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Fancy
Definitions
- 1 Decorative, or featuring decorations, especially intricate or diverse ones.
"This is a fancy shawl."
- 2 Of a superior grade.
"This box contains bottles of the fancy grade of jelly."
- 3 Executed with skill.
"He initiated the game-winning play with a fancy deked saucer pass to the winger."
- 4 Unnecessarily complicated. colloquial
"I'm not keen on him and his fancy ideas."
- 5 Extravagant; above real value. obsolete
"This anxiety never degenerated into a monomania, like that which led his [Frederick the Great's] father to pay fancy prices for giants."
- 1 not plain; decorative or ornamented wordnet
- 1 In a fancy manner; fancily. nonstandard, not-comparable
"I igonored it, hurdling her navel, riding her torso and taking both her breasts in my hands and mashing them none too fancy."
- 1 A surname from Old English
- 1 The imagination.
"[…] But know that in the soul / Are many lesser faculties, that serve / Reason as chief; among these Fancy next / Her office holds […]"
- 2 imagination or fantasy; held by Coleridge to be more casual and superficial than true imagination wordnet
- 3 An image or representation of anything formed in the mind.
"How now, my lord! why do you keep alone, / Of sorriest fancies your companions making, / Using those thoughts which should indeed have died / With them they think on?"
- 4 something many people believe that is false wordnet
- 5 An opinion or notion formed without much reflection.
"When you have well viewed the Scenes and Devillish shapes of this Practicall Metamorphosis, and scan’d them in your serious thoughts, you will wonder at their audacious phant’sies, who seeme to hold Specificall deformities, or that any part can seeme unhandsome in their Eyes, which hath appeared good and beautifull unto their Maker […]"
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- 6 a predisposition to like something wordnet
- 7 A whim.
"I had a fancy to learn to play the flute."
- 8 Love or amorous attachment.
"And they’ve taken a fancy to me, Aunt said. Kitto and the others. That means they like me."
- 9 The object of inclination or liking.
"For you, fair Hermia, look you arm yourself / To fit your fancies to your father’s will;"
- 10 Any sport or hobby pursued by a group.
"Trainspotting is the fancy of a special lot."
- 11 The enthusiasts of such a pursuit.
"He fell out of favor with the boxing fancy after the incident."
- 12 A diamond with a distinctive colour.
- 13 That which pleases or entertains the taste or caprice without much use or value.
"18th century, John Mortimer, The Whole Art of Husbandry; or, The Way of Managing and Improving Land, cited in Samuel Johnson, A Dictionary of the English Language, 1755, London-pride is a pretty fancy, and does well for borders."
- 14 A bite-sized sponge cake, with a layer of cream, covered in icing.
"a French fancy; a fondant fancy; cream fancies"
- 15 A sort of love song or light impromptu ballad. obsolete
"[He] ſung thoſe tunes to the ouer-ſchutcht huſwiues, that he heard the Car-men whiſtle, and ſware they were his fancies or his good-nights, […]"
- 16 In the game of jacks, a style of play involving additional actions (contrasted with plainsies).
"When you have mastered plainsies, the regular jack game, and have learned all the rules, you will be ready to use this part of the book. A fancy is a variation of plainsies which usually requires more skill than plainsies does."
- 17 A colored neckerchief worn at prizefights to show support for a contender. in-compounds, obsolete, slang
"the yellow fancy; the cream fancy; the blood-red fancy"
- 1 To appreciate without jealousy or greed. formal
"I fancy your new car, but I like my old one just fine."
- 2 imagine; conceive of; see in one's mind wordnet
- 3 Would like; have a desire for. British
"I fancy a burger tonight for dinner."
- 4 have a fancy or particular liking or desire for wordnet
- 5 To be sexually, aesthetically or romantically attracted to. British, informal
"I fancy that girl over there."
Show 4 more definitions
- 6 To imagine, suppose. dated
"[dated] I fancy you'll want something to drink after your long journey."
- 7 To form a conception of; to portray in the mind.
"he whom I fancy, but can ne'er express"
- 8 To have a fancy for; to like; to be pleased with, particularly on account of external appearance or manners.
"We fancy not the cardinal."
- 9 To breed (animals) as a hobby. transitive
"I would recommend this little book very highly to anyone who fancies pigeons, novices and veterans alike."
Etymology
From Middle English fansy, fantsy, a contraction of fantasy, fantasye, fantasie, from Old French fantasie, from Medieval Latin fantasia, from Late Latin phantasia (“an idea, notion, fancy, phantasm”), from Ancient Greek φαντασία (phantasía), from φαντάζω (phantázō, “to render visible”), from φαντός (phantós, “visible”), from φαίνω (phaínō, “to make visible”); from the same root as φάος (pháos, “light”); ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *bʰh₂nyéti, from the root *bʰeh₂- (“to shine”). Doublet of fantasia, fantasy, phantasia, and phantasy.
From Middle English fansy, fantsy, a contraction of fantasy, fantasye, fantasie, from Old French fantasie, from Medieval Latin fantasia, from Late Latin phantasia (“an idea, notion, fancy, phantasm”), from Ancient Greek φαντασία (phantasía), from φαντάζω (phantázō, “to render visible”), from φαντός (phantós, “visible”), from φαίνω (phaínō, “to make visible”); from the same root as φάος (pháos, “light”); ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *bʰh₂nyéti, from the root *bʰeh₂- (“to shine”). Doublet of fantasia, fantasy, phantasia, and phantasy.
From Middle English fansy, fantsy, a contraction of fantasy, fantasye, fantasie, from Old French fantasie, from Medieval Latin fantasia, from Late Latin phantasia (“an idea, notion, fancy, phantasm”), from Ancient Greek φαντασία (phantasía), from φαντάζω (phantázō, “to render visible”), from φαντός (phantós, “visible”), from φαίνω (phaínō, “to make visible”); from the same root as φάος (pháos, “light”); ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *bʰh₂nyéti, from the root *bʰeh₂- (“to shine”). Doublet of fantasia, fantasy, phantasia, and phantasy.
From Middle English fancien, fantasien, fantesien, from Old French fantasier, from the noun (see above)).
From Old English.
See also for "fancy"
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