Fair a. and sb.2. World English Historical Dictionary

Fair a. and sb.2. World English Historical Dictionary Dictionary Biographies Literary Criticism Welcome Terms of Service ⧏ Previous Next ⧐ Contents Slice Contents Key Bibliographic Record Murray’s New English Dictionary. 1901, rev. 2022. 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.]

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

2   I.  Beautiful.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

11 1297.  R. Glouc. (1724), 66. Fairor womman nas þo non. Ibid., 556. Vairore fole ne miȝt be, þan wiþ him was þere.

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

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

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

15 1398.  Trevisa, Barth. De P. R., V. xviii. (1495), 123. Yf the chynne be proporcyonate to the foreheed, it makyth it fare.

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

17 c. 1435.  Torrent of Portugal, 782.        The ryche kyng hathe to me sent, For to aske my dowghttyr gente,     That ys so feyer and fre.

18 1548.  Hall, Chron., 166 b. In this trobleous season … was ye quene delivered at Westmynster of a fayre sonne.

19 1553.  T. Wilson, Rhet. (1580), 40. A Gentlewoman … faire of bodie.

20 1602.  Shaks., Ham., I. i. 47. That Faire and Warlike forme.

21 1667.  Milton, P. L., IV. 324. The fairest of her Daughters Eve.

22 1697.  Dryden, Virg. Georg., IV. 759.        Then, with his Head, from his fair Shoulders torn, Wash’d by the Waters, was on Hebrus born.

23 1810.  Scott, Lady of L., II. xxv. Of stature fair.

24 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!’

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

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

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

28 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.

29 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.

30 [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.]

31 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.

32 1726.  Adv. Capt. R. Boyle, 48. I found a Note fixed to the String, which my fair Correspondent had taken Opportunity of leaving.

33 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.

34 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.

35 1800.  Med. Jrnl., III. 442. These melancholy cases … spread a general alarm over a considerable district among the fair sex.

36 1825.  A. Cunningham, ‘Wet Sheet & Flowing Sea,’ 10. O for a soft and gentle wind! I heard a fair one cry.

37   absol. with plural sense.

38 1700.  Dryden, Fables, Cock & Fox, 624. What will not Beaux attempt to please the Fair?

39 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.

40   c.  of abstractions personified.

41 1728.  Pope, The Dunciad, IV. 23.        There foam’d rebellious Logic, gagg’d and bound, There, stript, fair Rhet’ric languish’d on the ground.

42 1750.  Gray, Elegy Written in a Country Church-yard, Epitaph, i.        Here rests his Head upon the Lap of Earth A Youth to Fortune and to Fame unknown: Fair Science frown’d not on his humble Birth, And Melancholy mark’d him for her own.

43 1764.  Goldsm., The Traveller, 365.        And thou, fair Freedom, taught alike to to feel The rabble’s rage, and tyrant’s angry steel.

44   † d.  used in courteous or respectful address.

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

46 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.

47 1483.  Caxton, Gold. Leg., 92/3. Ha faire sires he was but late byheedyd not longe sith.

48 1530.  Palsgr., 218/2. Fayresyr, beau sire.

49 1568.  Grafton, Chron., II. 205. Ye be welcome fayre sister, with my fayre Nephew your sonne.

50 1588.  Shaks., Loves Labour’s Lost, V. ii. 310. King. Faire sir, God saue you.

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

52 c. 1220.  Bestiary, 734.        Panter is an wilde der, Is non fairere on werlde her.

53 1382.  Wyclif, Jer. xlvi. 20. The she calf fair and shapli Egipt.

54 1486.  Bk. St. Albans, A vj b. This is a fayr hawke.

55 1535.  Coverdale, Judges v. 10. Ye that ride upon fayre Asses.

56 1576.  A. Fleming, A Panoplie of Epistles, 401. A sea Gull among a sort of faire swannes.

57 1664.  Power, Experimental Philosophy, I. 1. In it [the flea are] two fair eyes globular and prominent of the circumference of a spangle.

58 1728.  Pope, The Dunciad, II. 41.        All as a patridge plump, full-fed and fair, She form’d this image of well-body’d air.

59 1820.  Scott, Abbot, i. The fairest herd in the Halidome.

60   f.  of inanimate things.

61 Beowulf, 773. On hrusan ne feol fæʓer foldbold.

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

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

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

65 a. 1300.  Cursor M., 22511 (Cott.).        Þe sun … es þe fairest on to loke At middai time.     c. 1340 Ibid., 2468 (Trin.). A lussom londe & fair cuntre Þe flom ran þourȝe feire to se.

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

67 1495.  Act 11 Hen. VII., c. 16, Preamb. Divers tenementes and feier places bilded ther.

68 1526.  Pilgr. Perf. (W. de W., 1531), 46. He brynge forth euery yere fayre floures.

69 1548.  Hall, Chron., 87. The fayre toune of Compaigne.

70 1596.  Shaks., Tam. Shr., Induct., i. 46. Carrie him … to my fairest Chamber.

71 1658.  Vestry Bks. (Surtees), 324. He hath already a fayre and large pew in the church.

72 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.

73 1719.  De Foe, Crusoe (1858), 422. The same wicker work, but much fairer.

74 1799.  Wordsw., ‘She Dwelt among the Untrodden Ways,’ Wks. (1888), 115/1.        A violet by a mossy stone   Half hidden from the eye! Fair as a star, when only one   Is shining in the sky.

75 1808.  Scott, Marmion, I. i.        Day set on Norham’s castled steep, And Tweed’s fair river, broad, and deep.

76 1819.  Shelley, Cenci, V. iv. 104.        Plead with awakening earthquake, o’er whose couch Even now a city stands, strong, fair and free.

77 1842.  Barham, Ingol. Leg., Ingol. Penance. The Ingoldsby lands are broad and fair.

78 1849.  Ruskin, Sev. Lamps, vi. § 20. 182. A fair building is … worth the ground it stands on.

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

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

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

82 c. 1400.  Rom. Rose, 3613.        As faire semblaunt thanne shewed he me, And goodly, as aforn didde he.

83 1535.  Coverdale, Judith xvi. 7. Iudith the daughter of Merari with hir fayre bewtye hath discomfited him, and brought him to naught.

84 1563.  Shute, Archit., D iij b. Ye may finde a faire diminishing as I have said before.

85 1867.  Miss Braddon, Rupert Godwin, I. i. 1. The Captain and his wife were both in the fairest prime of middle age.

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

87 1578.  Lyte, Dodoens, II. xxiii. 175. These floures [Blue bells] be now called Fayre in sight.

88 1884.  Miller, Plant-n., 42/2. Fair Grass, or Fair Days, Potentilla anserina.

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

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

91 13[?].  E. E. Allit. P., A. 46. A fayre reflayr ȝet fro hit flot.

92   † 3.  Desirable, reputable. Obs.

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

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

95 1393.  Langl., P. Pl., C. XXII. 28–9.        To be cald a knyght is fair · for men shal to hym kneole; To be cald a kyng is fairour · for he may knyghtes make.

96 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.

97 1676.  Etheredge, Man of Mode, II. ii. Pert. E’ne let him go, a fair riddance.

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

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

100 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.

101 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.

102 1848.  Macaulay, Hist. Eng., II. 112. Scotland, since her sovereigns had succeeded to a fairer inheritance, had been independent only in name.

103 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.

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

105 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.

106 1398.  Trevisa, Barth. De P. R., XV. lxviii. (1495), 514. Men of Grecia were fayr and moost grete spekers.

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

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

109 1477.  Earl Rivers (Caxton), Dictes, 145. It was … translated into right good and fayr englissh.

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

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

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

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

114 1362.  Langl., P. Pl., A. II. 23. Fauuel with feir speche haþ brouȝt hem to-gedere.

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

116 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.

117 1538.  Starkey, England, II. ii. 191. By hys dyssymulatyon and fare wordys [he] was interteynyd in a long sute.

118 1568.  Grafton, Chron., II. 17. A fayre speaker, and a deepe dissembler.

119 1611.  Bible, Gal. vi. 12. Many … desire to make a faire shew in the flesh.

120 1653.  H. More, Antid. Ath., III. ix. (1712), 115. A fair Tale was made to the Pastor of the Parish.

121 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?

122 1873.  Burton, Hist. Scot., V. lvi. 125. He has fallen away from all his fair promises.

123 1875.  Jowett, Plato (ed. 2), III. 604, Timaeus. The Sophists have plenty of brave words and fair devices.

124   b.  Proverbs.

125 1471.  [see FAIN a. 1 b].

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

127 1593.  Drayton, Idea, lix. ‘Fair words make fools,’ replieth he again.

128 1676.  Wycherley, Pl. Dealer, V. iii. Fair words butter no cabbage.

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

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

131 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.

132 1554.  J. Wallis, in Songs & Ball. (Roxb., 1860), 146.        [Women are] Fearare than the flower delyce, Ruddye as the rose.

133 1604.  Shaks., Oth., I. iii. 291. Your Son-in-law is farre more Faire then Blacke.

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

135 1697.  Dryden, Virg. Pastorals, X. 58.        Tho’ Phyllis brown, tho’ black Amyntas were, Are Violets not sweet, because not fair?

136 1774.  Goldsm., Nat. Hist. (1776), II. 232. In all regions, the children are born fair, or at least red.

137 1803.  Med. Jrnl., X. 547. Persons who have the fairest skin.

138 1864.  Tennyson, Aylmer’s F., 193.        His own [face], tho’ keen and bold and soldierly, Sear’d by the close ecliptic, was not fair.

139   III.  Free from blemish or disfigurement.

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

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

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

143 1669.  J. Worlidge, Syst. Agric. (1681), 165. The fairest may be kept for Seed, as before of Carrots.

144 1671.  Eng. Rogue, IV. xi. 204. [Street cry] Fair Oranges,—Fair Lemons.

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

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

147 c. 1420.  Liber Cure Cocorum (1862), 39.        Put hit in cofyns þat bene fayre, And bake hit forthe, I þe pray.

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

149 1552.  Bk. Com. Prayer, Communion. A fayre white lynnen clothe.

150 1660.  Boyle, New Exp. Phys. Mech., xxxvi. (1682), 142. I tooke a fair Glass Siphon.

151 1703.  M. Martin, W. Islands Scot., 278. They [the bones] were fair and dry.

152 1737.  Wesley, Wks. (1872). I. 46. A paper book; all the leaves thereof were fair, except one.

153 1800.  Herschel, in Phil. Trans., XC. 529. The vanes are covered with a piece of fair white paper.

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

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

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

157 1577.  B. Googe, Heresbach’s Husb., III. (1586), 121. Most Bullockes … desire a faire cleere water.

158 1655.  Culpepper, Riverius, I. xi. 42. Fair water may suffice to wash the Feet.

159 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.

160 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.

161 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.

162 1756.  Burke, Subl. & B., III. xvii. The colours of beautiful bodies must not be dusky or muddy, but clean and fair.

163 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.

164 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.

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

166 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.

167 1709.  Hearne, Collect. (Oxf. Hist. Soc.), II. 228. A fair copy of the Statutes.

168 1828.  Colebrooke, Misc. Ess. (1873). I. 518. Let him appoint, as scribe, one … whose hand-writing is fair, etc.

169 1844.  Dickens, Mart. Chuz., l. A fair copy of his draft of the catalogue.

170   d.  Phrase. Cf. CLEAN 3 d.

171 1562.  J. Heywood, Prov. & Epigr. (1867), 64. Except hir maide shewe a fayre paire of heeles.

172 1630.  Wadsworth, Sp. Pilgr., viii. 83. Being freed out of Prison, I shewed them a faire paire of heeles.

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

174 1486.  Bk. St. Albans, D ij b. Take a tame Malarde and set hym in a fayr playn.

175 1577.  B. Googe, Heresbach’s Husb., I. (1586), 42 b. The floore must be fayre and smoothe made.

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

177 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.

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

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

180 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.

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

182 1676.  Hale, Contempt., I. 47. A quiet, serene, and fair Conscience.

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

184 1734.  Earl Oxford, in Swift’s Lett. (1768), IV. 64. This person … had the fairest and most unexceptionable character.

185 1819.  Shelley, Cenci, III. i. 293. My fair fame.

186 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.

187   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.

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

189 c. 1435.  Torrent of Portugal, 786.        He seyd, ‘Madame, were that feyer, To make an erlles sone myn eyer?’

190 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.

191 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.

192 1680.  Otway, Orphan, III. i. 811. The fair Hunter’s cheated of his Prey.

193 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.

194 1748.  Hartley, Observations on Man, I. iii. 278. Words which have the fairest Right to each Class.

195 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.

196 1816.  Bentham, Chrestomathia, 296. In that character it becomes fair game for ridicule.

197 1839.  T. Attwood, Sp. in Ho. Com., 14 June. They only ask for a fair day’s wages for a fair day’s work.

198 1848.  Macaulay, Hist. Eng., I. 567. If in the skirmish the king should fall, he would fall by fair fighting and not by murder.

199 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.

200 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.

201 1885.  Law Times, 28 March, 388/2. A fair account should be given.

202 1886.  Pall Mall G., 27 Oct., 3/2. ‘Fair houses,’ i.e. firms where the rules of the Union are followed.

203   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.

204 1711.  Puckle, The Club, 22, note. Supposing both box and dice fair, gamesters have the peep, eclipse, thumbing, &c.

205 1771.  Franklin, Autobiog., Wks. 1840, I. 60. I was now on a fair footing with them.

206 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.

207 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.

208   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.

209 1595.  Shaks., John, V. i. 67.        Shall we vpon the footing of our land, Send fayre-play-orders, and make comprimise, Insinuation, parley, and base truce To Armes Inuasive?     Ibid., V. ii. 118.   Bast.  According to the faire-play of the world, Let me haue audience.

210 1630.  R. Johnson, Relations of the Most Famous Kingdoms, etc., A ij b. Some … name him when they quote him; and thats faire play.

211 1669.  Marvell, Corr., cxxvi. Wks. 1872–5, II. 287. To give the fairest play to him, being a Member of the House.

212 1744.  Berkeley, Let. Tarwater, § 21. Give this medicine fair play.

213 1824.  Scott, Redgauntlet, xx. Fair play’s a jewel.

214 1844.  Disraeli, Coningsby, IV. v. To prevent his fine manners having their fair play.

215 1882.  C. M. Yonge, Unknown to Hist., xxxvi. Fear of the future shut his eyes to all sense of justice and fair play.

216   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.’

217 [1795.  Burke, Corr. (1844), IV. 317. The course taken by the enemy often becomes a fair rule of action.]

218 1860.  Tyndall, Glac., I. xviii. 133. Fair glacier work was now before us.

219 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.

220 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.

221 1874.  Green, Short Hist., vi. 304. Edward the Sixth, was a fair scholar in both the classical languages.

222 1875.  Hamerton, Intell. Life, X. v. 388. A person in fair health.

223 18[?].  R. Kipling, Among the Railway Folk, i. A fair number of old soldiers.

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

225 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.

226   IV.  Favorable; benign; unobstructed.

227   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.’

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

229 c. 1450.  Life of St. Cuthbert (Surtees), 1077.        His seruands on a day fayre Bare him with oute to take þe ayre.

230 1535.  Coverdale, Ecclus. iii. 15. Thy synnes also shall melt awaye, like as the yse in ye fayre warme wether.

231 1611.  Bible, Matt. xvi. 2. It will bee faire weather: for the skie is red.

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

233 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.

234 1781.  Cowper, Anti-Thelyphthora, 71.          ’Twas on the noon of an autumnal day, October hight, mild and fair as May.

235 1867.  Ouida, C. Castlemaine (1879), 6. The morning was fair and cloudless.

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

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

238 1523.  Ld. Berners, Froiss., I. cclxv. 392. It was faire day or he coude get into the right waye.

239 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.

240 1605.  Shaks., Lear, IV. vii. 52. Where am I? Faire day light?

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

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

243 1598.  Marston, Sco. Villanie, I. 139.        Ixion makes faire weather vnto Ioue, That he might make foule work with his faire loue.

244 1625.  Bacon, Ess., Friendship (Arb.), 173. Frendship maketh indeed a faire Day in the Affections, from Storme and Tempests.

245 1687.  R. L’Estrange, Answ. Diss., 5. The Roman Catholiques are making Fair Weather with the Dissenters.

246 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.

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

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

249 1593.  Shaks., Rich. II., II. ii. 123. The wind sits fair for news to go to Ireland.

250 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.

251 1790.  Beatson, Nav. & Mil. Mem., 374. To proceed … with the first fair wind.

252 1879.  J. Beerbohm, Wanderings in Patagonia, 1. At last we got a fair wind, however, which soon brought us close to our destination.

253   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).

254 1375.  Barbour, Bruce, XVII. 837.        To se quhethir fayr war him till To ly about the toun all still.

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

256 1550.  H. Llwyd, The Treasury of Health (1585), 8. Ther is no better … nor no fayrer cure.

257 1588.  Shaks., Loves Labour’s Lost, IV. i. 10.          For.  Hereby vpon the edge of yonder Coppice, A Stand where you may make the fairest shoote.     Ibid. (1596), Merch. V., II. i. 20. Your selfe (renowned Prince) than stood as faire As any commer I have look’d on yet For my affection.

258 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.

259 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.

260 1642.  Rogers, Naaman, 11. Many more … who might seeme faire for it [the grace of Cod].

261 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.

262 1669.  Baxter, Call to Unconverted, IV. How fair you are for everlasting salvation.

263 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.

264 1678.  Bunyan, Pilgr., I. 29. I once was, as I thought, fair for the Cœlestial City.

265 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.

266 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.

267 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.

268 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.

269 1848.  Macaulay, Hist. Eng., II. 551. A fair prospect of reaching their destination.

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

271 1548.  Hall, Chron., 76 b. A famous victory and a faire daie.

272 1550.  Crowley, Way to Wealth, 602. The Egiptians thought to haue had a faire day at them.

273 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.

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

275 1375.  Barbour, Bruce, X. 77.                        Thair ennymyes Had all the fayrer off the fycht.

276 c. 1400.  Destr. Troy, 6882.        Þe troiens to þis tyme tyd ay þe bettur, And þe fairer of þe fyght in þe feld had.     Ibid., 7990. If it falle me by fortune the feirer to haue.

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

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

279 1340–70.  Alexander and Dindimus, 45.        Þat he wolde fare wiþ his folk · in a faire wise To bi-holden here hom · & non harm wirke.

280 1548.  Hall, Chron., 176. Determining either by force or fayre meanes, to bring their purpose to a conclusion.

281 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.

282 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.

283 1671.  Milton, Samson Agonistes, 688.        Not only dost degrade them, or remit To life obscur’d, which were a fair dismission.

284 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.

285 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.

286 1704.  J. Logan, in Pa. Hist. Soc. Mem., IX. 292. I have used both fair and foul words.

287 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.

288   16.  Free from obstacles; unobstructed, open.

289 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.

290 1603.  Knolles, Hist. Turks (1621), 69. A faire breach for the Christians to enter.

291 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.

292 1665.  Boyle, Occasional Reflections, Table of Contents. His horse stumbling in a very fair way.

293 1670.  Narborough, Jrnl., in Acc. Sev. Late Voy., I. (1711), 79. Be careful to keep the South-shore in fair view.

294 1682.  Bunyan, Holy War, v. They made a fair retreat.

295 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.

296 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.

297 1816.  J. Wilson, The City of the Plague, III. iv.          1st Man.  Keep back, my friends—so that each man may have A fair view of the pit.

298 1845.  R. Ford, Handbk. Spain, I. 12. The fairest though farthest way about is the nearest way home.

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

300 1577.  B. Googe, Heresbach’s Husb., IV. (1586), 157 b. The white … are alwaies the fairest marke in a Hawke, or a Bussardes eie.

301 1633.  P. Fletcher, Purple Isl., v. Fair on the face [God] wrote the index of the mind.

302 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.

303 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.

304 1847.  Tennyson, The Princess, II. 305.        And all her thoughts as fair within her eyes As bottom agates, seen to wave and float In crystal currents of clear morning seas.

305 1877.  N. W. Linc. Gloss. s.v. ‘Lincoln Minster ’s fair to see fra Barton field.’

306   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.

307 1875.  Longf., Pandora, VI.        Yon snow-white cloud that sails sublime in ether Is but the sovereign Zeus, who like a swan Flies to *fair-ankled Leda!

308 1830.  Brewster, Edin. Cycl., VII. I. 49/2. The *fair born children of Negroes.

309 1870.  Bryant, Iliad, I. I. 9.                Let the *fair-cheeked maid Embark, Chryseis.

310 1757.  Dyer, Fleece, III. 153.          What need we name the sev’ral kinds of loom? Those delicate, to whose *fair-colour’d threads Hang figure’d weights, whose various numbers guide The artist’s hand.

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

312 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.

313 1634.  Laud, Wks. (1860), VII. 92. I doubt not but your Lordship will find him a very honest, *fair-conditioned man.

314 1591.  Greene, Maidens Dreame, xi. *Fair-ey’d pity in his heart did dwell.

315 1630.  Drayton, Muses Elysium, Noah’s Flood, 270. The bull … to the ark brings on the fair-ey’d cow.

316 a. 1845.  Hood, Lamia, v. 30.                        Alas! I thought This fair-eyed day would never see you from me!

317 1850.  Mrs. Browning, Poems, II. 30.        ‘O *fair-featured maids, ye are many!’ ‘But, in fairness and vileness, who matcheth the bride!

318 1847.  G. P. R. James, The Convict, iv. I was once as prosperous and as *fair-fortuned as himself.

319 1830.  Tennyson, Clear-headed Friend, 12. *Fair-fronted Truth shall droop not now.

320 1777.  R. Potter, Æschylus’ The Supplicants, 324. Pel. Does Jove approach her in this *fair-horned state?

321 1632.  Massinger & Field, The Fatal Dowry, IV. i.                I … pick my choice Of all their *fair-maned mares.

322 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.

323 1853.  Lynch, Self-Improv., iv. 96. There is discipline for temper and *fair-mindedness.

324 1634.  Ford, P. Warbeck, V. ii. Young Buckingham is a *fair-natured prince.

325 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.

326 1795.  J. Fawcett, The Art of War, 4.        Styl’d Noble Science! in the number rank’d Of *fair-reputed callings.

327 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.

328 1827.  G. Higgins, Celtic Druids, 98. The *fair-skinned tribe of martial Germans.

329 1820.  Keats, Lamia, II. 271.        ‘Begone, foul dream!’ he cry’d, gazing again In the bride’s face, where now no azure vein Wander’d on *fair-spac’d temples.

330 1567.  Drant, Horace’ Epist., II. i. G iv. This *fayre, speachde queare through learned prayer waters frome high doth call.

331 1805.  T. Holcroft, Mem. B. Perdue, I. 16. Fair-speeched gentlemen as they are.

332 1843.  Faber, Styrian Lake, 345. He is a *fair-tongued knight.

333 1870.  Bryant, Iliad, I. IX. 288.        My father,—angry with me for the sake Of a *fair-tressed wanton, whom he loved.

334 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.

335 1630.  R. Johnson, Relations of the Most Famous Kingdoms, etc., 642. The Country [Brazil] … is … *faire weathered.

336 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.

337 1725.  Pope, Odyss., XXIII. 142. *Fair-zon’d damsels form the sprightly dance.

338   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.).

339 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.

340 1775.  Ash, *Fair-curve [printed fair-carve].

341 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.

342 1816.  Scott, Old Mort., v. ‘Hegh, sirs, sae *fair-fashioned as we are!’

343 1823.  Eliza Logan, St. Johnstoun, II. 195. ‘Ye are aye sae fair-fashioned … there’s scarce ony saying again’ ye.’

344 1614.  Markham, Cheap Husb., 6. Observe in any wise to have them [mares] *fayre-handed, that is, good head, necke, breast, and shoulders.

345 1728–46.  Thomson, Spring, 525.        Along these blushing Borders, bright with Dew, And in yon mingled Wilderness of Flowers, Fair-handed Spring unbosoms every Grace.

346 1886.  S. W. Linc. Gloss. *Fair-walling, the level, smoothly-built masonry or brickwork above the roughly-built foundations.

347 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.

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

349   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.

350   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.

351 1393.  Langl., P. Pl., C. X. 85. To turne þe fayre outwarde.

352 1423.  James I., The Kingis Quair, cxc.        Thankit mot be, and fair and lufe befall The nychtingale.

353 1456.  How the Wise Man Taught His Son, 151, in Hazl., E. P. P. (1864), 175.        [Be] soft and fayre men make tame Hert and buk and wylde roo.

354 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.

355 1592.  Shaks., Rom. & Jul., I. iii. 90.        The fish liues in the sea, and ’tis much pride For faire without, the faire within to hide.     Ibid. (1611), Cymb., I. vi. 37.                 Can we not Partition make, with spectacles so precious, ’Twixt faire, and foule?

356 1749.  Fielding, Tom Jones, XV. x. Nothing short of the fair and honourable, will satisfy the delicacy of their minds.

357 1864.  Tennyson, Enoch Arden, 529.        Then after a long tumble about the Cape And frequent interchange of foul and fair.

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

359 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.

360 1891.  Daily News, 11 Mar, 5/2. The police … came up to see fair between both sides.

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

362 1423.  James I., Kingis Q., lxvi.                That faire vpward hir eye Wold cast amang.

363 c. 1489.  Caxton, Blanchardyn and Eglantine, xxiv. 84. The fayer þe proude pucell.

364 1590.  Shaks., Mids. N., I. i. 182.        Demetrius loues you faire: O happie faire! Your eyes are loadstarres.

365 1638.  Ford, Lady’s Trial, III. i.        Pish, man! the best, though call ’em ladies, madams, Fairs, fines, and honies, are but flesh and blood.

366 1647.  Crashaw, Poems, 146.        Say, ling’ring Fair! why comes the birth Of your brave soul so slowly forth?

367 1747.  Gentl. Mag., April (Ld. Lovat’s Execution). No fair forgets the ruin he has done.

368 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.

369 1876.  Blackie, Songs Relig. & Life, 169, ‘Moments.’        When some prouder fair hath humbled Thy proud passion with a frown.

370   transf.  1697.  Dryden, Virg. Georg., III. 202.        Instructed thus, produce him to the Fair; And join in Wedlock to the longing Mare.

371   † 3.  A person with a fair complexion.

372 1771.  T. Hull, Hist. Sir W. Harrington (1797), III. 1. One is a fair, the other a brunet.

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

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

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

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

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

378 1590.  Shaks., Com. Err., II. i. 98.                    My decayed faire, A sunnie looke of his, would soone repaire.

379 1599.  Marston, Sco. Villanie, II. vii. 207.        The greene meades, whose natiue outward faire Breathes sweet perfumes into the neighbour air.

380 1633.  P. Fletcher, Elisa, ii.        His weeping spouse Eliza, life neglecting, And all her beauteous fairs with grief infecting.

381   † b.  Comb.

382 1622.  Drayton, Poly-olb., Song xxviii. 388.        Shee Beuerley salutes, whose beauties so delight The fayre-enamoured Flood, as rauisht with the sight.

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