Forms: 4 veir(e, veyr(e, 5 feyre; 4, 6–8 vaire, 4, 8– vair, Sc. wayre, 7 vayre, 9 dial. vare, fare, viare, etc. [a. OF. vair, veir (also nom. vairs):—L. varium, acc. sing. masc. of varius parti-colored. Cf. med.L. varius, also vairus, vayrus, veyrus (from OF.), and vajus (from It. vajo), in the same sense.]
1. A fur obtained from a variety of squirrel with grey back and white belly, much used in the 13th and 14th centuries as a trimming or lining for garments. Now only arch.
Cotgrave’s definition of F. vair as ‘a rich furre of Ermines powdered thicke with blue haires’ is app. unsupported by evidence.
a. 1300. Cursor M., 25466. Nu ask i noþer gra ne grene,… Ne purperpall, nee pride o pane, Ne riche robe wit veir and grise.
c. 1330. R. Brunne, Chron. Wace (Rolls), 11194. Manteles … Of meneuer, stranlyng, veyr, & gris.
c. 1375. Sc. Leg. Saints, vii. (James the less), 764. Furryt wele in wayre & grece.
c. 1382. Pol. Poems (Rolls), I. 265. For somme vaire, and somme gryse,… In bagges about thai bere.
1810. Scott, Lady of L., IV. xii. If pall and vair no more I wear.
1818. Ranken, Hist. France, IV. 377. It was ordained, A.D. 1294,… that no ecclesiastic, but dignified clergymen, should wear vair, gray, or ermine, excepting [etc.].
1865. Swinburne, Poems & Ball., Laus Veneris, 266. Each man’s hair Crowned with green leaves beneath white hoods of vair.
2. A weasel or stoat. Now dial.
Prob. due to an early misunderstanding as to the source of the fur.
1387. Trevisa, Higden (Rolls), I. 335. Þere beeþ veyres [L. mustelas: Caxton feyres] litel of body and ful hardy and strong.
1796–. in dial. glossaries (Dev., Dorset, Somerset, Pemb., Glamorgan, Wexford, etc.) in forms vare, fare, viare, vier, wyer, veer.
1832. Mrs. Bray, Descr. Part of Devon (1835), I. xix. 342. The stoat, vair, or vairy, is the commonest of the weasel tribe.
3. Her. One of the heraldic furs, represented by bell- or cup-shaped spaces of two (or more) tinctures, usu. azure and argent, disposed alternately (in imitation of small skins arranged in a similar manner and sewn together).
Vair cuppa or tassy (see quot. c. 1828 and VAIRY a. 1 b). Vair-en-pal, vair-en-point (see quot. 1766). Cf. also COUNTERVAIR.
1562. Leigh, Armorie, 132. The ninthe and last [doubling] of all, is called Vaire, which is of al coloures except these two before rehersed [i.e., azure and vert]. It may be also of three sondry colours, which … colours must be tolde as this is blazed.
1610. Guillim, Heraldry, I. iv. (1611), 15. If you obserue the proportion of this vaire, you shall easily discerne the very shape of the case or skinne of little beasts, in them.
1622. Peacham, Compl. Gent., xv. (1906), 194. Quarterly Gules and Vaire.
1637. Camden’s Rem., 209. Hubert de Burgo,… who bare for his Armes in a Shield, Gules seven Lozenges vaire, 3, 3, 1.
1728. Chambers, Cycl., s.v. Furr, The Heralds use two Metals,… and two Furrs, or hairy Skins, Ermine and Vaire.
1766. Porny, Heraldry, iii. (1777), 27. Vair-en-point or Vair-en-pal, is said when the point of a Vair is opposite to the Base of another.
1816. Gentl. Mag., March, 223. A fesse between two chevrons Vaire.
c. 1828. Berry, Encycl. Her., I. Gloss., Vair cuppa, or Vair Tassy, is … by most writers upon heraldry, considered a kind of fur, and shaped in the form of cups or goblets by divisions potent counter-potent.
1864. Boutell, Her. Hist. & Pop., iv. (ed. 3), 20. Vair, Counter Vair,… are always Argent and Azure, unless other tinctures are named in the blazon.
