▪ I. vair, n.
(vɛə(r))
Forms: 4 veir(e, veyr(e, 5 feyre; 4, 6–8 vaire, 4, 8– vair, Sc. wayre, 7 vayre, 9 dial. vare, fare, viare, etc.
[a. OF. vair, veir (also nom. vairs):—L. varium, acc. sing. masc. of varius parti-coloured. Cf. med.L. varius, also vairus, vayrus, veyrus (from OF.), and vajus (from It. vajo), in the same sense.]
1. A fur obtained from a variety of squirrel with grey back and white belly, much used in the 13th and 14th centuries as a trimming or lining for garments. Now only arch.
Cotgrave's definition of F. vair as ‘a rich furre of Ermines powdered thicke with blue haires’ is app. unsupported by evidence.
| a 1300 Cursor M. 25466 Nu ask i noþer gra ne grene,..Ne purperpall, nee pride o pane, Ne riche robe wit veir and grise. c 1330 R. Brunne Chron. Wace (Rolls) 11194 Manteles..Of meneuer, stranlyng, veyr, & gris. c 1375 Sc. Leg. Saints vii. (James the less) 764 Furryt wele in wayre & grece. c 1382 Pol. Poems (Rolls) I. 265 For somme vaire, and somme gryse,..In bagges about thai bere. |
| 1810 Scott Lady of L. iv. xii, If pall and vair no more I wear. 1818 Ranken Hist. France IV. 377 It was ordained, a.d. 1294,..that no ecclesiastic, but dignified clergymen, should wear vair, gray, or ermine, excepting [etc.]. 1865 Swinburne Poems & Ball., Laus Veneris 266 Each man's hair Crowned with green leaves beneath white hoods of vair. |
2. A weasel or stoat. Now dial.
Prob. due to an early misunderstanding as to the source of the fur.
| 1387 Trevisa Higden (Rolls) I. 335 Þere beeþ veyres [L. mustelas: Caxton feyres] litel of body and ful hardy and strong. 1796– in dial. glossaries (Dev., Dorset, Somerset, Pemb., Glamorgan, Wexford, etc.) in forms vare, fare, viare, vier, wyer, veer. 1832 A. E. Bray Descr. Part of Devon (1835) I. xix. 342 The stoat, vair, or vairy, is the commonest of the weasel tribe. |
3. Her. One of the heraldic furs, represented by bell- or cup-shaped spaces of two (or more) tinctures, usu. azure and argent, disposed alternately (in imitation of small skins arranged in a similar manner and sewn together).
vair cuppa or vair tassy (see quot. c 1828 and vairy a. 1 b). vair-en-pal, vair-en-point (see quot. 1766). Cf. also countervair.
| 1562 Legh Armorie 132 The ninthe and last [doubling] of all, is called Vaire, which is of al coloures except these two before rehersed [i.e. azure and vert]. It may be also of three sondry colours, which..colours must be tolde as this is blazed. 1610 J. Guillim Heraldry i. iv. (1611) 15 If you obserue the proportion of this vaire, you shall easily discerne the very shape of the case or skinne of little beasts, in them. 1622 Peacham Compl. Gent. xv. (1906) 194 Quarterly Gules and Vaire. 1637 Camden's Rem. 209 Hubert de Burgo,..who bare for his Armes in a Shield, Gules seven Lozenges vaire, 3, 3, 1. 1728 Chambers Cycl. s.v. Furr, The Heralds use two Metals,..and two Furrs, or hairy Skins, Ermine and Vaire. 1766 Porny Heraldry iii. (1777) 27 Vair-en-point or Vair-en-pal, is said when the point of a Vair is opposite to the Base of another. 1816 Gentl. Mag. March 223 A fesse between two chevrons Vaire. c 1828 Berry Encycl. Her. I. Gloss., Vair cuppa, or Vair Tassy, is..by most writers upon heraldry, considered a kind of fur, and shaped in the form of cups or goblets by divisions potent counter-potent. 1864 Boutell Her. Hist. & Pop. iv. (ed. 3) 20 Vair, Counter Vair,..are always Argent and Azure, unless other tinctures are named in the blazon. |
▪ II. † vair, a. Obs.—1 Sc.
In 5 wayre, wa(i)re.
[a. OF. vair, veir:—L. varium: see prec. and vary a.]
Varied or variegated in colour.
| c 1425 Wyntoun Cron. i. v. 217 The brukyd bestys and the wayre [v.r. ware, waire] he gert depart fra quhyt & fayre. |
▪ III. vair(e
southern ME. varr. fair a. and adv.