fairing

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See also: faring

English[edit]

Pronunciation[edit]

Etymology 1[edit]

From fair (community gathering, market). In the sense of food, because cakes and sweets were sold at fairs.

Noun[edit]

fairing (plural fairings)

  1. (now archaic) A gift or other souvenir bought at a fair. [from 16th c.]
    • 1962, JW Goethe, translated by WH Auden and Elizabeth Mayer, Italian Journey, Penguin, published 1970, page 28:
      She told me she was on her way to the fair in Bolzano and assumed I was going there too. Should we meet there, I must buy her a fairing [translating Jahrmarkt].
  2. (now rare) A present, especially given by a lover. [from 16th c.]
  3. (Scotland, Ireland, now rare) Something that is deserved; one's deserts. [from 18th c.]
  4. A type of small gingerbread biscuit; a ginger nut. [from 19th c.]
    • 1857, Thomas Hughes, Tom Brown's School Days[1], Part I, Chapter 2:
      [] the ground [] was already being occupied by the “cheap Jacks,” with their green-covered carts and marvellous assortment of wares; and the booths of more legitimate small traders, with their tempting arrays of fairings and eatables; and penny peep-shows and other shows, containing pink-eyed ladies, and dwarfs, and boa-constrictors, and wild Indians.
Derived terms[edit]

Etymology 2[edit]

From fair (to smoothen or even a surface).

Verb[edit]

fairing

  1. present participle and gerund of fair

Noun[edit]

fairing (plural fairings)

  1. A structure on various parts of a vehicle, for example an aircraft, automobile, or motorcycle, that produces a smooth exterior and reduces drag. [from 20th c.]
    • 1950 October, H. C. Casserley, “Locomotive Cavalcade, 1920-1950—4”, in Railway Magazine, page 660:
      The fairing over the driving motion of this engine, and of the 4-6-2s, was removed subsequently, to give greater accessibility to the working parts.
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