Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun A tiny, mischievous, imaginary being; a fairy.
  • noun The land or realm of the fairies.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun Archaic forms of fairy: as, Spenser's Faery (or Faerie) Queene.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun Archaic spelling of fairy.
  • noun Realm of the fays, fairyland.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun a small being, human in form, playful and having magical powers
  • noun the enchanted realm of fairies

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Middle English faierie, fairie; see fairy.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Old French faerie; re-introduced into English in deliberately archaising spelling in 1590 by Edmund Spenser in authoring the Faerie Queene.

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Examples

  • Anne's simple definition is that a faerie is a small manifestation of spirit from an alternate level of existence.

    Faeries Send a Message/Moneymakers Send One Too Anne Johnson 2009

  • Anne's simple definition is that a faerie is a small manifestation of spirit from an alternate level of existence.

    Archive 2009-02-01 Anne Johnson 2009

  • The fay lived in groups called the faerie, between the heavenly and earthly realms.

    Excerpt: The Stolen Child by Keith Donohue 2006

  • Without the mystery of what men call faerie, the world loses its depth.

    Greenmantle De Lint, Charles, 1951- 1985

  • This is the true definition of "faerie" lands and is the first sign of real mental development in the child when he is no longer content with the stories of his own little deeds and experiences, when his ear begins to appreciate sounds different from the words in his own everyday language, and when he begins to separate his own personality from the action of the story.

    The Art of the Story-Teller 1915

  • Truly, my feet trod a path of "faerie," carpeted with soft mosses, a path winding along beside a river of shadows on whose dark tide stars were floating.

    My Lady Caprice Jeffery Farnol 1915

  • This is the true definition of "faerie" lands and is the first sign of real mental development in the child when he is no longer content with the stories of his own little deeds and experiences, when his ear begins to appreciate sounds different from the words in his own everyday language, and when he begins to separate his own personality from the action of the story.

    The Art of the Story-Teller Marie L. Shedlock 1894

  • The true meaning of the word "faerie" is spiritual, but many stories masquerade under that title which have no claim to it.

    The Story Hour Kate Douglas Smith Wiggin 1889

  • This time we have the landscape of the night, the glamour of moon and stars, -- pictures half real and half unreal, mystic imaginings, fancies, dreams, and the enchantment of "faerie," and throughout the unanswered cry, the eternal "Wherefore" of destiny.

    The Poems of Emma Lazarus, Volume 1 Emma Lazarus 1868

  • This time we have the landscape of the night, the glamour of moon and stars, -- pictures half real and half unreal, mystic imaginings, fancies, dreams, and the enchantment of "faerie," and throughout the unanswered cry, the eternal "Wherefore" of destiny.

    The Poems of Emma Lazarus, Volume 2 Jewish poems: Translations Emma Lazarus 1868

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