affair
(əˈfɛə(r))
Forms: 3–4 afer(e, 4–5 affer(e, 5–7 affayre, 6–7 affaire, 7– affair. North. 6 effere, effaire.
[a. OFr. afaire, afeire, afere, originally infinitive phrase à faire to do. Cf. the Eng. a-do, the history of which is parallel to that of à faire in Fr. All the earlier instances of affair are northern; its general use in Eng. and later spelling, from 15th c. Fr., are due to Caxton.]
1. a. What one has to do, or has ado with; what has to be done; business, operation.
| c 1300 Cursor Mundi 22116 Cotton MS. Þe wicked gastes..Him foluand in al his afers [Edin. MS. afferis, Fairf. MS. afers, Gött. MS. fers]. c 1300 K. Alis. 410 And tellith to Neptanabous, Alle theo aferis of Ammon. 1393 Langl. P. Pl. C. vii. 152 Þer beþ meny felle frekus myne afferes to aspye. c 1400 Rom. Rose 3455 Now goth wel thyn affere, He shalle to thee be debonaire. 1602 Shakes. Ham. i. ii. 174 But what is your affaire in Elsenour? 1720 Ozell tr. Vertot's Rom. Rep. I. iv. 224 The Tribunes..wou'd not suffer the Peoples Votes to be gathered upon any Affair whatsoever. 1793 Burke Pol. of Allies Wks. VII. 127 The affair of the establishment of a government is a very difficult undertaking. 1842 Longfellow Sp. Stud. i. i. 5 It was a dull affair, one of those comedies. 1870 Miss Mitford in L'Estrange Life I. iii. 79, I set about the grand affair of dressing. 1874 Blackie Self-Culture 47 Dinner is a more serious affair. 1878 Huxley Physiogr. Pref. 8 Seeing a book through the press is a laborious and time-wasting affair. |
b. More vaguely, A thing that concerns any one; a concern, a matter.
| 1611 Bible 1 Chron. xxvi. 32 Euery matter perteining to God, and affaires of the king. 1770 Langhorne Plutarch's Lives (1879) I. 98/1 When the trouble about Cylon's affair was over. 1859 Mill Liberty 188 The pretext that the affairs of another are his own affairs. a 1884 Mod. An affair of a few days; an affair of five shillings, at most. |
2. esp. (in pl.) a. Ordinary business or pursuits of life, transactions between man and man.
| 1484 Caxton Curial 1, I am there where the places and affayres desioyne vs. 1559 Myrroure for Mag., Cade vi. 2 Medleth not with any worldes affaires. 1685 Morden Geogr. Rect. Ep. Ded. 1 Your..Affairs abroad have..given you a better knowledge and experience of Foreign Parts. 1750 Johnson Rambler No. 179 ¶9 As he did not suspect his unfitness for common affairs. 1798 Ferriar Of Genius 281 Some degree of similarity in the course of human affairs must often recur. 1869 J. Martineau Ess. II. 55 Practical sympathy with the..affairs of mankind. |
b. Commercial or professional business.
| 1519 Sir T. Boleyn in Ellis Orig. Lett. i. 53 I. 149 Amongs all his other things and great affaires he is so moch desirous to mete visite and see your Grace. 1528 Perkins Profit. Bk. v. §342 (1642) 150 A woman shall be endowed of a Bayliwick..And so in like manner she shall be endowed of affaires. 1600 Letting of Humours Bl. i. 47 And there his tongue runs byas on affaires, No talke but of comodities and wares. 1751 Johnson Rambler No. 142 ¶7 He took his affairs into his own hands. 1871 Smiles Charact. iv. (1876) 107 Men of affairs, trained to business. |
c. Public business, transactions or matters concerning men or nations collectively.
| 1605 Bacon Adv. Learn. ii. ii. §2 The chronicle..read before Ahasuerus..contained matter of affairs. 1626 T. H. tr. Caussin's Holy Crt. 7 The good successe of affayres haue follovved your desires. 1697 Dryden Virgil, Georgic iv. 260 That in the Field; this in Affairs of State, Employ'd at home. 1715 Burnet Hist. own Time (1766) I. 1, I had while I was very young a greater knowledge of affairs than is usual at that age. 1733 Pope Prol. Satires 267, I was not born for Courts or great affairs. 1849 Macaulay Hist. Eng. I. 447 The general expectation was that he would be immediately placed at the head of affairs, and that all the other great officers of state would be changed. |
3. sing. Vaguely, and with intentional indefiniteness, of any proceeding which it is not wished to name or characterize closely; as a military ‘action’ or engagement of undefined character, a political job, a duel (affair of honour), an intrigue (affair of love), etc.
| 1702 Steele Funeral i. (1704) 21 To marry a Woman after an Affair with her. 1732 Berkeley Minute Philos (1732) I. 46 In our Dialect a vicious Man is a Man of pleasure..a Lady is said to have an affair, a Gentleman to be a gallant, a Rogue in business to be one that knows the world. 1741 Middleton Cicero (ed. 3) II. vii. 196 After the affair of Pindenissum, an exploit of more éclat and importance. 1753 Hanway Trav. (1762) II. i. i. 3 The french..calling it an affair of honor. 1774 Mrs. Chapone Improv. Mind I. 182 If your friend should..intend to carry on an affair of love. 1816 Scott Old Mort. xvii. (1868) 730 The enemy persevered in their attack—the affair was fiercely disputed. 1826 Disraeli Viv. Grey vii. viii. 434 Every affair of any character during the late war was fought over again in the tent. 1837 Dickens Pickw. ii. 20 ‘I want your assistance..in an affair of honour,’ said Mr. Winkle. 1855 Macaulay Hist. Eng. III. 216 The strenuous opposition..offered to the government..in the affair of Wood's patent. 1922 Joyce Ulysses 230 The annual dinner you know. Boiled shirt affair. 1933 N. Coward Design for Living i. 19 We could carry on a backstairs affair for weeks without saying a word about it. |
4. Loosely and familiarly of things material, in which use affair freq. serves merely as a peg to support an epithet, ‘a poor affair,’ etc. Cf. concern.
| 1802 M. Edgeworth Moral T. I. xx. (1816) 189 His wife was no grand affair..a merchant's daughter. 1845 Darwin Voy. Nat. viii, The Plata looks like a noble estuary on the map, but is in truth a poor affair. 1866 Wenham in Ann. Rep. Aëronaut. Soc. 37 The affair [a glider] falling over sideways, broke up the right-hand set of webs. 1879 H. Northcott in Cassell's Techn. Educ. IV. 344/1 In this example the cone-headstock is a very small affair. 1903 H. G. Wells 12 Stories 11 He did not make the affair large enough to carry a man... The first flight of this first practicable flying machine took place over some fields near Burford Bridge. 1905 Smart Set Sept. 127/1 There were holes for the eyes and strings that tied the affair and held it in place. |
† 5. Doing, action, performance. Obs. rare.
| c 1500 Lancelot 983 Wich ware to few aȝaine the gret affere Of galiot. 1596 Chapman Iliad v. 503 Mars..with his best affair, Obey'd the pleasure of the Sun. |
† 6. Mode of doing; bearing, deportment, appearance, conduct. [Very common in OFr. Here only in Sc. writers.] Obs.
| 1375 Barbour Bruce i. 361 He wes off full fayr effer, Wyss, curtaiss, and deboner. [Cf. Vie S. Alexi 31, Il est home de boen afere, Douz et creable et debonere.] c 1425 Wyntoun Cron. ix. xxvii. 315 Commendyt heily his affere His aporte and his manere. c 1500 Lancelot 3043 Yhowr manhed, yhour worschip, and affere. Ibid. 3059 Most knychtly of affere. c 1505 Dunbar Daunce in Warton II. 445 Frawart was their affeir. 1575 in Pref. to Laneham's Lett. 73 That fre answerd with fayr afeir. |
† 7. Fortune, rank, dignity. [Very common in OFr. in phr. de haute afaire, de grant afaire, de povre afaire, etc. In Eng. ? only in Caxton.] Obs.
| 1480 Caxton Ovid's Metam. xiv. xii, She was ryche and of grete affayre. 1481 ― Myrrour iii. xxi. 180 Our lord god is moche myghty, & of a right hye affayre. |