Fair a. and sb.²

Forms: α. 1 fæȝer, (fæȝir), 2 Orm. faȝȝerr, (3 fæier, -iȝer, -ir, faȝer, faiȝer, feiȝer, 2–6 feir, -yr, feier, -yer, 5–7 faire, -yr(e, 5 feire, -yre, 3–6 faier, -yer, (5 fayir), 4–7 far(e, 2– fair. β. 2–3 veir, (3 væȝer, veȝer, veieȝer), 3–4 vair, -yr. [Com. Teutonic: OE. fæger = OS. fagar, OHG. fagar, ON. fagr (Sw., Da. fager), Goth. fagrs:—OTeut. *fagro-z.]

  A.  adj. (In all the older senses formerly used antithetically with foul. This is now obs. or arch. exc. with the sbs. weather, means.)

  I.  Beautiful.

  1.  Beautiful to the eye; of pleasing form or appearance; good-looking. Phrases, Fair to see (arch.); fair and free (obs. or arch.).

  No longer in colloquial use; in literature very common, but slightly arch. or rhetorical.

  a.  of persons; chiefly with reference to the face; in mod. use, almost exclusively of women. Also of the body or its parts.

c. 888.  K. Ælfred, Boeth., xxxii. § 2. [Swa] fæʓer swa swa Alcibiadis se æþelincʓ wæs.

a. 1000.  Cædmon’s Gen., 457. Oþ-ðæt he Adam ʓearone funde … and his wif somed, freo fæʓroste.

c. 1200.  Ormin, 6392. Þatt an wass swiþe faȝȝerr wif.

c. 1205.  Lay., 3886. He wes wis be wes fæir. Ibid., 25305. Þa ueieȝereste wifmen.

c. 1250.  Gen. & Ex., 2659. So faiȝer he was on to sen.

1297.  R. Glouc. (1724), 66. Fairor womman nas þo non. Ibid., 556. Vairore fole ne miȝt be, þan wiþ him was þere.

a. 1300.  Cursor Mundi, 4223 (Cott.). Ioseph … was fre and feir.

c. 1320.  Sir Beues, 538. Ne non, so faire limes hade!

c. 1385.  Chaucer, L. G. W., 613, Cleopatras. Sche was fayr as is the Rose in May.

1398.  Trevisa, Barth. De P. R., V. xviii. (1495), 123. Yf the chynne be proporcyonate to the foreheed, it makyth it fare.

a. 1400–50.  Alexander, 601. Þe fax on his faire hede was ferly to schawe.

c. 1435.  Torrent of Portugal, 782.

1548.  Hall, Chron., 166 b. In this trobleous season … was y^e quene delivered at Westmynster of a fayre sonne.

1553.  T. Wilson, Rhet. (1580), 40. A Gentlewoman … faire of bodie.

1602.  Shaks., Ham., I. i. 47. That Faire and Warlike forme.

1667.  Milton, P. L., IV. 324. The fairest of her Daughters Eve.

1697.  Dryden, Virg. Georg., IV. 759.

1810.  Scott, Lady of L., II. xxv. Of stature fair.

1842.  Tennyson, The Sisters, 6. O the Earl was fair to see. Ibid. (1864), Aylmer’s F., 681. Fair as the Angel that said ‘Hail!’

  fig.  1871.  R. B. Vaughan, Life T. Aquinas, II. 639. The noblest and fairest spirits of beautiful, wicked Athens.

  b.  Applied to women, as expressing the quality characteristic of their sex. So, The fair sex (= Fr. le beau sexe), a fair one.

c. 1440.  York Myst., xlvi. 259. If we bynde ouȝte þat faire one in fere nowe.

1599.  Minsheu, Pleasant and Delightfull Dialogues in Spanish and English (1623), 5. P. What from our faire neighbour? A. Yea Sir. P. Well may you eat Sir of them without loathing, for they are from a cleanly woman.

1626.  Sir R. Baker, trans. Letters of Mounsieur de Balzac (1654), II. xliii. Madam, I am of your opinion, and can by no meanes approve the ambition of your fayre neighbour: her head is full of state and soveraigntie, and aymes certainly at a Crowne.

[1665.  Boyle, Occasional Reflections, V. ix. (1675), 329. It is not strange to me, that Persons of the fairer Sex, should like, in all things about them, that handsomness for which they find themselves to be the most lik’d.]

1711.  Shaftesb., Charac. (1737), I. 331. The confessing Lover, who ascribes all to the Bounty of the Fair-one, meets his Reward the sooner, for having study’d less how to deserve it.

1726.  Adv. Capt. R. Boyle, 48. I found a Note fixed to the String, which my fair Correspondent had taken Opportunity of leaving.

1732.  Berkeley, Alciphr., II. § 24. The fair Sex have now nothing to do but dress and paint, drink and game, adorn and divert themselves, and enter into all the sweet Society of Life.

1798.  Ferriar, Illustr. Sterne, v. 155. My fair readers must excuse me from detailing the whole distinctions of those learned bodies; for it seems, that to counteract the practice of vice, they had thought it necessary to be completely masters of every vice in speculation.

1800.  Med. Jrnl., III. 442. These melancholy cases … spread a general alarm over a considerable district among the fair sex.

1825.  A. Cunningham, ‘Wet Sheet & Flowing Sea,’ 10. O for a soft and gentle wind! I heard a fair one cry.

  absol. with plural sense.

1700.  Dryden, Fables, Cock & Fox, 624. What will not Beaux attempt to please the Fair?

1777.  W. Dalrymple, Trav. Sp. & Port., xviii. At church, in the streets, and at all public meetings, the fair carry the appearance of saints; but no sooner has the sun rolled down the beamy light, than all restraint is thrown aside, and every bird seeks its mate.

  c.  of abstractions personified.

1728.  Pope, The Dunciad, IV. 23.

1750.  Gray, Elegy Written in a Country Church-yard, Epitaph, i.

1764.  Goldsm., The Traveller, 365.

  † d.  used in courteous or respectful address.

c. 1350.  Will. Palerne, 4596. Faire fader, bi mi feiþ folili ȝe wrouȝten.

c. 1450.  Merlin, 9. Ffeire suster ye ought not to come in this place. Ibid., 15. Feyre sone, for youre sake shall I suffir the deth.

1483.  Caxton, Gold. Leg., 92/3. Ha faire sires he was but late byheedyd not longe sith.

1530.  Palsgr., 218/2. Fayresyr, beau sire.

1568.  Grafton, Chron., II. 205. Ye be welcome fayre sister, with my fayre Nephew your sonne.

1588.  Shaks., Loves Labour’s Lost, V. ii. 310. King. Faire sir, God saue you.

  † e.  of animals. Hence in Hunting use applied distinctively to a roebuck of the fifth year. Obs.

c. 1220.  Bestiary, 734.

1382.  Wyclif, Jer. xlvi. 20. The she calf fair and shapli Egipt.

1486.  Bk. St. Albans, A vj b. This is a fayr hawke.

1535.  Coverdale, Judges v. 10. Ye that ride upon fayre Asses.

1576.  A. Fleming, A Panoplie of Epistles, 401. A sea Gull among a sort of faire swannes.

1664.  Power, Experimental Philosophy, I. 1. In it [the flea are] two fair eyes globular and prominent of the circumference of a spangle.

1728.  Pope, The Dunciad, II. 41.

1820.  Scott, Abbot, i. The fairest herd in the Halidome.

  f.  of inanimate things.

Beowulf, 773. On hrusan ne feol fæʓer foldbold.

c. 1175.  Lamb. Hom., 25. He … bið al swa is an eppel iheoweð, he bið wið-uten feire and frakel wið-innen.

c. 1200.  Trin. Coll. Hom., 185. A faier bode inne to wunien.

c. 1290.  S. Eng. Leg., I. 48/42. A fayr wode in deorsete.

a. 1300.  Cursor M., 22511 (Cott.).

a. 1400–50.  Alexander, 1541. On hys heued a hoge fair myter.

1495.  Act 11 Hen. VII., c. 16, Preamb. Divers tenementes and feier places bilded ther.

1526.  Pilgr. Perf. (W. de W., 1531), 46. He brynge forth euery yere fayre floures.

1548.  Hall, Chron., 87. The fayre toune of Compaigne.

1596.  Shaks., Tam. Shr., Induct., i. 46. Carrie him … to my fairest Chamber.

1658.  Vestry Bks. (Surtees), 324. He hath already a fayre and large pew in the church.

1710.  Hearne, Collect. (Oxf. Hist. Soc.), III. 88. In the Name of the whole University, he presented his Majesty with a fair guilt Cup, and two hundred Pounds of Gold in it.

1719.  De Foe, Crusoe (1858), 422. The same wicker work, but much fairer.

1799.  Wordsw., ‘She Dwelt among the Untrodden Ways,’ Wks. (1888), 115/1.

1808.  Scott, Marmion, I. i.

1819.  Shelley, Cenci, V. iv. 104.

1842.  Barham, Ingol. Leg., Ingol. Penance. The Ingoldsby lands are broad and fair.

1849.  Ruskin, Sev. Lamps, vi. § 20. 182. A fair building is … worth the ground it stands on.

  g.  of appearance, visible qualities, arrangement, etc.

c. 1175.  Cott. Hom., 219. Hi alle wurðon awende of þan feȝre hiwe.

c. 1300.  Cursor Mundi, 4225 (Trin.). Þ godenes & þi feire hew.

c. 1400.  Rom. Rose, 3613.

1535.  Coverdale, Judith xvi. 7. Iudith the daughter of Merari with hir fayre bewtye hath discomfited him, and brought him to naught.

1563.  Shute, Archit., D iij b. Ye may finde a faire diminishing as I have said before.

1867.  Miss Braddon, Rupert Godwin, I. i. 1. The Captain and his wife were both in the fairest prime of middle age.

  h.  In various plant names, as Fair Days, Grass, the Goose-grass (Potentilla anserina); Fair in sight, the Blue-bell. See also FAIR MAID.

1578.  Lyte, Dodoens, II. xxiii. 175. These floures [Blue bells] be now called Fayre in sight.

1884.  Miller, Plant-n., 42/2. Fair Grass, or Fair Days, Potentilla anserina.

  † 2.  Of sounds, odors, etc.: Agreeable, delightful. Obs.

a. 1000.  Cædmon’s Exod., 566. (Gr.). Seʓnas stodon on fæʓerne sweg.

13[?].  E. E. Allit. P., A. 46. A fayre reflayr ȝet fro hit flot.

  † 3.  Desirable, reputable. Obs.

c. 1380.  Wyclif, Sel. Wks., III. 144. Ffeyre hit is to haue a son þat were lord of þis worlde.

c. 1386.  Chaucer, Prol., 212 (Harl. MS.). He hadde i-made many a faire mariage.

1393.  Langl., P. Pl., C. XXII. 28–9.

1650.  Fuller, A Pisgah-sight of Palestine, IV. vii. 134. His two sons who slew him got exile into the land of Armenia, too fair a reward for so foul a parricide.

1676.  Etheredge, Man of Mode, II. ii. Pert. E’ne let him go, a fair riddance.

  b.  Of an amount, an estate, fortune, etc.: Considerable, ‘handsome,’ liberal.

a. 1240.  Ureisun, in Cott. Hom., 199. Þu schalt me a ueir dol of heoueriche blisse.

1643.  R. Carpenter, Experience, IV. xii. 172. He leaves the rest for our imagination to paint: which truly, performeth a faire deale more in the Table, then the Painter.

1654.  Sir E. Nicholas, in The Nicholas Papers (Camden), II. 88. My Lord of Bath is lately dead, and thereby a faire fortune is come to our countryman Sir Chi. Wrey.

1848.  Macaulay, Hist. Eng., II. 112. Scotland, since her sovereigns had succeeded to a fairer inheritance, had been independent only in name.

1859.  Jephson, Brittany, xviii. 289. The reigning Duke, Francis II., had a younger brother named Giles, to whom a fair heritage was no less agreeable than a fair wife.

  † 4.  Of language, diction: Elegant. Hence fair speaker. Obs.

c. 1380.  Antecrist, in Todd, 3 Treat. Wyclif, 141–2. If hise [antichrist’s] clerkis cunne speke fayre latyne, Iyȝen þei neuer so yuel as bostors & braggars.

1398.  Trevisa, Barth. De P. R., XV. lxviii. (1495), 514. Men of Grecia were fayr and moost grete spekers.

c. 1425.  Wyntoun, Cron., IX. Prol. 10. To tret a Matere in fare Dyte.

c. 1440.  Promp. Parv., 146. Fayre spekar, orator.

1477.  Earl Rivers (Caxton), Dictes, 145. It was … translated into right good and fayr englissh.

  5.  Of external manifestations, words, promises: Attractive or pleasing at the first sight or hearing; specious, plausible, flattering.

a. 1000.  Cædmon’s Gen., 899 (Gr.). Me nædre beswac … Þurh fæʓir word.

a. 1200.  Vices & Virtues (1888), 11. Ic habbe beswiken min emcristen mid faire wordes ðe ic to him habbe ȝespeken.

a. 1300.  Cursor M., 24824 (Cott.). Wit hightes fair he wan þair will.

1362.  Langl., P. Pl., A. II. 23. Fauuel with feir speche haþ brouȝt hem to-gedere.

c. 1400.  Lanfranc’s Cirurg., 173. He mote be war þat faire biheste ne veyn glorie ne coveitise ne bigile him not.

1473.  Warkw., Chron., 7. By fayre speche and promyse, the Kynge scaped oute of the Bisshoppys handes, and came unto Londone, and dyd what hym lykede.

1538.  Starkey, England, II. ii. 191. By hys dyssymulatyon and fare wordys [he] was interteynyd in a long sute.

1568.  Grafton, Chron., II. 17. A fayre speaker, and a deepe dissembler.

1611.  Bible, Gal. vi. 12. Many … desire to make a faire shew in the flesh.

1653.  H. More, Antid. Ath., III. ix. (1712), 115. A fair Tale was made to the Pastor of the Parish.

1695.  Congreve, Love for Love, IV. xiii. What d’ee mean, after all your fair speeches, and stroaking my Cheeks, and Kissing and Hugging, what wou’d you sheer off so? wou’d you, and leave me aground?

1873.  Burton, Hist. Scot., V. lvi. 125. He has fallen away from all his fair promises.

1875.  Jowett, Plato (ed. 2), III. 604, Timaeus. The Sophists have plenty of brave words and fair devices.

  b.  Proverbs.

1471.  [see FAIN a. 1 b].

c. 1572.  Gascoigne, Fruites Warre, Wks. 154. Fayre wordes make fooles fayne.

1593.  Drayton, Idea, lix. ‘Fair words make fools,’ replieth he again.

1676.  Wycherley, Pl. Dealer, V. iii. Fair words butter no cabbage.

  II.  6. Of complexion and hair: Light as opposed to dark.

  App. not of very early origin. In the context of our first quot. ‘brown’ and ‘foul’ are treated as equivalent.

1551.  T. Wilson, Logike, 34 b. If I shall marie a faire woman, I shal haue great pleasure, and comfort in her: yf I marie a browne woman, she shal not be common to other, for few men wil seke after her. Therfore, I shal haue comfort both waies.

1554.  J. Wallis, in Songs & Ball. (Roxb., 1860), 146.

1604.  Shaks., Oth., I. iii. 291. Your Son-in-law is farre more Faire then Blacke.

a. 1661.  Fuller, Worthies (1840), III. 392. Negroes have their beauties as well as fair folk.

1697.  Dryden, Virg. Pastorals, X. 58.

1774.  Goldsm., Nat. Hist. (1776), II. 232. In all regions, the children are born fair, or at least red.

1803.  Med. Jrnl., X. 547. Persons who have the fairest skin.

1864.  Tennyson, Aylmer’s F., 193.

  III.  Free from blemish or disfigurement.

  † 7.  Of fruit, flesh, etc.: Sound, free from disease or specks. Obs.

c. 1400.  Lanfranc’s Cirurg., 93. Þe fleisch is maad fairer þan it was tofore.

c. 1450.  Two Cookery-bks., 83. Take faire rawe parcelly.

1669.  J. Worlidge, Syst. Agric. (1681), 165. The fairest may be kept for Seed, as before of Carrots.

1671.  Eng. Rogue, IV. xi. 204. [Street cry] Fair Oranges,—Fair Lemons.

c. 1770.  Mrs. Glasse, Compl. Confectioner, 6. Take the fairest and firmest pippins.

  8.  † a. Of things in general: Clean, unsoiled, unstained. Of paper: Not written upon, unused. Obs.

c. 1420.  Liber Cure Cocorum (1862), 39.

c. 1450.  Two Cookery-bks., 82. Put þe pork on a faire spitte.

1552.  Bk. Com. Prayer, Communion. A fayre white lynnen clothe.

1660.  Boyle, New Exp. Phys. Mech., xxxvi. (1682), 142. I tooke a fair Glass Siphon.

1703.  M. Martin, W. Islands Scot., 278. They [the bones] were fair and dry.

1737.  Wesley, Wks. (1872). I. 46. A paper book; all the leaves thereof were fair, except one.

1800.  Herschel, in Phil. Trans., XC. 529. The vanes are covered with a piece of fair white paper.

  b.  Of water: Clean, pure. Now rare. † Of color: Clear, not cloudy.

c. 1340.  Cursor M., 20212 (Fairf.). Ho … wasshed hir bodi in faire water.

c. 1440.  Douce MS., 55 fol. 10. Bray hem in a morter small with feyre water.

1577.  B. Googe, Heresbach’s Husb., III. (1586), 121. Most Bullockes … desire a faire cleere water.

1655.  Culpepper, Riverius, I. xi. 42. Fair water may suffice to wash the Feet.

1663.  Gerbier, Counsel, 108. Precious Woods are to be had in several parts in the West-Indies, some whereof are as red as the fairest Vermilion.

1669.  Sturmy, Mariner’s Mag., V. 65. Gun-powder of a fair Azure or French Russet colour is very good, and it may be judged to have all its Receipts well wrought, and the proportion of Peter well refined.

1727.  A. Hamilton, New Acc. E. Ind., II. xxxvi. 43. After his Majesty has drest and breakfasted, which is generally on a Dish of Rice boiled in fair Water.

1756.  Burke, Subl. & B., III. xvii. The colours of beautiful bodies must not be dusky or muddy, but clean and fair.

1816.  Scott, Antiq., xxxvi. His servant placed before him a slice of toasted bread, with a glass of fair water, being the fare on which he usually broke his fast.

1858.  O. W. Holmes, Aut. Breakf.-t. (1883), 3. It spoils the grand neutrality of a commonplace character, as the rinsings of an unwashed wine-glass spoil a draught of fair water.

  c.  Of handwriting: Neat, clear, legible. Fair copy: a transcript free from corrections. Cf. CLEAN a. 3 c. See FAIR-COPY.

1697.  Dampier, Voy. (1698), I. 355. This Letter was written in a very fair hand, and between each line, there was a Gold line drawn.

1709.  Hearne, Collect. (Oxf. Hist. Soc.), II. 228. A fair copy of the Statutes.

1828.  Colebrooke, Misc. Ess. (1873). I. 518. Let him appoint, as scribe, one … whose hand-writing is fair, etc.

1844.  Dickens, Mart. Chuz., l. A fair copy of his draft of the catalogue.

  d.  Phrase. Cf. CLEAN 3 d.

1562.  J. Heywood, Prov. & Epigr. (1867), 64. Except hir maide shewe a fayre paire of heeles.

1630.  Wadsworth, Sp. Pilgr., viii. 83. Being freed out of Prison, I shewed them a faire paire of heeles.

  e.  Of a line, curve or surface: Free from roughnesses or irregularities; smooth, even. Now chiefly Naut.

1486.  Bk. St. Albans, D ij b. Take a tame Malarde and set hym in a fayr playn.

1577.  B. Googe, Heresbach’s Husb., I. (1586), 42 b. The floore must be fayre and smoothe made.

c. 1850.  Rudim. Navig. (Weale), 117. Fair. A term to denote the evenness or regularity of a curve or line.

1888.  W. P. P. Longfellow, The Greek Vase, in Scribner’s Magazine, III. April, 424/2. But pure lines and fair surfaces have fallen into neglect nowadays, our present fancy being for rude lines, and for wrinkled or blotchy surfaces, on which fine modelling is either impossible or invisible.

  9.  Of character, conduct, reputation: Free from moral stain, spotless, unblemished. Also in phrase to stand fair.

c. 1175.  Lamb. Hom., 137. Æuric mon þe ledeð feir lif and clene.

c. 1200.  Trin. Coll. Hom., 85. Manie swo ledden here lif þat te biginninge was fair, and te middel fairere, and te ende alre fairest.

c. 1330.  R. Brunne, Chron. (1810), 14. Ailrik was … a duke of faire fame.

1676.  Hale, Contempt., I. 47. A quiet, serene, and fair Conscience.

a. 1704.  T. Brown, Two Oxford Scholars, Wks. 1730, I. 6. The poor painful Priest standing fair in the Opinion of the Neighbourhood.

1734.  Earl Oxford, in Swift’s Lett. (1768), IV. 64. This person … had the fairest and most unexceptionable character.

1819.  Shelley, Cenci, III. i. 293. My fair fame.

1892.  F. Hall, in The Nation (N.Y.), 1 Dec., LV. 411/2. “Remarkable” Mr. Oliphant may well style “the number of new English phrases” which, with culpable heedlessness, he fathers, directly, or by implication, on an eminent author, and not seldom to the detriment of his fair fame.

  10.  Of conduct, actions, arguments, methods: Free from bias, fraud or injustice; equitable, legitimate. Hence of persons: Equitable; not taking undue advantage; disposed to concede every reasonable claim. Of objects: That may be legitimately aimed at; often in fair game, fig. See FAIR AND SQUARE, FAIR TRADE.

c. 1340.  Cursor M., 13837 (Trin.). Þo dedes to vs be not faire.

c. 1435.  Torrent of Portugal, 786.

1641.  J. Jackson, True Evang. T., II. 95. Mention is made of the fat Calfe. Whereby, in a faire parabolicall interpretation, is meant no lesse, no worse a thing, then Christ himselfe.

1647.  Sir E. Nicholas, in The Nicholas Papers (Camden), I. 77. L. C doubts not of Lo. Bruces faire dealing still, which may be some consolacion in this difficult time.

1680.  Otway, Orphan, III. i. 811. The fair Hunter’s cheated of his Prey.

1690.  Locke, Hum. Und., III. x. (1695), 287. He that puts not constantly the same Sign for the same Idea, but uses the same Words sometimes in one, and sometimes in another Signification, ought to pass in the Schools and Conversation for as fair a Man, as he does in the Market and Exchange, who sells several Things under the same Name.

1748.  Hartley, Observations on Man, I. iii. 278. Words which have the fairest Right to each Class.

1790.  Paley, Horæ Paul., Rom. ii. 18. Now that Erastus was an inhabitant of Corinth, or had some connection with Corinth, is rendered a fair subject of presumption.

1816.  Bentham, Chrestomathia, 296. In that character it becomes fair game for ridicule.

1839.  T. Attwood, Sp. in Ho. Com., 14 June. They only ask for a fair day’s wages for a fair day’s work.

1848.  Macaulay, Hist. Eng., I. 567. If in the skirmish the king should fall, he would fall by fair fighting and not by murder.

1854.  H. Rogers, Ess., II. i. 10. The same reasons have made him [Locke] one of the fairest of all controversial antagonists; disguising nothing, distorting nothing, garbling nothing, misquoting nothing.

1870.  Max Müller, Introduction to the Science of Religion (1873), 150, note. It is but fair therefore to state that Schelling’s lectures, though not published, were printed and circulated among friends twenty years before they were delivered at Berlin.

1885.  Law Times, 28 March, 388/2. A fair account should be given.

1886.  Pall Mall G., 27 Oct., 3/2. ‘Fair houses,’ i.e. firms where the rules of the Union are followed.

  b.  Of conditions, position, etc.: Affording an equal chance of success; not unduly favorable or adverse to either side. Phrase, A fair field and no favor.

1711.  Puckle, The Club, 22, note. Supposing both box and dice fair, gamesters have the peep, eclipse, thumbing, &c.

1771.  Franklin, Autobiog., Wks. 1840, I. 60. I was now on a fair footing with them.

1845.  G. P. R. James, Arrah Neil, I. vii. 143. That would not matter if the ground were fair; but these ditches, these ditches, they are awkward things in the way of cavalry.

1883.  E. Pennell-Elmhirst, The Cream of Leicestershire, 202. He wanted no harbour yet, and asked only for a fair field and a clear course.

  c.  Fair play: upright conduct in a game; equity in the conditions or opportunities afforded to a player; transf. upright conduct, equitable conditions of action generally.

1595.  Shaks., John, V. i. 67.

1630.  R. Johnson, Relations of the Most Famous Kingdoms, etc., A ij b. Some … name him when they quote him; and thats faire play.

1669.  Marvell, Corr., cxxvi. Wks. 1872–5, II. 287. To give the fairest play to him, being a Member of the House.

1744.  Berkeley, Let. Tarwater, § 21. Give this medicine fair play.

1824.  Scott, Redgauntlet, xx. Fair play’s a jewel.

1844.  Disraeli, Coningsby, IV. v. To prevent his fine manners having their fair play.

1882.  C. M. Yonge, Unknown to Hist., xxxvi. Fear of the future shut his eyes to all sense of justice and fair play.

  11.  Expressing moderate commendation: Free from grave objection; of tolerable though not highly excellent quality; ‘pretty good.’ Of amount or degree: Adequate though not ample; ‘respectable.’

[1795.  Burke, Corr. (1844), IV. 317. The course taken by the enemy often becomes a fair rule of action.]

1860.  Tyndall, Glac., I. xviii. 133. Fair glacier work was now before us.

1870.  Lubbock, The Origin of Civilisation, ii. (1875), 37. It is somewhat remarkable that while even in the Stone Period we find very fair drawings of animals, yet in the latest part of the Stone Age, and throughout that of Bronze, they are almost entirely wanting.

1873.  Black, Pr. Thule, xxiii. 385. And yet this rambling series of confession, and self-reproaches, and tender memories did form a certain sort of narrative, so that the young fellow sitting quietly in the boat there got a pretty fair notion of what had happened.

1874.  Green, Short Hist., vi. 304. Edward the Sixth, was a fair scholar in both the classical languages.

1875.  Hamerton, Intell. Life, X. v. 388. A person in fair health.

18[?].  R. Kipling, Among the Railway Folk, i. A fair number of old soldiers.

  b.  In school reports, marking a passable degree of excellence.

1861.  V. Lushington, in Working Men’s Coll. Mag., 140 Power to refuse the required certificate of school-attendance, unless the school is ‘fair’ for the purpose intended.

  IV.  Favorable; benign; unobstructed.

  12.  Of the weather: Favorable, not wet or stormy. Also with some notion of sense 1: Fine, bright, sunny. Now sometimes contrasted with fine, as ‘the weather was fair, but not fine.’

c. 1205.  Lay., 7594. Heo hæfden swiðe fair weder.

c. 1450.  Life of St. Cuthbert (Surtees), 1077.

1535.  Coverdale, Ecclus. iii. 15. Thy synnes also shall melt awaye, like as the yse in y^e fayre warme wether.

1611.  Bible, Matt. xvi. 2. It will bee faire weather: for the skie is red.

a. 1671.  R. Bohun, Disc. Wind, 122. At Surat, Malabar, Pegu, and that coast of India, is the fair season till March.

1713.  Berkeley, The Guardian, No. 49, 7 May, ¶ 9. Wks. III. 161. Fair weather is the joy of my soul; about noon I behold a blue sky with rapture, and receive great consolation from the rosy dashes of light which adorn the clouds of the morning and evening.

1781.  Cowper, Anti-Thelyphthora, 71.

1867.  Ouida, C. Castlemaine (1879), 6. The morning was fair and cloudless.

  † b.  Fair day, daylight = BROAD DAY, DAYLIGHT.

c. 1450.  Merlin, 610. It was than feire day.

1523.  Ld. Berners, Froiss., I. cclxv. 392. It was faire day or he coude get into the right waye.

1603.  Knolles, Hist. Turks (1621), 308. It was yet scarce faire daie, when both the armies in good order readie ranged began againe the battaile.

1605.  Shaks., Lear, IV. vii. 52. Where am I? Faire day light?

  c.  fig.; esp. in phrases, † To make fair weather to, with: to curry favor with. † To make it fair with: to deal complaisantly with.

c. 1380.  Wyclif, Sel. Wks., III. 365. Crist, whanne he lovede hoolliche his Chirche, wolde not make it fair wiþ þese ordris.

1598.  Marston, Sco. Villanie, I. 139.

1625.  Bacon, Ess., Friendship (Arb.), 173. Frendship maketh indeed a faire Day in the Affections, from Storme and Tempests.

1687.  R. L’Estrange, Answ. Diss., 5. The Roman Catholiques are making Fair Weather with the Dissenters.

1866.  Crump, Banking, ix. 217. For fair weather the Act of 1844 works, or rather leaves other things to work, tolerably well; but in times of commercial panic it is more than questionable whether it does not aggravate and intensify existing evils.

  13.  Of the wind: Favorable to a ship’s course. † To come fair: to become favorable.

c. 1384.  Chaucer, H. Fame, 1967. Of faire wyndes and eke of tempestes.

1593.  Shaks., Rich. II., II. ii. 123. The wind sits fair for news to go to Ireland.

1665.  Sir T. Herbert, Trav. (1677). 386. I could have been content we might have rested there some longer time: nevertheless so soon as the wind came fair aboard away we went.

1790.  Beatson, Nav. & Mil. Mem., 374. To proceed … with the first fair wind.

1879.  J. Beerbohm, Wanderings in Patagonia, 1. At last we got a fair wind, however, which soon brought us close to our destination.

  14.  Giving promise of success; ‘likely to succeed’ (J.); likely, promising, advantageous, suitable. Of a star, omen: Propitious. Phrases, † To be, seem, stand fair for, or to with inf.; To be in a fair way † of, to: to have a good chance of (doing, obtaining, or reaching something).

1375.  Barbour, Bruce, XVII. 837.

c. 1400.  Destr. Troy, 1119. Now fraist we before how fairest wille he.

1550.  H. Llwyd, The Treasury of Health (1585), 8. Ther is no better … nor no fayrer cure.

1588.  Shaks., Loves Labour’s Lost, IV. i. 10.

1603.  Knolles, The Generall Historie of the Turkes (1621), 113. They then at fatall discord among themselues, and busied with their warres at home, let slip that so faire an opportunitie, the like whereof they seldome or neuer had since.

a. 1618.  Raleigh, A Discourse of War, in Essayes (1650), E v. The Caliphes following him obteined thereby in a short space a mighty Empire, which was in faire way to have inlarged, untill they fell out among themselves.

1642.  Rogers, Naaman, 11. Many more … who might seeme faire for it [the grace of Cod].

1655.  Sir E. Nicholas, in The Nicholas Papers (Camden), II. 197. You write that Cardinal Francisco Barbarini is belieued to stand fair to be elected pope. But they seldom chuse so young a man as I take him to be.

1669.  Baxter, Call to Unconverted, IV. How fair you are for everlasting salvation.

1676.  Wiseman, Surg., V. ix. 386. I presently looked for the Jugular Veins, and seeing them full, I opened the fairest, and took away at least a dozen ounces of bloud.

1678.  Bunyan, Pilgr., I. 29. I once was, as I thought, fair for the Cœlestial City.

1683.  Dryden, Vind. Dk. of Guise. The first play I undertook, was the Duke of Guise, as the fairest way which the act of indemnity had then left us of setting forth the rise of the late rebellion, and of exposing the villanies of it upon the stage.

1757.  Burke, Abridgm. Eng. Hist., Wks. 1842, II. 563. He immediately suspended his interesting quarrel with his brother, and, instead of contesting with him the crown, to which he had such fair pretensions, or the dutchy, of which he was in possession, he proposed to mortgage to him the latter during five years for a sum of 13,000 marks of gold.

1814.  D. H. O’Brien, Captiv. & Escape, 101. The grateful idea of being at last in a fair way of succeeding and overcoming all difficulties, began now to be cherished by me.

c. 1820.  Shelley, Homer’s Hymn to Castor, 20. Fair omen of the voyage. Ibid. (1822), Trium. of Life, 256. The star that ruled his doom was far too fair.

1848.  Macaulay, Hist. Eng., II. 551. A fair prospect of reaching their destination.

  † b.  A fair day: success in battle. Obs.

1548.  Hall, Chron., 76 b. A famous victory and a faire daie.

1550.  Crowley, Way to Wealth, 602. The Egiptians thought to haue had a faire day at them.

1600.  Holland, Livy, VI. xxxii. 239. They [the Romans] … were but only in some good hope of having a fair day of their enemies, the raine so poured down with huge storms and tempests, that it parted both hosts asunder.

  † c.  To have the fairer (of): to get the better or upper hand of. Obs.

1375.  Barbour, Bruce, X. 77.

c. 1400.  Destr. Troy, 6882.

  15.  Of a means or procedure, and of language: Gentle, peaceable, not violent. † Of the countenance: Benignant, kindly. † Of death: Easy, ‘natural’; without violence.

  In fair means the adj. can also have the sense 10, and sometimes has a mixed sense.

1340–70.  Alexander and Dindimus, 45.

1548.  Hall, Chron., 176. Determining either by force or fayre meanes, to bring their purpose to a conclusion.

1603.  Knolles, Hist. Turks (1621), 1161. With a faire countenance, and a majestie full of mildnesse … hee … sought to appease them. Ibid., 1332. To seduce men either by force or faire persuasion.

1656.  B. Harris, trans. Parival’s The History of This Iron Age, I. iv. Ferdinand, being a very zealous Prince, thought it his duty to draw, either by fair meanes or foul, all his Subjects to the Roman Catholick Religion.

1671.  Milton, Samson Agonistes, 688.

c. 1680.  Hickeringill, The History of Whiggism, Wks. (1716), I. 74. The Lord Treasurer Weston dyed of his fair death, flying beyond Sea, and withall he dyed a professed … Papist.

1703.  Maundrell, A Journey from Aleppo to Jerusalem (1732), 9. Ordering him to try first by fair means to gain admittance, and, if that fail’d, to threaten that we would enter by force.

1704.  J. Logan, in Pa. Hist. Soc. Mem., IX. 292. I have used both fair and foul words.

1832.  R. and J. Lander, Journal of an Expedition to Explore the Course and Termination of the Niger, I. iii. 157. They at first endeavoured to obtain her from him by fair means.

  16.  Free from obstacles; unobstructed, open.

1523.  Fitzherbert, The Boke of Husbandry, § 19. For than the waye is lyke to be fayre and drye, and the days longe, and that tyme the husbande hath leeste to doo in husbandry.

1603.  Knolles, Hist. Turks (1621), 69. A faire breach for the Christians to enter.

1622.  Bacon, Hen. VII., 12. Whether as hauing former right to it, (which was doubtfull) or hauing it then in Fact and possession (which no man denied) was left faire to interpretation eyther way.

1665.  Boyle, Occasional Reflections, Table of Contents. His horse stumbling in a very fair way.

1670.  Narborough, Jrnl., in Acc. Sev. Late Voy., I. (1711), 79. Be careful to keep the South-shore in fair view.

1682.  Bunyan, Holy War, v. They made a fair retreat.

1712.  W. Rogers, Voy., 49. We both weigh’d, in order to go out on the other side of Grande, which I think is the fairest Outlet.

1768.  J. Byron, Narr. Patagonia, 10. We were soon undeceived by her striking again more violently than before, which laid her upon her beam ends, the sea making a fair breach over her.

1816.  J. Wilson, The City of the Plague, III. iv.

1845.  R. Ford, Handbk. Spain, I. 12. The fairest though farthest way about is the nearest way home.

  17.  Open to view, plainly to be seen, clear, distinct. Now chiefly dial.

1577.  B. Googe, Heresbach’s Husb., IV. (1586), 157 b. The white … are alwaies the fairest marke in a Hawke, or a Bussardes eie.

1633.  P. Fletcher, Purple Isl., v. Fair on the face [God] wrote the index of the mind.

1665.  Boyle, Occasional Reflections, IV. xix. (1675), 282. Men, whose Possessions are so much spread and display’d, are but thereby expos’d the fairer and wider Marks that may be hit in many places by misfortune.

1671.  Grew, The Anatomy of Plants, I. ii. § 8. Of these Pores, ’tis also observable, that although in all places of the Root they are visible, yet most fair and open about the filamentous Extremities of some Roots.

1847.  Tennyson, The Princess, II. 305.

1877.  N. W. Linc. Gloss. s.v. ‘Lincoln Minster ’s fair to see fra Barton field.’

  18.  Comb., chiefly parasynthetic, as, fair-ankled, -born, -cheeked, -colo(u)red, -complexioned, ‘conditioned, -eyed, -featured, -fortuned, -fronted, -horned, -maned, -minded (hence fair-mindedness), -natured, -outsided, -reputed, -sized, -skinned, -spaced, -speeched, -tongued, -tressed, -visaged, -weathered, -zoned.

1875.  Longf., Pandora, VI.

1830.  Brewster, Edin. Cycl., VII. I. 49/2. The *fair born children of Negroes.

1870.  Bryant, Iliad, I. I. 9.

1757.  Dyer, Fleece, III. 153.

a. 1773.  Ld. Lyttleton, Wks. 1776. I. 189. There is a very pretty, *fair-complexioned girl, who lodges in a house over-against me.

1866.  Carlyle, Remin. (1881), I. 139. She was of the fair-complexioned, softly elegant, softly grave, witty and comely type, and had a good deal of gracefulness, intelligence, and other talent.

1634.  Laud, Wks. (1860), VII. 92. I doubt not but your Lordship will find him a very honest, *fair-conditioned man.

1591.  Greene, Maidens Dreame, xi. *Fair-ey’d pity in his heart did dwell.

1630.  Drayton, Muses Elysium, Noah’s Flood, 270. The bull … to the ark brings on the fair-ey’d cow.

a. 1845.  Hood, Lamia, v. 30.

1850.  Mrs. Browning, Poems, II. 30.

1847.  G. P. R. James, The Convict, iv. I was once as prosperous and as *fair-fortuned as himself.

1830.  Tennyson, Clear-headed Friend, 12. *Fair-fronted Truth shall droop not now.

1777.  R. Potter, Æschylus’ The Supplicants, 324. Pel. Does Jove approach her in this *fair-horned state?

1632.  Massinger & Field, The Fatal Dowry, IV. i.

1874.  Morley, Compromise (1886), 186–7. In these complex cases an honest and *fair-minded man’s own instincts are more likely to lead him right than any hard and fast rule.

1853.  Lynch, Self-Improv., iv. 96. There is discipline for temper and *fair-mindedness.

1634.  Ford, P. Warbeck, V. ii. Young Buckingham is a *fair-natured prince.

1637.  Rutherford, Lett., lxxxviii. (1863), I. 227. O that our eyes and our soul’s smelling should go after a blasted and sunburnt flower, even this plastered, *fair-outsided world.

1795.  J. Fawcett, The Art of War, 4.

1861.  Hughes, Tom Brown at Oxf., iv. (1889), 30. They were fair-sized rooms in the second quadrangle, furnished plainly but well, so far as Tom could judge.

1827.  G. Higgins, Celtic Druids, 98. The *fair-skinned tribe of martial Germans.

1820.  Keats, Lamia, II. 271.

1567.  Drant, Horace’ Epist., II. i. G iv. This *fayre, speachde queare through learned prayer waters frome high doth call.

1805.  T. Holcroft, Mem. B. Perdue, I. 16. Fair-speeched gentlemen as they are.

1843.  Faber, Styrian Lake, 345. He is a *fair-tongued knight.

1870.  Bryant, Iliad, I. IX. 288.

1607.  Walkington, Optic Glass, xv. (1664), 157. He was comely and *fair-visag’d and did shadow his beauty by any blemish of bad action.

1630.  R. Johnson, Relations of the Most Famous Kingdoms, etc., 642. The Country [Brazil] … is … *faire weathered.

1768.  The Life and Adventures of Sir Bartholomew Sapskull, I. 50. Suppose they have fair-weather’d countenances, does not that prove the blast of intemperance never impaired them.

1725.  Pope, Odyss., XXIII. 142. *Fair-zon’d damsels form the sprightly dance.

  b.  Special comb. † fair-chance, some kind of game or lottery; fair-curve (see quot.); fair-fashioned a., Sc. ‘having great appearance of discretion without the reality; having great complaisance of manner’ (Jam.); fair-hair, Sc. = PAX(Y-WAX(Y; fair-handed a., (a) † of a horse (see quot. 1614); (b) having well-formed hands; fair-walling (see quot. 1886); fair-world, ‘a good time, state of prosperity’ (W.).

1755.  Mem. Capt. P. Drake, II. xi. 235. After Dinner was over, a Pharaoh Table, Cards, and a *Fair Chance being ready, and Mr. Smith and I having laid down a Bank of fifty Guineas, they went to Play.

1775.  Ash, *Fair-curve [printed fair-carve].

1823.  Crabb, Technol. Dict., s.v. A Fair-Curve, in delineating ships, is a winding line whose shape is varied according to the part of the ship it is intended to describe.

1816.  Scott, Old Mort., v. ‘Hegh, sirs, sae *fair-fashioned as we are!’

1823.  Eliza Logan, St. Johnstoun, II. 195. ‘Ye are aye sae fair-fashioned … there’s scarce ony saying again’ ye.’

1614.  Markham, Cheap Husb., 6. Observe in any wise to have them [mares] *fayre-handed, that is, good head, necke, breast, and shoulders.

1728–46.  Thomson, Spring, 525.

1886.  S. W. Linc. Gloss. *Fair-walling, the level, smoothly-built masonry or brickwork above the roughly-built foundations.

a. 1674.  Milton, Of Reformation in England. Wks. (1848), II. 378. When they have brought us back to popish blindness, we might commit to their dispose the whole management of our salvation; for they think it was never *fair world with them since that time.

  B.  sb.² [The adj. used absol. or elliptically.]

  1.  That which is fair (in senses of the adj.); the fair side or face; also in phrases, By (soft and) fair: by fair means. For (foul nor) fair: for fair words or treatment.

  In the expressions Fair befall and the like the word admits of being taken either as sb. or adv. The advb. sense is prob. original (see FAIR adv. 6 b), but cf. quot. 1423 below.

1393.  Langl., P. Pl., C. X. 85. To turne þe fayre outwarde.

1423.  James I., The Kingis Quair, cxc.

1456.  How the Wise Man Taught His Son, 151, in Hazl., E. P. P. (1864), 175.

1483.  Caxton, G. de la Tour (1868), 6. A lorde wolde haue a gentille woman, bi faire or be force, for to do his foule lust with her.

1592.  Shaks., Rom. & Jul., I. iii. 90.

1749.  Fielding, Tom Jones, XV. x. Nothing short of the fair and honourable, will satisfy the delicacy of their minds.

1864.  Tennyson, Enoch Arden, 529.

  b.  colloq. To see fair = ‘to see fair play.’

1837.  Dickens, Pickw., xxv. (C. D. ed.), 218. If you will step in there, sir, Mr. Weller will see fair, and we can have mutual satisfaction till the bell rings.

1891.  Daily News, 11 Mar, 5/2. The police … came up to see fair between both sides.

  2.  One of the fair sex, a woman; esp. a beloved woman. Now arch. or poet.

1423.  James I., Kingis Q., lxvi.

c. 1489.  Caxton, Blanchardyn and Eglantine, xxiv. 84. The fayer þ^e proude pucell.

1590.  Shaks., Mids. N., I. i. 182.

1638.  Ford, Lady’s Trial, III. i.

1647.  Crashaw, Poems, 146.

1747.  Gentl. Mag., April (Ld. Lovat’s Execution). No fair forgets the ruin he has done.

1847.  L. Hunt, Men, Women, & B., I. x. 177. The gentleman was as much at his ease as if he had been a Bond-street lounger pursuing his fair in a solitary street.

1876.  Blackie, Songs Relig. & Life, 169, ‘Moments.’

  transf.  1697.  Dryden, Virg. Georg., III. 202.

  † 3.  A person with a fair complexion.

1771.  T. Hull, Hist. Sir W. Harrington (1797), III. 1. One is a fair, the other a brunet.

  † 4.  Beauty, fairness, good looks. Also pl.: Points or traits of beauty. Obs.

c. 888.  K. Ælfred, Boeth., xxxii. § 2. Þæs lichoman fæȝer & his streon … maȝon beon afeorred.

c. 1200.  Trin. Coll. Hom., 19. Þe mone and þe sune wundrieð of faire.

a. 1225.  Juliana, 4. He sumchere iseh hire utnume feir.

a. 1240.  Ureisun, in Cott. Hom., 193. Heo neuer ne beoð sead þi ueir to iseonne.

1590.  Shaks., Com. Err., II. i. 98.

1599.  Marston, Sco. Villanie, II. vii. 207.

1633.  P. Fletcher, Elisa, ii.

  † b.  Comb.

1622.  Drayton, Poly-olb., Song xxviii. 388.