airy-fairy
[air-ee-fair-ee]
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adjective
Informal.
- delicate or lovely: an airy-fairy actress; an airy-fairy nightgown.
- not based on reality or concerned with mundane affairs; unrealistic: airy-fairy ideas about spending a fortune that isn't even his.
Slang. effeminate; swishy.
Origin of airy-fairy
perhaps orig. in the phrase “airy, fairy Lilian” in Tennyson's poem “Lilian” (1830)
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019
Examples from the Web for airy-fairy
Historical Examples of airy-fairy
Nothing of the tootsey-wootsey about her foot, and nothing of the airy-fairy trifle about her slipper.
Letters from a Self-Made Merchant to His SonGeorge Horace Lorimer
There is nothing more beautiful than the airy-fairy soap-bubble with its everchanging colors.
How Two Boys Made Their Own Electrical ApparatusThomas M. (Thomas Matthew) St. John
airy-fairy
adjective
Word Origin for airy-fairy
C19: from Tennyson's poem Lillian (1830), where the central figure is described as "Airy, fairy Lillian"
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition
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