Forms: α. 1 fæȝrian, 2 feiren, 4 fairen, 5 fayre, 7– fair; β. 4 vayren. Also, see Y-FAIR. [ME. feiren, OE. fæʓrian, f. fæʓer, FAIR. In later use directly f. FAIR a.]
† 1. intr. To appear or become fair or clean.
a. 1000. Seafarer, 48 (Gr.). Bearwas blostmum nimað, byriʓ fæʓiað.
c. 1300. K. Alis., 2903.
| Mury hit is in sonne-risyng! | |
| The rose openith and unspryng; | |
| Weyes fairith, the clayes clyng. |
1340. Ayenb., 95. Þis trau greneþ and uayreþ be his uirtue.
b. Of the weather: To clear. rare exc. dial.
1842. Mrs. Carlyle, Lett., I. 182. We are to go, if it fairs, to take tea at a show place called The Priory.
1868. Times, 16 Sept., 9. The weather faired by mid-day.
1891. Miss Dowie, Girl in Karp., 148. When it rained he turned the furry side out … when it faired, he … reversed it.
† 2. trans. To make fair; to make clean or goodlooking; to beautify. Obs.
c. 1175. Lamb. Hom., 53. Þus heo doð for to feiren heom seluen.
c. 1320. Cast. Love, 874.
| Þe rihtwys sone … | |
| fairede hir more a þousend folde. |
1340. Ayenb., 233. Þise zix leues beuore yzed uayreþ moche þe lylye of maydenhod.
a. 1450. Knt. de la Tour (1868), 69–70. Faire doughtres, takithe ensaumple, and holde it in youre herte that ye putte no thinge to poppe, painte, and fayre youre uisages the whiche is made after Goddes ymage, other wise thanne your creatoure and nature hathe ordeined.
c. 1600. Shaks., Sonnet cxxvii.
| For since each hand put on nature’s power, | |
| Fairing the foul with art’s false borrow’d face, | |
| Sweet beauty hath no name, no holy bower, | |
| But is profaned, if not lives in disgrace. |
3. Ship-building. To make fair or level; to ascertain the correctness of curvature in the various parts of a ship. Also, to fit the beams, plates, etc., according to the curvature.
1867. in Smyth, Sailor’s Word-bk.
1869. Sir E. J. Reed, Shipbuild., viii. 154. In many yards the ship is faired by means of ribands and cross-spalls only before the beams are fitted.
1879. Cassell’s Techn. Educ., IV. 208/1. The main argument advanced in favour of the plan of raising the frame angle-irons separately is that they can then be faired with ease, whereas when riveted to the reversed bars, floor-plates, and beams it is most difficult to adjust them.
