Definition of Fairy

Extinction

FAIRY noun

	A creature, variously fashioned and endowed, that formerly inhabited the meadows and forests. It was nocturnal in its habits, and somewhat addicted to dancing and the theft of children. The fairies are now believed by naturalist to be extinct, though a clergyman of the Church of England saw three near Colchester as lately as 1855, while passing through a park after dining with the lord of the manor. The sight greatly staggered him, and he was so affected that his account of it was incoherent. In the year 1807 a troop of fairies visited a wood near Aix and carried off the daughter of a peasant, who had been seen to enter it with a bundle of clothing. The son of a wealthy bourgeois disappeared about the same time, but afterward returned. He had seen the abduction been in pursuit of the fairies. Justinian Gaux, a writer of the fourteenth century, avers that so great is the fairies' power of transformation that he saw one change itself into two opposing armies and fight a battle with great slaughter, and that the next day, after it had resumed its original shape and gone away, there were seven hundred bodies of the slain which the villagers had to bury. He does not say if any of the wounded recovered. In the time of Henry III, of England, a law was made which prescribed the death penalty for 'Kyllynge, wowndynge, or mamynge' a fairy, and it was universally respected.

		definition from: *The Devil's Dictionary* by Ambrose Bierce, 1911

Faith

Regular definition:

FAIRY:
?f??r? n. & adj. --n. (pl. -ies) 1 a small imaginary being with magical powers. 2 sl. derog. a male homosexual. --adj. of fairies, fairy-like, delicate, small. øfairy cake a small individual iced sponge cake. fairy cycle a small bicycle for a child. fairy godmother a benefactress. fairy lights small coloured lights esp. for outdoor decoration. fairy ring a ring of darker grass caused by fungi. fairy story (or tale) 1 a tale about fairies. 2 an incredible story; a fabrication. øøfairy-like adj. [ME f. OF faerie f. fae FAY]

Last updated: 9/3/2011 12:48:30