fairish

fairish adjective: of moderate quality, size, etc.

Adjective

fairish (not comparable)

Of moderate quality, size, etc.
- 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
- 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
In reasonable health and spirits, but not great.
- 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
- " 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
Of reasonable fairness; even-handed or equitable, but probably not as good as one wants.
- This was a. fairish judgement, he thought, if hard.·1977, Stanley Middleton, Ends and Means, page 224
- 'It's a. fairish price, ' he said grudgingly.2015, Robert Fabbri, Rome's Lost Son
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
- "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
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

Noun

fairish (plural fairishes or fairish)

(dialectal) A fairy.
- 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...1855, Harriet Farley, Happy Hours at Hazel Nook, Or, Cottage Stories, page 220
- ' 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

Examples of fairish in a sentence

'It seems you'll find a fairish mess out in Austria,' said Basil.1921, David Herbert Lawrence, The Ladybird:
"I did pretty fairish," replied Benjamin, modestly1872, Edward Peacock, Mabel Heron, page 220:
Altogether we got a fairish lot of skins of one kind and another .1873, Cupples Howe, The Deserted Ship, page 36:
While feeling "fairish," she had lost her appetite again; was being fed liver extract.1935, Journal of the Outdoor Life - Volume 32, page 11:

Forms of fairish

plural	fairishes
plural	fairish

Origin of fairish

From fair + -ish.

Words formed from fairish

fairishly

Questions about fairish

What does fairish mean?: Fairish means of moderate quality, size, etc.
How do you use fairish in a sentence?: 'It seems you'll find a fairish mess out in Austria,' said Basil.
What part of speech is fairish?: Fairish can be an adjective or a noun.

Words near fairish in the dictionary

Adapted from Wiktionary: fairish (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.

Last updated: 2026-09-02

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