fairy-tale
(ˈfɛərɪ teɪl)
[f. fairy n. and a. + tale n.; rendering F. conte de fées.]
a. A tale about fairies. Also gen., fairy legend, faerie. b. An unreal or incredible story. c. A falsehood. Also attrib. Hence ˈfairy-tale-ish a.
| 1749 H. Walpole Let. 3 May (1903) II. 369 It..was by far the..prettiest spectacle I ever saw: nothing in a fairy tale ever surpassed it. 1750 H. Brooke (title) A new collection of fairy tales. 1797 J. Moser (title) Moral Tales; consisting of the Reconciliation,..a Fairy Tale, in the modern style. Clementia and Malitia; a Fairy Tale, in the ancient style. 1819 Keats Let. 21 Sept. (1958) II. 173 Dont forget to tell Reynolds of the fairy tale Undine. 1864 Tennyson Aylmer's F. 89 He had..told her fairy-tales. 1887 Ruskin Præterita II. 244 [Shakespeare's] Henry V. is only a king of fairy tale. 1896 Ade Artie xiii. 117 Guess what they train on... Cocoanut pie. That ain't no fairy tale, neither. 1900 Daily Tel. 4 July 10/2 Mr. Kruger..has told a Chicago journalist one of his pretty little fairy tales, the only truth in which is that some burghers are again taking up arms. 1900 E. T. Fowler Farringdons xiv. 272 If I were a man I should belong to the Herald's Office. It would be such fun to be called a ‘Red Bonnet’ or a ‘Green Griffin’, or some other nice fairy-tale-ish name. 1914 Scotsman 16 Sept. 6/4 The Russians have neither ‘landed in nor passed Great Britain on their way to France or Belgium’, nor are they now on French or Belgian soil. The whole story has been a gigantic fairy tale. 1920 ‘O. Douglas’ Penny Plain ix, It would be very nice and fairy-tale-ish! 1923 [see bee1 5 b]. 1957 M. Kennedy Heroes of Clone iv. vi. 269 Why should I back up this fairy-tale of yours, just to save your face? 1963 Auden Dyer's Hand 212 There is only one fairy-tale motif, to my knowledge, that contains an element of inner conflict. 1971 Daily Tel. 16 Jan. 20/3 A full moon then added its light to the fairy-tale scene. |