English
fair
Pronunciation
  • (RP) IPA: /fɛə/, /fɛː/
  • (America) IPA: /fɛɚ/
  • (Australia) IPA: /feː(ə)/
  • (New Zealand) IPA: /fɪə/
Etymology 1

From Middle English fayr, feir, fager, from Old English fæġer, from Proto-West Germanic *fagr, from Proto-Germanic *fagraz, from Proto-Indo-European *peh₂ḱ-.

Cognate with Scots fayr, fare, Danish feir, faver, fager, Norwegian fager, Swedish fager, Icelandic fagur, xum pacer, Slovak pekný. See also peace.

Adjective

fair (comparative fairer, superlative fairest)

  1. (original sense, 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.
    • 15th c., “[The Creation]”, in Wakefield Mystery Plays; Re-edited in George England, Alfred W. Pollard, editors, The Towneley Plays (Early English Text Society Extra Series; LXXI), London: […] Oxford University Press, 1897, →OCLC ↗, page 5 ↗, lines 120–121:
      He is so fayre, withoutten les, / he semys full well to sytt on des.
      He is so fair, without any limit; his appearance shows well when he sits on the dais.
    • 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 October, →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.
  2. 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.
    • 1665, Robert Hooke, Micrographia, London, Observation 21, “Of Moss, and several other small vegetative Substances,” p. 135,
      […] 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 […]
  3. Light in color, pale, particularly with regard to skin tone but also referring to blond hair.
    Synonyms: pale
    She had fair hair and blue eyes.
    • 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.
  4. Just, equitable.
    Synonyms: honest, just, equitable
    He must be given a fair trial.
    • 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.”
  5. 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[rosby] Lincoln, chapter III, in Mr. Pratt’s Patients, New York, N.Y., London: D[aniel] Appleton and Company, →OCLC ↗:
      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, 1st American edition, New York, N.Y.: Grove Press, published 1959, →OCLC ↗:
      The words of these songs were either without meaning, or derived from an idiom with which Watt, a very fair linguist, had no acquaintance.
  6. (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 […], Shammar edition, volume (please specify the volume), [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; […]
  7. Favorable, pleasant.
    The weather was fair today.
    1. Not overcast; cloudless; clear.
    a fair sky
    • 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.
    1. 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.
  8. (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.
  9. (baseball) Between the baselines.
  10. (rugby, of a catch) Taken direct from an opponent's foot, without the ball touching the ground or another player.
  11. (cricket, of a ball delivered by the bowler) Not a no ball.
  12. (statistics) Of a coin or die, having equal chance of landing on any side, unbiased.
Translations Translations Translations Translations Translations Translations
  • Spanish: viento de popa
Translations Noun

fair (plural fair)

  1. Something which is fair (in various senses of the adjective).
    When will we learn to distinguish between the fair and the foul?
  2. (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.
    • 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 7, [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  […].
  3. (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
  4. A fair woman; a sweetheart.
    • 1743, William Shenstone, A Pastoral Ballad:
      I have found out a gift for my fair.
  5. (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!
Verb

fair (fairs, present participle fairing; simple past and past participle faired)

  1. (transitive) To smoothen or even a surface (especially a connection or junction on a surface).
  2. (transitive) To bring into perfect alignment (especially about rivet holes when connecting structural members).
  3. (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.
  4. (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.
  5. (transitive, obsolete) To make fair or beautiful.
    • 1609, William Shakespeare, “Sonnet 127”, 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
Synonyms
  • (to reduce air drag or water resistance) to streamline
Adverb

fair

  1. Clearly, openly, frankly, civilly, honestly, favorably, auspiciously, agreeably.
Etymology 2

From Middle English feyre, from Old French foire, from Latin fēriae.

Noun

fair (plural fairs)

  1. A community gathering to celebrate and exhibit local achievements.
  2. 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.
  3. An event for professionals in a trade to learn of new products and do business, a trade fair.
  4. A travelling amusement park (called a funfair in British English and a (travelling) carnival in US English).
Translations Translations Translations Translations

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