Word Origin Atlas

Exact historical dictionary sense

Fair in Webster's 1913 dictionary

The 1913 record labels fair as noun. Its source-bounded etymology and selected historical definition appear below.

WEBSTER 1913noun
Fair

[OE. feire, OF. feire, F. foire, fr. L. fariae, pl., days of rest, holidays, festivals, akin to festus festal. See Feast.]

Cross-verified historical sense
The source text may be outdated. The page preserves that historical boundary.
Cross-verified 1913 record
Headwordfair
Part of speechnoun
Historical etymology[OE. feire, OF. feire, F. foire, fr. L. fariae, pl., days of rest, holidays, festivals, akin to festus festal. See Feast.]
Selected historical definitionA gathering of buyers and sellers, assembled at a particular place with their merchandise at a stated or regular season, or by special appointment, for trade.
Signed record IDwebster1913-fair-noun-1dc5d2d5973a
Source locatorCIDE.F, paragraph 482; Gutenberg eBook 663
Edition-scoped answerNot earliest-attestation proofNot modern consensus
Independent historical textProject Gutenberg section 663Signed structural record sourceGNU GCIDE 0.54 archive
Quick answer

In Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913), "fair" is labeled noun. Its etymology is recorded as: "[OE. feire, OF. feire, F. foire, fr. L. fariae, pl., days of rest, holidays, festivals, akin to festus festal. See Feast.]" The selected historical definition says: "A gathering of buyers and sellers, assembled at a particular place with their merchandise at a stated or regular season, or by special appointment, for trade."

Project Gutenberg Webster 1913 plus signed GNU GCIDE 0.54 Exact cross-verified historical record reviewed 2026-10-04

What this answer proves

One named sense in one historical dictionary edition.

The answer reports the selected headword, part of speech, etymology, definition, and source locator as transcribed in the cross-verified 1913 record.

Evidence boundaryIt does not establish the earliest attestation or a complete borrowing chain.It does not claim current scholarly consensus or a modern dictionary definition.Historical dictionary text may be obsolete, incomplete, inaccurate, or offensive by modern standards.

More released F records

Every card owns a different source record and historical sense.

verb

Found

[F. fondre, L. fundere to found, pour.]

Webster 1913 exact recordnoun

Face

[F., from L. facies form, shape, face, perh. from facere to make (see Fact); or perh. orig. meaning appearance, and from a root meaning to shine, and akin to E. fancy. Cf. Facetious.]

Webster 1913 exact recordadjective

Future

[F. futur, L. futurus, used as fut. p. of esse to be, but from the same root as E. be. See Be, v. i.]

Webster 1913 exact recordnoun

Form

[OE. & F. forme, fr. L. forma; cf. Skr. dhariman. Cf. Firm.]

Webster 1913 exact recordadjective

Final

[F., fr. L. finalis, fr. finis boundary, limit, end. See Finish.]

Webster 1913 exact record

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