Fairy
Fairy , noun
[Old English fairie, faierie, enchantment, fairy folk, fairy, Old French faerie enchantment, French féer, from Late Latin Fata one of the goddesses of fate. See Fate, and compare Fay a fairy.]
1.
Enchantment; illusion. [Obsolete] — Chaucer
The God of her has made an end,
And fro this worlde's fairy
Hath taken her into company.
2.
The country of the fays; land of illusions. [Obsolete]
He [Arthur] is a king y-crowned in Fairy.
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.
And now about the caldron sing,
Like elves and fairies in a ring.
5.
An enchantress. [Obsolete] — Shakespeare
No goblin or swart fairy of the mine
Hath hurtful power over true virginity.
Collocations (1)
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.
Fairy , adjective
1.
Of or pertaining to fairies.
2.
Given by fairies; as, fairy money. — Dryden
Collocations (6)
Fairy bird (Zoology) , the Euoropean little tern (Sterna minuta); -- called also sea swallow, and hooded tern.
Fairy martin (Zoology) , a European swallow (Hirrundo ariel) that builds flask-shaped nests of mud on overhanging cliffs.
Fairy rings or Fairy circles , the circles formed in grassy lawns by certain fungi (as Marasmius Oreades), formerly supposed to be caused by fairies in their midnight dances; also, the mushrooms themselves. Such circles may have diameters larger than three meters.
Fairy shrimp (Zoology) , 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 (Paleontology) , an echinite.