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fairy
[ fair-ee ]
noun
- (in folklore) one of a class of supernatural beings, generally conceived as having a diminutive human form and possessing magical powers with which they intervene in human affairs.
Synonyms: leprechaun, pixie
- Slang: Extremely Disparaging and Offensive. a contemptuous term used to refer to a gay man.
adjective
- of or relating to fairies:
fairy magic.
- of the nature of a fairy; fairylike.
fairy
/ ˈfɛərɪ /
noun
- an imaginary supernatural being, usually represented in diminutive human form and characterized as clever, playful, and having magical powers
- slang.a male homosexual
- away with the fairies informal.out of touch with reality
adjective
- of or relating to a fairy or fairies
- resembling a fairy or fairies, esp in being enchanted or delicate
Derived Forms
- ˈfairy-ˌlike, adjective
Word History and Origins
Word History and Origins
Origin of fairy1
Idioms and Phrases
In addition to the idiom beginning with fairy , also see tooth fairy .Synonym Study
Example Sentences
The fairy godmother is a magical stretch, but massive pumpkins are very real.
In our book, we introduce the “Switch Witch,” who comes at night to exchange excess candy for a small gift, kind of like the tooth fairy for Halloween.
To be fair, before Western mermaids were made all cute by fairy tales and Disney they were feared for leading sailors to certain doom.
For a long time now, such experiences have been considered not very reliable, certainly unscientific, and, if valid at all, deeply steeped in that pleasant state of mind known to us from fairy tales, novels, and poems.
Because in many ways that feels like the ultimate dream, it almost feels like a fairy tale, honestly.
But when the darkness closes in, we actually run to fairy tales and fables.
Actually, rather like Gruber, we feel rather icky about fairy tales.
Not that the demonstration had anything to do with this couple, whom Sarah seems to see as a fairy tale come to life.
Were the fairy-tale true it really would shame the affluent west.
In reality, prison weddings look nothing like the fairy tales depicted on TV and in bridal magazines.
The tailor of the fairy tale with his "seven at a blow" is not in it with the gunnery Lieutenant of a battleship.
The Elizabethan pipes were so small that now when they are dug up in Ireland the poor call them 'fairy pipes' from their tininess.
Spenser in his Fairy Queen makes one of the characters include it with other herbs celebrated for medicinal qualities.
She had just come to forty-nine, and was wondering if she might remind the fairy father of his duty, when the door opened.
Many years ago I collected together a large number of these 'Fairy Pipes' from all parts of the kingdom.
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Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
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