▪ I. fad, n.1 dial.
(fæd)
| 1825 Brockett Gloss. N.C. Words 66 Fad, faud, a bundle of straw, twelve of which make a thrave. 1863 Robson Bards of Tyne 135 Aw' thowt aboot the fad o' straw. |
▪ II. fad, n.2
(fæd)
[Etym. unknown; widely current in dialects (chiefly midland), and thence recently adopted in general use. Cf. next vb.]
1. A crotchety rule of action; a peculiar notion as to the right way of doing something; a pet project, esp. of social or political reform, to which exaggerated importance is attributed; in wider sense, a crotchet, hobby, ‘craze’.
| 1834 Bp. Fraser in Hughes Life (1887) 14 Uncle need not fuss himself about the Doctor becoming a Bishop, as it is all a fad. 1867 Trollope Chron. Barset II. lxxxii. 363 She may take up some other fad now. 1881 M. E. Braddon Asph. xxx. 339 The Engadine is the last fad of the moneyed classes. 1884 Illust. Lond. News 22 Nov. 491/2 Slöijd..the last new ‘fad’. |
2. A fussy, over-particular person. Only dial.
| 1877 in N.W. Linc. Gloss. 1879 G. F. Jackson Shropsh. Word-bk. 138 ‘Everybody toud me as I should never stop ooth sich a noud fad.’ |
3. Comb. fad-monger, one who deals in fads; fad-mongering ppl. a.; fad-mongery.
| 1883 Sat. Rev. No. 1452. 238 Measures of the kind dear to the fadmonger. 1885 Ibid. 24 Jan. 104/2 The..asceticism dear to his fad-mongering friends. 1890 Guardian 1 Oct. 1527/3 ‘Fadmongery’ or ‘faddism’ is..becoming..a rampant and ridiculous craze. |
▪ III. fad, v. Chiefly dial.
(fæd)
[Belongs to prec. n.; it is not certain which is the source of the other. Cf. fidfad v.]
intr. a. dial. (see quots.). b. nonce-use. To advocate ‘fads’.
| 1847 Halliwell, Fad, to be busy about trifles. 1879 G. F. Jackson Shropsh. Word-bk. 138 ‘The poor owd Maister canna do much now—ony fad-about a bit.’ 1890 Sat. Rev. 27 Sept. 383/2 We have..a warning against listening to faddists, fad they never so charmingly. |
Hence ˈfadding ppl. a.
| 1864 Field 28 May 383 To condemn us old hands as finical, priggish, fadding. |
▪ IV. fad
see langfad, Obs. Sc., long boat.