fair

fair
\ \ English has two distinct words fair, one Germanic and the other Romance. The older, meaning ‘beautiful’ [OE], comes from a prehistoric Germanic *fagraz, which survives also in Swedish fagerbeautiful’. It derived from a base *fag-, which seems originally to have meant ‘fitting, suitable’ (a variant of it was the ultimate source of fake and possibly also of the now archaic noun figclothes, array’, as in ‘in full fig’). Of its main present-day meanings, ‘just, equitable’ developed in the 14th century and ‘not dark’ in the mid 16th century. Fairfestive event’ [13] comes from Old French feire. This was a descendant of late Latin fēria, a singular use of a noun which in classical times had been used in the plural, fēriae, for ‘holiday’. A close relative of fēriae was the adjective festusjoyous’, source of English feast, festival, festoon, and fête.
\ \ Cf.FAKE, FEAST, FESTIVAL, FESTOON, FÊTE, FIG

Word origins - 2ed. . 2005.

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  • fair — adj 1: characterized by honesty and justice: free from self interest, deception, injustice, or favoritism a fair and impartial tribunal 2: reasonable as a basis for exchange a fair wage a fair valuation 3: consistent with merit or importance …   Law dictionary

  • Fair — (f[^a]r), a. [Compar. {Fairer}; superl. {Fairest}.] [OE. fair, fayer, fager, AS. f[ae]ger; akin to OS. & OHG. fagar, Icel. fagr, Sw. fager, Dan. faver, Goth. fagrs fit, also to E. fay, G. f[ u]gen, to fit. fegen to sweep, cleanse, and prob. also… …   The Collaborative International Dictionary of English

  • fair — fair1 [fer] adj. [ME < OE fæger, akin to FAIN, Goth fagrs, apt, fit < IE base * pek , to be content, make (something) pretty > Lith púošiu, to ornament] 1. attractive; beautiful; lovely 2. unblemished; clean [a fair name] 3. [< notion …   English World dictionary

  • fair — Ⅰ. fair [1] ► ADJECTIVE 1) just or appropriate in the circumstances. 2) treating people equally. 3) considerable in size or amount. 4) moderately good. 5) (of hair or complexion) light; blonde. 6) (of weather) f …   English terms dictionary

  • fair do's — /dooz/ (pl of ↑do; informal) An expression appealing for, or agreeing to, fair play, strict honesty, etc • • • Main Entry: ↑fair * * * fair do’s british spoken phrase used for drawing attention to something good about someone although you are… …   Useful english dictionary

  • fair — adj 1 comely, lovely, *beautiful, pretty, bonny, handsome, beauteous, pulchritudinous, good looking Analogous words: delicate, dainty, exquisite (see CHOICE): charming, attractive, enchanting (see under ATTRACT): pure, *chaste Antonyms: foul: ill …   New Dictionary of Synonyms

  • Fair — steht für: einen Ausdruck im Sinne von „gerecht“ in den Bereichen Sport, Recht und Informatik: siehe Fairness als Abkürzung FAIR „Facility for Antiproton and Ion Research“, siehe GSI Helmholtzzentrum für Schwerionenforschung Fairness Accuracy in… …   Deutsch Wikipedia

  • Fair — Fair, n. [OE. feire, OF. feire, F. foire, fr. L. fariae, pl., days of rest, holidays, festivals, akin to festus festal. See {Feast}.] 1. A gathering of buyers and sellers, assembled at a particular place with their merchandise at a stated or… …   The Collaborative International Dictionary of English

  • Fair Em — Fair Em, the Miller s Daughter of Manchester, is an Elizabethan era stage play, a comedy written c. 1590. It was bound together with Mucedorus and The Merry Devil of Edmonton in a volume labelled Shakespeare. Vol. I in the library of Charles II… …   Wikipedia

  • fair — fair, fairly adverbs. Fair is used in its ordinary meaning ‘in a fair manner’ in several fixed expressions, e.g. to bid fair, to play fair, fair between the eyes. In dialect use and in some non British varieties it is used to mean ‘completely,… …   Modern English usage

  • fair — [adj1] impartial, unprejudiced aboveboard, benevolent, blameless, candid, civil, clean, courteous, decent, disinterested, dispassionate, equal, equitable, even handed, frank, generous, good, honest, honorable, impartial, just, lawful, legitimate …   New thesaurus

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