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Words, grammatical forms and meanings linked to the ontology.

fair and square en · ADJ

Pronunciation

Meanings

  1. (not-comparable) Unquestionably fair.
    • It was a fair and square deal. We won. And we won in the Senate. And it's in the bill. And I didn't think we could beat them, but we did. 1995, Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States, page 1436:
    • “[…] I always liked you Joe, and stood up for you, too. Don’t you remember? You won’t tell, will you Joe?” And the poor creature dropped on his knees before the stolid murderer, and clasped his appealing hands. / “No, you’ve always been fair and square with me, Muff Potter, and I won’t go back on you.—There, now, that’s as fair as a man can say.” 1876, Mark Twain [pseudonym; Samuel Langhorne Clemens], chapter IX, in The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, Hartford, Conn.: The American Publishing Company, →OCLC, pages 91–92:

Relateds

fairly and squarely

fair and square en · ADV

Pronunciation

Meanings

  1. Totally fairly and undoubtedly.
    • We won the game fair and square.
  2. Within the applicable rules.
    • He said they give licenses now to steal — steal folks'es senses away, and then they would steal every thing else, and murder, and tear round into every kind of wickedness. But he didn't ask that. He wanted things done fair and square: he jest wanted to steal horses. He was goin' West, and he thought he could do a good business, and lay up something. If he had a license, he shouldn't be afraid of bein' shot up, or shot. 1885, Marietta Holley, Sweet Cicely; or, Josiah Allen as a politician, page 177:
    • For the "Most Accurate Assessment of an International Situation" the unanimous winner is the Republican U.S. Senate hopeful from California, S.E. Hayakawa. He said, "Of course we should keep the Panama Canal, we stole it fair and square." 1976 October 28, Charlie Waters, quoting S. I. Hayakawa, “First biennial Harold Stassen Awards”, in The Prescott Courier:
    • They had crawled in and staked the land and stood ready to shoot those of us who came in, fair and square, in the Run. 1930, Edna Ferber, Cimarron, page 23:
  3. In all fairness; equitably.
    • "Have it out with him to-night. Fair and square. Out he goes, Edmund, neck and crop. Out, by thunder." 1938, Norman Lindsay, Age of Consent, 1st Australian edition, Sydney, N.S.W.: Ure Smith, published 1962, →OCLC, page 76:

Forms

SpellingFeaturesLabelsSource
more fair and square Degree=Cmp lexicographic
most fair and square Degree=Sup lexicographic

Translations (18)

cmn 光明正大地 (within the applicable rules) · es en buena lid (fairly and undoubtedly) · es con todas las de la ley (within the applicable rules) · ja 堂々と (fairly and undoubtedly) · fr à la loyale (fairly and undoubtedly) · ja 不正なく (within the applicable rules) · fi reilusti ja selvästi (fairly and undoubtedly) · fr à la loyale (within the applicable rules) · es justamente (within the applicable rules) · fr à la régulière (within the applicable rules) · fi sääntöjen puitteissa (within the applicable rules) · pt justissimamente (within the applicable rules) · pt de forma justa (fairly and undoubtedly) · ja 公明正大 (fairly and undoubtedly) · fr à la régulière (fairly and undoubtedly) · sv rätt och riktig (fairly and undoubtedly) · sv rätt och riktig (within the applicable rules) · cmn 光明正大地 (fairly and undoubtedly)