English

Alternative forms

• (female given name) Faye

Proper noun

Fay

1. An English surname​, originally a nickname from "faith, loyalty" or "a fairy".
2. An Irish surname​, anglicized from Ó Fiaich and Ó Fathaigh.
3. A female given name, pet form of Faith or Frances; often used as a middle name.

Anagrams

• FYA

English

Verb

fay ‎(third-person singular simple present fays, present participle faying, simple past and past participle fayed)

1. To fit.
2. To join or unite closely or tightly.
   • US Patent Application 20070033853, 2006:

     Under the four outer corners of the horizontal frame platform 22 are four tubular leg sleeves 23 that are fay together one at each outer corner.

   • Model Shipbuilders, 2010:

     I have a strip cutter and I can cut the exact widths I need to fit, they are easy to fay together and attach very firmly to the bulkheads.

3. To lie close together.
4. To fadge.

Translations

Derived terms

• faying surface

Etymology 2

From Middle English fegien, fæien ‎(“to cleanse”), from Old Norse fægja ‎(“to cleanse, polish”), from Proto-Germanic *fēgijaną ‎(“to decorate, make beautiful”), from Proto-Indo-European *pōḱ-, *pēḱ- ‎(“to clean, adorn”). Cognate with Swedish feja ‎(“to sweep”), Danish feje ‎(“to sweep”), German fegen ‎(“to cleanse, scour, sweep”), Dutch vegen ‎(“to sweep, strike”). More at feague, fake, fair.

Verb

fay ‎(third-person singular simple present fays, present participle faying, simple past and past participle fayed)

1. (dialectal) To cleanse; clean out.

Translations

Etymology 3

Middle English faie, fei ‎(“a place or person possessed with magical properties”), from Middle French feie, fee ‎(“fairy", "fae”). More at fairy.

Noun

fay ‎(plural fays)

1. A fairy.
   • 1590, Edmund Spenser, The Faerie Queene, II.ii:

     that mighty Princesse did complaine / Of grieuous mischiefes, which a wicked Fay / Had wrought [...].

Synonyms

• See fairy

Translations

See also

• fey
• fae

Etymology 4

Abbreviation of ofay.

Noun

fay ‎(plural fays)

1. (US slang) A white person.

Translations

Adjective

fay ‎(comparative more fay, superlative most fay)

1. (US slang) White.
   • 1946, Mezz Mezzrow and Bernard Wolfe, Really the Blues, Payback Press 1999, p. 62:

     I really went for Ray's press roll on the drums; he was the first fay boy I ever heard who mastered this vital foundation of jazz music.

Translations

Anagrams

• FYA