fairing
Syllables: fair·ingUK/ˈfɛəɹɪŋ/US/ˈfɛɹɪŋ/
fairing noun: a gift or other souvenir bought at a fair. Also the present participle and gerund of fair.
Noun (1)
fairing (plural fairings)
- A gift or other souvenir bought at a fair.
- She told me she was on her way to the fair in Bolzano and assumed I was going there too. Should we meet there, I must buy her a fairing [translating Jahrmarkt].1962, JW Goethe, translated by WH Auden and Elizabeth Mayer, Italian Journey, Penguin, published 1970, page 28
- A present, especially given by a lover.
- Something that is deserved; one's deserts.
- A type of small gingerbread biscuit; a ginger nut.
- […] the ground […] was already being occupied by the “cheap Jacks,” with their green-covered carts and marvellous assortment of wares; and the booths of more legitimate small traders, with their tempting arrays of fairings and eatables; and penny peep-shows and other shows, containing pink-eyed...1857, Thomas Hughes, Tom Brown's School Days, Part I, Chapter 2
Noun (2)
fairing (plural fairings)
- A covering on various parts of a vehicle, for example an aircraft, automobile, or motorcycle, that streamlines it (i.e., produces a smooth exterior and reduces drag).
- The fairing over the driving motion of this engine, and of the 4-6-2s, was removed subsequently, to give greater accessibility to the working parts.1950 October, H. C. Casserley, “Locomotive Cavalcade, 1920-1950—4”, in Railway Magazine, page 660
- To improve the appearance of the stepped roof a glass-fibre fairing, moulded to the corner radius, extends for the full length between the two cabs.1960 February, “High-Voltage Electric Locomotive for British Railways”, in Railway Magazine, page 123
Also used as
fairing is also the present participle and gerund of fair.
Forms of fairing
| plural | fairings |
|---|
Origin of fairing
From fair (“community gathering, market”). In the sense of food, because cakes and sweets were sold at fairs.
From fair (“to smoothen or even a surface”).
Words formed from fairing
Phrases with fairing
Words that rhyme with fairing
Questions about fairing
- What does fairing mean?
- Fairing means a gift or other souvenir bought at a fair.
- What part of speech is fairing?
- Fairing is a noun.
- How do you pronounce fairing?
- Fairing is pronounced /ˈfɛɹɪŋ/ (US).
- What is the plural of fairing?
- The plural of fairing is fairings.
Words near fairing in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: fairing (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
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Cite this entry: “fairing.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/fairing. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.