fairy floss

See also: fairyfloss

English

Alternative forms

• fairyfloss

Etymology

From fairy + floss. First attested in the 1850s.

Pronunciation

• Audio (Australia):

  (file)

Noun

fairy floss (uncountable)

2. (Australia) Synonym of cotton candy.
   • 1961, Xavier Herbert, Soldiers' Women, Netley, SA: Fontana Books, published 1978, page 74:

     Disconsolately they shot the water-chute, swung on the swings, ate fairy floss from the booth like nostalgic exiles from fairyland.

   • 2009, Rex Ellis, “Cocklebiddy, the Sydney Show and Kybo Station: Go with the Flow” (chapter 3), in Go with the Flow, Kent Town, South Australia: Wakefield Press, →ISBN, page 25:

     The girls were already bagging fairy floss, and stockpiling it as fast as they could.

   • 2005, Liane Moriarty, The Last Anniversary, →ISBN, page 282:

     Sophie hands an impatient child a stick of fairy floss and sees Grace walk by, pushing the baby in his stroller.

   • 2011, Jacqueline Delaney, Professor Yish Kabibble in the Curse of the Scruttles, Trafford Publishing, →ISBN, →LCCN, page 22:

     Sergeant Snottle pulled out from under his long black chest plate a piece of pink and blue fairy floss.

Derived terms

• Persian fairy floss

Translations

cotton candy — see cotton candy

Further reading

• “fairy floss”, in Cambridge English Dictionary, Cambridge, Cambridgeshire: Cambridge University Press, 1999–present.
• “fairyfloss”, in Collins English Dictionary, 2011–present.
• “fairy floss”, in Dictionary.com Unabridged, Dictionary.com, LLC, 1995–present.
• “fairy floss”, in Merriam-Webster.com Online Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster, 1996–present.
• “fairy floss, n.”, in OED Online ⁠, Oxford: Oxford University Press, launched 2000.
• “fairy floss”, in OneLook Dictionary Search.