.
AdverbEdit
fair (not comparable)