Dictionary

fairish en · ADJ

Etymology

From fair + -ish.

Meanings

1. (not-comparable) Of moderate quality, size, etc.
   • Altogether we got a fairish lot of skins of one kind and another . 1873, Cupples Howe, The Deserted Ship, page 36:
   • Lord bless you, I know all the breeders about here; they are not a bad set, and they breed a very fairish set of horses, but they are not like what their fathers were, nor are their horses like their fathers' horses. 2019, George Borrow, Theodore Watts-Dunton, The Romany Rye:
   • Andrew pays all the farm expenses, but the housekeeping accounts fall to me. I make a fairish amount of pin money on my poultry and some of my preserves that I send to Boston, […] 1917, Christopher Morley, chapter 3, in Parnassus on Wheels, New York, N.Y.: Grosset & Dunlap Publishers, →OCLC, page 26:
   • At the same time, I have tried to stand back and describe objectively why and how, in the then Foreign Secretary Douglas Hurds words, it turned out to be a "fairish nightmare"—a nightmare for which most principals involved, including myself, bear some responsibility. 2013, Tim Lankester, The Politics and Economics of Britain's Foreign Aid, page 139:
   • Then I went and fetched him; though I had the deuce of a bother making the coppers believe that he was my brother—you see he was in a fairish mess, but he did look like a gentleman, which is more than I do nowadays. 1915, Elinor Mordaunt, The Family, page 308:
   • "I did pretty fairish," replied Benjamin, modestly 1872, Edward Peacock, Mabel Heron, page 220:
   • 'It seems you'll find a fairish mess out in Austria,' said Basil. 1921, David Herbert Lawrence, The Ladybird:
   • For those who aspire to do the highest and most difficult work, all this may be necessary; but for those who would like to experiment in the art, and who with to turn out fairish work and get results good enough for ordinary purposes, a much cheaper and simpler apparatus will answer. 1891, J. G. P. Vereker, “Freehand Drawing and Photography”, in Journal of Microscopy and Natural Science, page 228:
2. (not-comparable) In reasonable health and spirits, but not great.
   • " How are you, Mudge – all right?" "Fairish much obliged to you for lugging me home. My man told me." 1911, Marjorie Benton Cooke, Dr. David, page 33:
   • Lord Loam (To Tompsett, as they partake of tea together): And how are all at home? Tompsett: Fairish, my lord, 1902, James M. Barrie, The Admirable Crichton:
   • While feeling "fairish," she had lost her appetite again; was being fed liver extract. 1935, Journal of the Outdoor Life - Volume 32, page 11:
3. (not-comparable) Of reasonable fairness; even-handed or equitable, but probably not as good as one wants.
   • 'It's a. fairish price, ' he said grudgingly. 2015, Robert Fabbri, Rome's Lost Son:
   • I had a fairish contract, and though the mail was a heavy one, I was able to manage it by riding one horse and leading a packer. 2022, Rolf Boldrewood, In Bad Company, and other stories:
   • This was a. fairish judgement, he thought, if hard.· 1977, Stanley Middleton, Ends and Means, page 224:
4. (not-comparable, of weather) Mostly mild and clement.
   • Fairish all day but clouded all over at 6 p.m. 1909 July 1, “The Weather”, in Journal of Agriculture and Horticulture, volume 13, number 1, page 45:
   • Weather forecasts were good again and the chances of arriving at Maddon's Rock in fairish weather looked reasonably bright . 2013, Hammond Innes, Maddon's Rock:
   • "Well, well," he went on slowly, "a fairish day–a bit frost coming. Nelse says there'll be snow up the Lake diveesion, late as it is." 1910, Charles Tenney Jackson, My Brother's Keeper, page 273:
   • Morn fairish, after cloudy and rainy appearance . 1972, Samuel Curwen, Andrew Oliver, The Journal of Samuel Curwen, Loyalist, page 833:
5. (not-comparable, of hair or skin) Somewhat fair or light-colored.
   • Suetonius describes Augustus with leviter inflexum et subflavum 'wavy and fairish' hair (Divus Augustus 79), which, coupled with his bright eyes and medium complexion , perhaps awards him the bravery of a lion (Evans 1935: 65–6; 1969:53-4; Gascou 1984:603). 2001, John V. Day, Indo-European Origins: The Anthropological Evidence, page 124:
   • Of middling height, with fairish skin and raven dark curls peeking from beneath a stylish bonnet. 2004, Leslie Lafoy, The Perfect Temptation:
   • One, I'm pretty sure, is Edward Monkford. The same fairish curls framing a lean, ascetic face as in a photo I found on the internet; the same black cashmere pullover and white open-necked shirt. 2017, JP Delaney, The Girl Before:

Deriveds

fairishly

fairish en · NOUN

Etymology

From fair + -ish.

Meanings

1. (dialectal) A fairy.
   • Years back, the housekeeper says, her mother encounted the "last fairish" that ever was seen in the hollow. 2009, Anita Rose, Gender and Victorian Reform, page 211:
   • In this tongue she sang the children ballads and told them tales of the 'fairish' (fairies) which lived in the Bottom before machinery drove them away, stories of the graves under the rectory back-kitchen, 'of witches running red-hot needles into human flesh.' 1928, Romer Wilson, All Alone: The Life and Private History of Emily Jane Brontë, page 65:
   • In the glory days of the royal fairish clan, members of the royal fairish family were given the special task of travelling to Felanthiam and caring for their mother star. 2018, Tephra Miriam, Escape to Clown Town, page 31:
   • Next day, Kathy took the potato her mother gave her, and gnawing it all to the heart, she set out upon her search for the fairish, munching at the half-raw core as she went her way. She found the fairish waiting by the bog, with her lap full of berries, and some mealy roots, like sweet, boiled radishes. 1855, Harriet Farley, Happy Hours at Hazel Nook, Or, Cottage Stories, page 220:
   • This tale opens in "that part of merry England called Derbyshire" (3); when the foundling character, Sydney, is introduced in a British garden, he is immediately associated with fairies or the "fairish” (4). 2016, Abigail Heiniger, Jane Eyre's Fairytale Legacy at Home and Abroad, page 38:
   • ' Fairishes! Oh Lard!' she vociferated. 'Fairishes! Don't look at dem, your honour - oh, don't! As sure as you live you'll break your leg inside of a week if you looks dat em.' 1887, May Laffan, Ismay's Children, page 328:

Forms