Dictionary

fairy dart en · NOUN

Meanings

1. A prehistoric stone arrowhead; an elf arrow.
   • Hence, by having a fairy dart in your possession, you can defy the fairies, or can even turn them from active enemies into powerful friends and personal patrons. This curious property makes the stone arrowhead a most valuable charm ... 1886, Longman's Magazine, page 194:
   • The shape is believed to have been derived from its being originally the mounting of an elf-shot or fairy dart, i.e. flint arrowhead. An old man in Kincardineshire […] 1969, Joseph Jacobs, Alfred Trübner Nutt, Arthur Robinson Wright, William Crooke, Folklore:
   • Cattle are shot with stones and can only be cured by a "fairy dart" or ancient stone arrowhead. These objects are kept in numerous wrappings by every properly qualified "fairy doctor," who rub[s] them on the sick beasts with appropriate charms ... 1918, Folklore Society (Great Britain), Publications:

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