Fair"y (?), n.; pl. Fairies (#). [OE. fairie, faierie, enchantment, fairy folk, fairy, OF. faerie enchantment, F. f'eer, fr. LL. Fata one of the goddesses of fate. See Fate, and cf. Fay a fairy.] [Written also faery.]
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.
© Webster 1913.
Fair"y, a.
1.
Of or pertaining to fairies.
2.
Given by fairies; as, fairy money.
Dryden.
Fairy bird Zool., the Euoropean little tern (Sterna minuta); -- called also sea swallow, and hooded tern. -- Fairy bluebird. Zool. See under Bluebird. -- Fairy martin Zool., a European swallow (Hirrundo ariel) that builds flask-shaped nests of mud on overhanging cliffs. -- Fairy rings ∨ 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 Zool., 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.
© Webster 1913.