fairing
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See also: faring
English
Pronunciation
- (General American) IPA(key): /ˈfɛɹɪŋ/
- (Received Pronunciation) IPA(key): /ˈfɛəɹɪŋ/
- Homophone: faring
- Rhymes: -ɛəɹɪŋ
- Hyphenation: fair‧ing
Etymology 1
From fair (“community gathering, market”). In the sense of food, because cakes and sweets were sold at fairs.
Noun
fairing (plural fairings)
- (now archaic) A gift or other souvenir bought at a fair.
- 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].
- (now rare) A present, especially given by a lover.
- (Scotland, Ireland, now rare) Something that is deserved; one's deserts.
- A type of small gingerbread biscuit; a ginger nut.
- 1857, Thomas Hughes, Tom Brown's School Days, 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
Etymology 2
From fair (“to smoothen or even a surface”).
Verb
fairing
- present participle and gerund of fair
Noun
fairing (plural fairings)
- A covering on various parts of a vehicle, for example an aircraft, automobile, or motorcycle, that streamlines it (i.e., produces a smooth exterior and reduces drag).
- 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.
Translations
aircraft fairing
See also
References
- “fairing”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.
- James A. H. Murray et al., editors (1884–1928), “Fairing”, in A New English Dictionary on Historical Principles (Oxford English Dictionary), volume IV (F–G), London: Clarendon Press, →OCLC, page 29, column 1.