Fair"y , a.
1. Of or
pertaining to fairies.
2.
Given by fairies; as, fairy money. Dryden.
Fairy bird (Zoöl.), the Euoropean little tern (Sterna
minuta); -- called also sea swallow, and hooded tern. -- Fairy bluebird. (Zoöl.)
See under Bluebird. -- Fairy martin (Zoöl.), a European swallow
(Hirrundo ariel) that
builds flask-shaped nests of mud on overhanging cliffs. --
Fairy rings or
circles, the circles formed in grassy lawns by certain fungi (as Marasmius Oreades), formerly supposed to be caused by fairies in their midnight dances. -- Fairy shrimp (Zoöl.), 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.
Fair"y (?), n.;
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.
Shak.
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.
Hear it pronounced