Also 6 in Fr. form fée, 8 faye, pl. 7 faies. [ad. OF. fae, faie (Fr. fée) = Pr. and Pg. fada, Sp. hada, It. fata:—Com. Rom. fāta fem. sing., f. L. fāta the Fates, pl. of fātum FATE.] = FAIRY 4.
1393. Gower, Conf., I. 193. My wife Constance is fay.
[a. 1533. Ld. Berners, Huon, cxliv. 536. The noble quene Morgan le faye.]
1570. B. Googe, Pop. Kingd., II. (1880), 15 a.
| As pleaseth him that fightes with Fées, and giues them golde at will; | |
| Such pregnaunt witte haue Doctors there, and such the Proctors skill. |
1633. B. Jonson, Tale Tub, II. i.
| To shew your pomp, you’d have your daughters and maids | |
| Dance o’er the fields like faies to church, this frost? |
1746. Collins, Dirge in Cymbeline, Poems (1771), 97.
| The female fays shall haunt the green, | |
| And dress thy grave with pearly dew! |
a. 1839. Praed, Poems (1864), I. 177, ‘The Bridal of Belmont.’
| Be she a Fiend, or be she a Fay, | |
| She shall be Otto’s bride to-day. |
1873. G. C. Davies, Mount. & Mere, xiv. 113. Which needed but little imagination to transfer them into fays and water sprites emerging for their nightly gambols.
