Fairing
noun, verb ·Uncommon ·Advanced level
Definitions
- 1 A gift or other souvenir bought at a fair. archaic
"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]."
- 2 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."
- 3 A present, especially given by a lover. archaic
- 4 Something that is deserved; one's deserts. Ireland, Scotland, archaic
- 5 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 ladies, and dwarfs, and boa-constrictors, and wild Indians."
- 1 present participle and gerund of fair form-of, gerund, participle, present
Example
More examples"The placement of bolts and numbers etched on it resemble the honeycomb launch fairing of a Japanese H-2 rocket series, a liquid-fueled launch system used to transport satellites and space probes."
Etymology
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”).
Related phrases
More for "fairing"
Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.