[f. the sb.; cf. to water, fire, dust.]
1. trans. To expose to the open or fresh air, so as to remove foul or damp air; to ventilate.
1530. Palsgr., 419/2. I ayre or wether, as men do thynges whan they lay them in the open ayre, or as any lynen thyng is after it is newe wasshed or it be worne … Ayre these clothes for feare of mothes.
1697. Dryden, Virg. Georg., I. 359. Let him … wicker Baskets weave, or aire the Corn.
1816. Scott, Old Mort., 317. To brush and air them [doublet and cloak] from time to time.
1861. Flor. Nightingale, Nursing, ii. 13. Always air your room from the outside air, if possible.
2. Hence, from the idea of expelling damp: To expose to heat, to dry or warm at the fire.
1610. Ordin. R. Househ., 338. To make fires to ayer the chamber.
1679. Crowne, Ambit. Statesm., II. 19. To carry charcoal in to air his shirt.
1689. Lady R. Russell, Lett., 96. II. 30. I shall come and air your beds for a night.
1722. De Foe, Plague, 87. While the bed was airing.
1759. Symmer, in Phil. Trans., LI. 350. After being a little air’d at the fire.
1813. Mar. Edgeworth, Patron. (1833), II. xxxi. 311. Nothing airs a house so well as a warm friend.
† 3. To leave pasture unstocked. Obs.
1641. Best, Farming (1856), 82. Those closes … have beene ayred [‘and kept fresh,’ p. 83] from St. Andrewe-day till the time that the ewes come in.
4. To expose oneself to the fresh air; to take the air. a. refl.
1611. Shaks., Cymb., I. ii. 110. Were you but riding forth to ayre yourselfe.
1711. Addison, Spect., No. 159, ¶ 2. As I was here airing myself on the tops of the mountains.
1823. Lamb, Elia, Ser. II. xi. (1865), 302. To go and air myself in my native fields.
1864. Tennyson, Aylmer’s F., 468. And fain had haled him out into the world And air’d him there.
b. intr. (by omission of refl. pron.) arch.
1633. Massinger, New Way, etc., I. ii. I’ll take the air alone. You air, and air: But will you never taste but spoon-meat more?
1733. Pope, Eth. Ep., III. 388. The well-bred cuckolds in S. James’s air.
1826. Miss Mitford, Village, Ser. II. (1863), 317. She went airing every day.
1830. T. Hamilton, Cyr. Thornton (1845), 121. Lady Amersham has gone out airing … in her pony phaeton.
5. fig. a. trans. To wear openly, expose to public view. In modern times the meaning has been influenced by airs, ‘affected gestures,’ so as to mean, To show off, to parade ostentatiously.
1611. Shaks., Cymb., II. iv. 98. I begge but leaue to ayre this jewel.
1631. Cornwallyes, Ess., xxiii. I have been afraid to weare fashions untill they have beene ayred by a generall use.
1847. Tennyson, Princ., I. 120. Airing a snowy hand and signet ring.
1878. Bosw. Smith, Carthage, 364. To air their importance and their imbecility.
1879. R. H. Elliot, Written on Foreheads, I. 13. He had a chance of airing some of his pet theories.
b. refl. and intr. To expose oneself publicly, to show oneself off.
1670. Eachard, Contempt Clergy, 17. To have his name only stand airing upon the college tables.
1823. Lamb, Elia, Ser. II. xxii. (1865), 386. A poor human fancy may have leave to sport and air itself.
1874. Green, Short Hist., x. § 2. 742. The young sovereign who aired himself in the character … of a Patriot King.
† 6. intr. (with away) To pass into air, evaporate.
1627. Feltham, Resolves, II. lv. (1677), 272. It airs away to nothing by only standing still.
† 7. To set to music. Obs. (See AIRABLE.)
1653. J. Cobb, Pref. to H. Lawes’ Ayres & Dial. (D.). For not a drop that flows from Helicon But ayred by thee grows streight into a song.
