| 释义 |
▪ I. fancy, n. and a.|ˈfænsɪ|
Forms: α. 5–6 fansey, 6–8 fansie, -ye, 6–7 fancie, -ye, 6– fancy. β. 6–8 phansy(e, -cie, -cy, 6–9 phansie.
[A contraction of fantasy; cf. the forms fantsy, phant'sy under that word.]
A. n.
†1. In scholastic psychology: = fantasy n. 1.
[c1400,1509: see fantasy n. 1.] 1594Hooker Eccl. Pol. i. vi. (1632) 56 Beasts..in actions of sense and phancie go beyond them [men]. 1722Wollaston Relig. Nat. v. 101 We know matters of fact by the help of..impressions made upon phansy.
†2. A spectral apparition; an illusion of the senses. Cf. fantasy n. 2. Obs.
[c1360–1576: see fantasy n. 2.] 1609Holland Amm. Marcell. xiv. xi. 25 Dreadfull spectres and fansies skreaking hideously round about him. 1659B. Harris Parival's Iron Age 10 Forrests, where are sometimes heard great illusions, and phancies.
3. Delusive imagination; hallucination; an instance of this; = fantasy 3.
1597Hooker Eccl. Pol. II. 732 The righteous..may have their phancies; they may..conceive worse of their own estate than reason giveth. 1693tr. Emilianne's Hist. Monast. Ord. xv. 157 Phancies of a deluded mind. 1727De Foe Syst. Magic i. iv. (1840) 107 The vision appeared to his fancy. 1840Dickens Barn. Rudge i, That may be my fancy. 1856Stanley Sinai & Pal. ii. (1858) 156 Which..claims to be founded not on fancy..but on Fact.
4. a. In early use synonymous with imagination (see fantasy 4); the process, and the faculty, of forming mental representations of things not present to the senses; chiefly applied to the so-called creative or productive imagination, which frames images of objects, events, or conditions that have not occurred in actual experience. In later use the words fancy and imagination (esp. as denoting attributes manifested in poetical or literary composition) are commonly distinguished: fancy being used to express aptitude for the invention of illustrative or decorative imagery, while imagination is the power of giving to ideal creations the inner consistency of realities. Often personified.
1581T. Howell Deuises (1879) 229 The flaming dartes, That Fancie quickly burne with quenchlesse fyre. 1632Milton L'Allegro 133 Sweetest Shakespeare, Fancy's child. 1662Glanvill Lux Orient. Pref. 5 What..dangerous opinions soever their phancies might give birth to. 1676Hobbes Iliad Pref. (1686) 5 In Fancy consisteth the Sublimity of a Poet. 1712Addison Spect. No. 411 ⁋2 The Pleasures of the Imagination or Fancy (which I shall use promiscuously). 1713C'tess of Winchilsea Misc. Poems 217 Wand'ring Wishes, born on Phancy's Wings. 1785Reid Int. Powers 374 Fancy may combine things that never were combined in reality. 1811Coleridge Lect. (1856) 45 When the whole pleasure received is derived from an unexpected turn of expression, then I call it wit; but when the pleasure is produced..by an image which remains with us..I call it fancy. 1822Hazlitt Table-t. II. x. 221 Fancy colours the prospect of the future. 1845L. Hunt Imag. & Fancy 2 Poetry..embodies and illustrates its impressions by imagination, or images of the objects of which it treats..It illustrates them by fancy, which is a lighter play of imagination, or the feeling of analogy coming short of seriousness. 1851Ruskin Mod. Paint. II. iii. ii. iii. §7 The fancy sees the outside..The imagination sees the heart and inner nature, and makes them felt. 1861M. Pattison Ess. (1889) I. 39 That ocean-horse in which the poetic fancy of the sea-roving Saxons saw an emblem of their high-prowed vessels.
b. A mental image.
1663Bp. Patrick Parab. Pilgr. 257 The very fancy of them [enjoyments] is delightful. 1798Coleridge Ode to France i, Oft, pursuing fancies holy, My moonlight way o'er flowering weeds I wound.
5. a. Inventive design; an invention, original device or contrivance. Cf. fantasy 4 d.
1665Sir T. Herbert Trav. (1677) 223 Adorned with..fancies of Arabic Characters. 1670Narborough Jrnl. in Acc. Sev. Late Voy. i. (1711) 57 The model I imagine is to record our Ship..This Fancy we let alone untouched. 1692R. L'Estrange Josephus' Antiq. xii. ii. (1702) 322 The graving work..being the Phancy of a Foliage of the Vine. c1710C. Fiennes Diary (1888) 168 Severall good fancy's of human and animals. 1867F. Francis Angling xii. (1880) 438 This fly [Salmon fly] is Mr. Blackwall's own fancy.
†b. esp. in Music, a composition in an impromptu style. Obs. Cf. fantasia, fantasy 4 e.
1577T. Dawson (title), The Workes of a young Wyt, trust vp with a Fardell of Prettie Fancies. 1597Shakes. 2 Hen. IV, iii. ii. 342 He..sung those tunes to the over⁓scutched huswives that he heard the carmen whistle, and sware—they were his fancies, or his good-nights. 1663Pepys Diary 27 May, Mr. Gibbons being come in..to musique, they played a good Fancy. 1691Wood Ath. Oxon. I. 848 He was..much admired for his composition of Fancies of various parts. 1789Burney Hist. Mus. III. vii. 408 John Jenkins a voluminous composer of Fancies for viols. 1823Crabb Technol. Dict. I, Fancies, lively little airs.
†c. pl. ‘The ornamental tags, etc., appended to the ribbons by which the hose were secured to the doublet’ (Fairholt). Obs.
a1652Brome Mad Couple Prol., I've a new Suite, And Ribbons fashionable, yclipt Fancies.
6. A supposition resting on no solid grounds; an arbitrary notion.
1471Ripley Comp. Alch. v. in Ashm. (1652) 149 To know the truth, and fancies to eschew. 1539Taverner Erasm. Prov. (1552) 18 Menne myght loke upon it, and talke theyr fansies of it. 1590Sir J. Smyth Disc. Weapons 25 Rather upon fancie, than upon anie souldiour lyke reasons. 1672Marvell Reh. Transp. Wks. II. 58 After this I had another phansie..not altogether unreasonable. 1783Ld. Hailes Antiq. Chr. Ch. ii. 33 This fancy is very ancient, for Orosius hints at it. 1809–10Coleridge Friend (1865) 142 As wild a fancy as any of which we have treated.
7. a. Caprice, changeful mood; an instance of this, a caprice, a whim. Also concr. a whimsical thing.
1579G. Harvey Letter-bk. (Camden) 86 A foolish madd worlde, wherein all thinges ar overrulid by fansye. 1646Sir T. Browne Pseud. Ep. ii. iv. 82 Cardans Mausoleum for a flye, is a meere phancy. 1676Lister in Ray's Corr. (1848) 124 The addition of the French names would have been but a fancy. 1717Lady M. W. Montague Lett. II. xlvii. 40 His wife's..expenses are no way limited but by her own fancy. 1787Bentham Def. Usury i. 2 A fancy has taken me just now to trouble you with my reasons. 1848Macaulay Hist. Eng. II. 46 The antipathy of the nation to their religion was not a fancy which would yield to the mandate of a prince. 1860–1F. Nightingale Nursing 43 Such cravings are usually called the ‘fancies’ of patients. 1878Masque Poets 80, I have a fancy we go out to-day.
†b. Fantasticalness. Obs.
1588Shakes. L.L.L. i. i. 171 This childe of fancie that Armado hight. 1602― Ham. i. iii. 71 Costly thy habit as thy purse can buy; But not exprest in fancie; rich, not gawdie. 1823Byron Juan xi. xvii, A real swell, Full flash, all fancy.
8. a. Capricious or arbitrary preference; individual taste; an inclination, liking, esp. in phrases to have, take a fancy for, to; † to have no fancy with; to take, catch the fancy of.
1465Paston Lett. No. 530 II. 243, I have non fansey with some of the felechipp. 1541Act 33 Hen. VIII c. 21 In case it fortune..the king..should take a fancie to anie woman. 1553T. Wilson Rhet. (1580) 200 Speake muche, according to the nature and phansie of the ignoraunt. 1577B. Googe Heresbach's Husb. iii. (1586) 114 b, Hee that hath a fansie to breed Horse. 1600J. Pory tr. Leo's Africa ii. 315 Each..would interpret the opinions of Mahomet according to their owne fancie. 1662J. Davies Voy. Ambass. 314 The Persians have a great fancy to Black hair. 1682Wheler Journ. Greece i. 36 Phansie took us to see the Fortress. 1700S. L. tr. C. Fryke's Voy. E. Ind. 82 The Admiral had a mighty fancy to go over. 1848Macaulay Hist. Eng. II. 433 The..tune caught the fancy of the nation. 1866G. Macdonald Ann. Q. Neighb. xxxi. (1878) 533 What could have made Miss Crowther take such a fancy to the boy? 1884W. C. Smith Kildrostan 86 Have you no fancy To ride the white steeds?
†b. spec. Amorous inclination, love. Obs.
1559Mirr. Mag., Dk. of Clarence xii, Knowing fansie was the forcing rother, Which stiereth youth to any kinde of strife, He offered me his daughter to my wife. 1579Lyly Euphues (Arb.) 81 Philautus was..neuer loued for fancie sake. 1596Shakes. Merch. V. iii. ii. 63 Tell me where is fancie bred. 1712Arbuthnot John Bull iii. iii, ‘Fancy is free’, quoth Peg.
9. Taste, critical judgement in matters of art or elegance.
c1665Mrs. Hutchinson Mem. Col. Hutchinson 23 He was..genteel in his habit, and had a very good fancy in it. 1705Addison Italy 11 Palaces..built with an excellent Fancy. 1713Swift Cadenus & Vanessa, I'll undertake, my little Nancy In flounces hath a better fancy. 1748C'tess Shaftesbury in Priv. Lett. Ld. Malmesbury I. 72 A buff-coloured damask, trimmed with a good deal of fancy. 1857Ruskin Pol. Econ. Art 42 They possess..sense of colour, and fancy for form.
†10. ‘Something that pleases or entertains’ (J.).
1590Sir J. Smyth Disc. Weapons 39 All such as are..not carried with toyes, fancies, and new fashions. 1712Mortimer Husbandry II. 204 London-Pride is a pretty Fancy for borders. 1721Cibber Love's Last Shift iv, A particular nice Fancy, that I intend to appear in.
†11. An alleged name for the pansy. Obs.
1712tr. Pomet's Hist. Drugs I. 120 Fancy, in English, is a kind of Violet.
12. the fancy: collect. for those who ‘fancy’ a particular amusement or pursuit.
a. gen., as applied to bird-, book-fanciers, etc.
1735J. Moore Columbarium 40 These Pigeons by their Flight afford an admirable Satisfaction, to those Gentlemen of the Fancy that have time to attend them. 1830De Quincey Bentley Wks. 1863 VI. 57 note, A great book sale..had congregated all the Fancy. 1889Sat. Rev. 22 June 772/1 Pigeon-fanciers are called the Fancy.
b. esp. The prize-ring or those who frequent it.
1807Southey Lett. fr. Eng. (1951) lxxi. 451 The Amateurs of Boxing, who call themselves the Fancy. 1811Southey Let. 11 Oct. (1856) II. 236 I have fibbed the ‘Edinburgh’ (as the ‘fancy’ say) most completely. 1848Thackeray Bk. Snobs xiv. (1869) 64 Mr. William Ramm, known to the Fancy as the Tutbury Pet. 1873H. Spencer Stud. Sociol. viii. (ed. 6) 187 Among leaders of ‘the fancy’, it is an unhesitating belief that pluck and endurance are the highest of attributes.
attrib.1811Southey Let. 6 Mar. (1856) II. 215, I am in high condition, to use a fancy phrase.
c. The art of boxing; pugilism. Also, sporting in general.
1820Byron Let. to Murray 12 Nov., One of Matthew's passions was ‘the Fancy’. 1841De Quincey Plato's Rep. Wks. IX. 236 When the ‘fancy’ was in favour. 1851Mayhew Lond. Labour (1861) III. 5 He..is always..at home..to discuss the Fancy generally. 1889Standard 28 Oct., Modern displays of ‘the Fancy’.
13. The art or practice of breeding animals so as to develop points of conventional beauty or excellence; also one of these points. Sometimes with qualifying word prefixed, as pigeon-fancy.
1889Sat. Rev. 22 June 772/2 The peculiar fancy affecting him [the carrier] is to have wattles and excrescences round his eyes and beak. 1889Standard 23 Oct., The layman uninitiated in the mysteries of ‘fancy’.
attrib.1862Huxley Lect. Wrkg. Men 105 Birds which fly long distances..and are..used as carriers are not carriers in the fancy sense. 1876Encycl. Brit. IV. 249/2 The less important art of fancy breeding. 1889Sat. Rev. 22 June 772/2 A pouter graces the frontispiece, using the word ‘grace’ in the Fancy sense.
14. a. = various combs. of the adj. Often = fancy cake (below, C. 1).
1841Week in Wall Street 82 A very large portion of the stocks termed ‘fancies’, are entirely worthless in themselves. 1851Beck's Florist 140 Pelargoniums, both ‘Fancies’ and common kinds, were produced..Mr. Ambrose's Fancy..was..distinguished. 1862Times 17 Feb., Ordinary cloths and fancies moved off alike slowly. 1891Confectioners' Union 15 Oct. p. iii (Advt.), Fondant, Jellies, Gelatine goods,..and other Fancies. Ibid. 15 Nov. 633/2 The room where Christmas fancies are being packed by a small army of girls. 1894E. Skuse Compl. Confect. 110 There are a great number of fancies made from grain sugars, sold about Christmas time. 1968M. Bragg Without City Wall i. xix. 191 Jars of jam being given by the ladies, a box of teacakes and fancies by Agnes.
b. = fancy-roller; see C 2 b.
1864Specif. Barraclough's Patent No. 1581. 5 The rollers c are the ‘fancies’ before named. 1873E. Leigh Cotton Spinning I. 144 The surface of the ‘fancy’ runs in the same direction as the cylinder only a little faster. 1876W. C. Bramwell Wool-Carder (ed. 2) viii.
B. attrib. and Comb.
1. General relations:
a. Simple attrib. (sense 4) as fancy-fit, fancy-freak, fancy-woof; (sense 12 b, c) as fancy-lay [see lay n.].
1855Browning Men & Women, In a Balcony 101 This wild girl (whom I recognise Scarce more than you do, in her *fancy-fit).
1884― Ferishtah (1885) 4 A *fancy-freak by contrast born of thee.
1819Tom Crib's Memorial App. 43 We, who're of the *fancy-lay.
a1845Hood Irish Schoolmaster xvi, Weaves a *fancy-woof, Dreaming he sees his home.
b. objective, as fancy-feeding, fancy-lighting, fancy-stirring, fancy-taking, fancy-weaving ppl. adjs.; fancy-monger, fancy-weaver; fancy-spinning vbl. n.
1599Sandys Europæ Spec. (1632) 162 Their..*fancy-feeding flatterers shall all shrinke from them.
1857Willmott Pleas. Lit. xxi. 132 The *fancy-lighting damsels of Dryden.
1600Shakes. A.Y.L. iii. ii. 381 If I could meet that *Fancie-monger, I would giue him some good counsel.
1962W. Nowottny Lang. Poets Use iv. 91 Gaunt tries to comfort him with something like the *fancy-spinning of Richard.
1835Willis Pencillings II. xlv. 58 The Egyptian bazaar has been my..*fancy-stirring lounge.
1855National Rev. July 57 The great features..which make society..remarkable, *fancy-taking.
a1845Hood Compass xvii, To eye of *fancy-weaver Neptune..seem'd tossing in A raging scarlet fever!
1884Athenæum 6 Dec. 725/2 A certain *fancy-weaving dervish.
c. instrumental, originative, and adverbial, as fancy-baffled, fancy-blest, fancy-born, fancy-borne, fancy-bred, fancy-built, fancy-caught, fancy-driven, fancy-fed, fancy-formed, fancy-framed, fancy-grazing, fancy-guided, fancy-led, fancy-raised, fancy-struck, fancy-stung, fancy-topped, fancy-waistcoated, fancy-woven, fancy-wrought ppl. adjs.
1645Quarles Sol. Recant. iv. 21 Thy false affections may rise up, and shake Thy *fancy-baffled Judgment.
1759Goldsm. Polite Learn. vii. Wks. 1881 II. 44 The *fancy-built fabric is styled for a short time very ingenious.
1631T. Powell Tom All Trades 174 The young Factor being *fancy-caught.
1844Ld. Houghton Palm Leaves 131 They wandered, *fancy-driven.
1850Tennyson In Mem. lxxxiv. 24 So shall..pining life be *fancy-fed.
1654Gataker Disc. Apol. 68 *Fancie-formed pictures.
1647Crashaw Poems 53 He his own *fancy framed foe defies.
1852Meanderings of Mem. I. 79 The *fancy-grazing herds of freedom's pen.
1645Quarles Sol. Recant. vii. 36 *Fancy-guided motion.
1777J. Mountain Poetical Reveries (ed. 2) 20 *Fancy-led th' ideas ran. 1873Longfellow Wayside Inn, Emma & Eginhard 88 Love-letters thought the poet fancy-led.
1798W. Sotheby tr. Wieland's Oberon (1826) I. 80 Now, reader, *fancy-rais'd, as swells thy mind.
1773J. Home Alonzo iv, If we stay here we shall be *fancy-struck.
1822Hazlitt Table-t. Ser. ii. vii. (1869) 149 Our ears are *fancy stung.
1875Atlantic Monthly Jan. 70 She has two tall *fancy-topped chimneys.
1909Daily Chron. 7 Aug. 4/7 He of the well-dressed, *fancy-waistcoated order.
1785Warton Ode New Year i. 9 Fable's *fancy-woven vest.
1801Lusignan iv. 147 A *fancy-wrought spectre.
2. Special comb.: fancy-bloke, slang, = fancy man; fancy Dan slang (orig. U.S.), a dandy; a showy but ineffective worker or sportsman; fancy-fit v. trans., to fit (with a garland) to one's fancy; fancy-free a., free from the power of love; fancy-girl colloq. = fancy-woman; fancy-loose a., ready to roam at will; fancy-piece = fancy girl, woman; fancy-sick a., love-sick; fancy-woman, a kept mistress (cf. fancy man).
1846R. L. Snowden Magistrate's Assistant 344 A *fancy bloak.
1943Amer. Speech XVIII. 107 *Fancy Dan (a pitcher good in practice but sour in a game; also a dressy player). 1950J. Dempsey Championship Fighting ii. 12 The amateur and professional ranks today are cluttered with..‘fancy Dans’. 1950A. Lomax Mr. Jelly Roll (1952) 49 Then you could observe the fancy Dans, dressed fit to kill. 1960T. McLean Kings of Rugby xi. 168 Wellington's strong and experienced men..knew too much about defensive play to be gulled by Fancy-Dan stuff.
1820Keats Lamia ii. 220 Each, as he did please, Might *fancy-fit his brows.
1590Shakes. Mids. N. ii. i. 164 The Imperiall Votresse passed on, In maiden meditation *fancy free. 1840Thackeray Paris Sk.-bk. (1869) 98 They walk, fancy-free, in all sorts of maiden meditations.
1892P. H. Emerson Son of Fens xv. 131 We allust call our scythes arter our *fancy-gels or our wives. 1930A. P. Herbert Water Gipsies xxii, Let's hear the rest now—out with it! You been his fancy-girl? 1969‘M. Innes’ Family Affair ix. 101, I thought this fellow might paint a man's fancy girls—see?
1850Mrs. Browning Poems II. 320 My thoughts..for earth too *fancy-loose.
1821P. Egan Life in London i. iii. 47 Or even smiled with indifference at the rolls of soft which his most captivating *fancy-piece drew from him repeatedly.
1590Shakes. Mids. N. iii. ii. 96 All *fancy sicke she is, and pale of cheere, With sighes of loue. a1704R. L'Estrange (J.), When we come to the fancy-sick, there's no cure for it. 1823J. Baillie Poems 219 To thee the lover, fancy-sick, will sigh.
1812J. H. Vaux Flash Dict., A woman who is the particular favourite of any man, is termed his *fancy woman, and vice versa. 1892Daily News 1 Mar. 2/4 He brought home a female, whom he introduced as his ‘fancy woman’.
C. adj. [Developed from the attrib. use of the n.; scarcely occurring in predicative use.]
1. a. Of a design varied according to the fancy; ‘fine, ornamental’, in opposition to ‘plain’; as in fancy basket, fancy cake, fancy trimming, etc. Also fancy dress, fancy work.
1751H. Glasse Art Cookery (ed. 4) App. 333 A few Astertion Flowers stuck here and there looks pretty..but Lemon, and all those Things are entirely Fancy. a1761Gray Lett. Wks. 1884 III. 118 They [wall papers] are all what they [the shops] call fancy. 1788W. Marshall Yorksh. (1796) I. 116 The fancy farm-houses..I purposely pass over. 1834Medwin Angler in Wales II. 211 He had for field duty two fancy uniforms. a1839Longfellow Hyperion ii. ix, A very tall man with fiery red hair and fancy whiskers. 1842Tennyson Vision of Sin 102 Fish are we that love the mud, Rising to no fancy-flies. 1866Mrs. Whitney L. Goldthwaite ix, To grow intimate over tableau plans and fancy stitches. 1883E. Ingersoll in Harper's Mag. June 78/1 ‘Fancy’ flour differs from the ordinary superfine in that the middlings are ground through smooth rollers. 1893É. Hérissé Art of Pastry Making ii. 8 (heading) Fondant icing..for icing fancy pastry-cakes. Ibid. xiii. 97 (heading) Fancy ornamental meringues. (Meringues décorées.) 1912― Ibid. (new ed.) ii. 20 Dip in the fancy cakes or pastry with the point of a penknife or fork. 1960Good Housek. Cookery Bk. (ed. 5) 387/1 Small iced fancy cakes... Cut the cake into fancy shapes before icing.
b. Printing. (see quots.)
1871Amer. Encycl. Printing s.v. Job Letter, Job Letter may be conveniently divided into Plain, Fancy, Text, and Script. 1888C. T. Jacobi Printers' Voc. 42 Fancy rules, rules other than plain ones of various designs. Fancy types, founts of type of various kinds used for jobbing purposes.
c. Of flowers, grass, etc.: Particoloured, striped.
1793G. Washington Let. Writings 1891 XII. 378 From the fancy grass..I have been urging for years..the saving of seed. 1851Beck's Florist 139 Mr. Ayres shewed his fancy Pelargonium. 1893Webbs Spring Catal. 65 Webbs' Fancy Pansy. Ibid. 80 Perpetual fancy Carnation.
d. ellipt. That deals in, or is concerned with the sale of, fancy goods. fancy fair: see fair n.1 1 c. Also fancy shop.
1821Blackw. Mag. X. 4 Haberdashers and others in the fancy line. 1835Dickens Sk. Boz. (1836) I. 136 Flaming accounts of some ‘fancy fair in high life’. 1840H. Cockton Life Valentine Vox xxv. 178 A placard..which announced that a Fancy Fair and a Fete Champetre were about to take place. 1844J. Cowell 30 Yrs. among Players (1845) i. vi. 15/2 His address..was at a handsome fancy-shop in George-street. 1848Thackeray Van. Fair l, She buys a couple of begilt Bristol boards at the Fancy Stationers. 1863J. C. Jeaffreson Sir Everard's Dau. 113 A chattel for which a fancy-upholsterer in London would ask a strangely large number of pounds. 1876World V. 17 A fancy-fair is one of the diversions of a London Season. 1885Bookseller 5 Mar. 317/2 A good Fancy Trade. 1911A. Bennett Hilda Lessways i. iii. 24 She went straight into Dayson's little fancy shop.
e. fancy ball = fancy dress ball (see fancy dress n.). Also fancy dance.
1800M. Edgeworth Parent's Assistant (1848) III. 285 How fine we are!..one might fancy one's-self..at a fancy ball. 1825C. M. Westmacott Eng. Spy II. 24 A grand fancy ball was to take place at the Argyle Rooms. 1827J. Constable Let. 10 Oct. (1962) 237 To day..a Garden Promenade—and fancy dance in a temporary pavilion. 1836Hawthorne Amer. Note-bks. (1883) 34 A Fancy Ball, in which the prominent American writers should appear, dressed in character.
f. fancy goods (cf. 1 d).
1792Columbian Centinel (Boston, Mass.) 12 May, A large and extensive assortment of staple and fancy goods. a1828D. Wordsworth Tour Continent in Jrnls. (1941) II. 73 Stalls and shops of jewelry, millinery and fancy goods of all sorts. 1860Dickens in All Year Round 28 Jan. 321/1, I..have rather a large connexion in the fancy goods way. 1933Archit. Rev. LXXIV. 16/3 A manufacturer of fancy goods and hand⁓bags remarks that, ‘we study the public taste while we try to originate’.
2. a. Added for ornament or extraordinary use.
1794Rigging & Seamanship I. 169 Fancy-line is a rope used to overhaul the brails of some fore and aft sails. 1841R. H. Dana Seaman's Man. 104 Fancy-line, a line rove through a block at the jaws of a gaff, used as a downhaul. 1874J. T. Micklethwaite Mod. Par. Churches 77 To increase the list of fancy and solo stops [in an organ].
b. fancy roller (in a Carding-engine): see quots.
1850Specif. E. Leigh's Patent No. 13027. 2 Thirdly in the employment of a ‘fancy roller’ for partially stripping the main cylinder, such roller being only partially clothed with card. 1873E. Leigh Cotton Spinning I. 144 For heavy carding a fancy roller, which is a roller that overruns the periphery of the cylinder, is sometimes used with advantage..[It] lifts the cotton that would otherwise get wedged in the wire of the cylinder, and thereby admits heavy carding.
3. Calling forth or resulting from the exercise of fancy or caprice.
a. Of an action: Capricious, whimsical.
1646E. Pagitt Heresiogr. (ed. 3) 118 Their own fancy presumption they call..justifying faith. a1820W. Irving Sketch Bk., Stratford-on-Avon (1865) 330 The Avon..made a variety of the most fancy doublings. 1821Blackw. Mag. X. 417 Many a fancy flam was proposed. 1837Dickens Pickw. xix, As a display of fancy shooting, it was extremely varied and curious.
b. Of a price, rent, etc.: Estimated by caprice, rather than by actual value. So fancy stocks (cf. fancy n. 14).
a1838Macaulay Life & Lett. (1883) II. 28 The fancy price which a peculiar turn of mind led me to put on my liberty. 1848J. R. Bartlett Americanisms 132 Fancy Stocks. A species of stocks which are bought and sold to a great extent in New York..Nearly all the fluctuations in their prices are artificial. 1874J. T. Micklethwaite Mod. Par. Churches 312 They will give a fancy price for a work by a Leighton. 1874R. Tyrwhitt Sketch. Club 197 To take a moor at a fancy rent. 1888T. E. Holland in Times 18 Aug. 8/4 The bombardment of an unfortified town..for the purpose of enforcing a fancy contribution or ransom.
c. Of an animal or bird: Of a kind bred for the development of particular ‘points’ or qualities. Also in fancy-farm: an experimental farm.
1810Sporting Mag. XXXVI. 10 A great many sorts of fancy-pigeons. 1818Scott Hrt. Midl. xlii, To engage him..to superintend his fancy-farm in Dumbartonshire. 1851Mayhew Lond. Labour II. 54 A dog recommended by its beauty, or any peculiarity..is a ‘fancy’ animal. 1880Gainsburgh Times 20 Feb. in N.W. Linc. Gloss., ‘What sort of a dog was it?’..‘A fancy dog’. 1881J. C. Lyell Fancy Pigeons Introd., Fancy pigeons from the lofts of well-known breeders.
d. fancy franchise: one based on an arbitrarily determined qualification (see quot. 1868).
1859Hansard Commons 28 Feb. 1025 [John Bright loq.] I say, all these fancy franchises are absurd. 1868Chambers' Encycl. X. 695/2 The dual vote was early abandoned, and its abandonment involved that of the ‘fancy’ franchises..they proposed to give votes to all who paid {pstlg}1 annually in direct taxes (not including licences), who belonged to certain of the better educated professions, or who had {pstlg}50 in a savings-bank or in the funds. 1889Tablet 21 Dec. 983 Fancy franchises were also abandoned.
e. fancy religion (see quot.).
1925Fraser & Gibbons Soldier & Sailor Words, Fancy religion, a very old Service colloquial term in both Navy and Army for a creed or denomination not Church of England, Roman Catholic, or Presbyterian, before the War the three authorized creeds.
4. Based upon or drawn from conceptions of the fancy (n. 3), as fancy picture, fancy piece, fancy portrait, fancy sketch.
1800M. Edgeworth Belinda (1832) II. 2 This picture is not a fancy-piece. c1811Fuseli Lect. Art iv. (1848) 437 The Phantasiæ of the ancients..modern art..in what is called Fancy-pictures, has..debased. 1844Whittier Two Processions Prose Wks. 1889 III. 116 The caricature of our ‘general sympathizers’..is by no means a fancy sketch. 1870Emerson Soc. & Solit., Art. Wks. (Bohn) III. 20 In sculpture, did ever anybody call the Apollo a fancy piece? 1873Rogers Orig. Bible i. (1875) 36 We..look at this wonderful character as a fancy portrait.
5. Applied to a person who is fancied or who fancies himself: mostly synonymous (but in some expressions with slang overtones) with fancy man a, or fancy-woman. Cf. also fancy-girl (sense B. 2 above).
1891Kipling Light that Failed v. 73 'E brought some most remarkable fancy young gentlemen up 'ere. 1905H. Ellis Stud. Psychol. Sex IV. 235, I..told her again I had no money. She..said, ‘That does not matter... I want you to be my fancy boy.’ 1934T. S. Eliot Rock i. 12 One o' them fancy lads—a good soldier and fond o' the ladies—but a great one for 'is church. 1938E. Bowen Death of Heart iii. iv. 381 Eddie had been warned..that one could not go to all lengths as Mrs. Quayne's fancy boy. 1942Berrey & Van den Bark Amer. Thes. Slang §452. 3 Dandy,..fancy pants. 1967‘M. Hunter’ Cambridgeshire Disaster viii. 52 Some puffed-up fancy pants..said something which made the barmaid laugh.
▪ II. fancy, v.|ˈfænsɪ|
Also α. 6 fancie, 6–7 fansie, 8 fansy. β. 6–7 phancie, -cy, (6 phansie).
[f. prec. n. Cf. the older fantasy v.]
I. With reference to mental conception.
1. trans.
a. To frame in fancy; to portray in the mind; to picture to oneself; to conceive, imagine. Also (with notion of fancy n. 3), to suppose oneself to perceive.
1646Sir T. Browne Pseud. Ep. iv. xii. 215 Severall nations and ages do fancy unto themselves different years of danger. a1661Fuller Worthies (1840) I. 110 It [Berkshire] may be fancied in a form like a lute. 1713Swift Cadenus & Vanessa, She fancies musick in his tongue. 1748Hartley Observ. Man i. iii. 327 Fansying to our⁓selves a confused Heap of Things. 1769Junius Lett. xx. 97 The author is..at liberty to fancy cases, and make..comparisons. 1860Thackeray Four Georges i. (1862) 31, I fancy a considerable shrewdness..in his ways.
absol.c1698Locke Cond. Underst. §31 If all our Search has yet reach'd no farther than simile..we rather fancie than know.
b. with simple complement, or to be: To imagine (a person, oneself, a thing) to be (so and so).
1662Stillingfl. Orig. Sacr. iii. iv. §6 Some have fancyed the earth to bee as one great animal. 1696tr. Du Mont's Voy. Levant 61, I fansi'd my self restor'd from Death to Life. 1728Young Love Fame iii. Wks. (1757) 109 What most we wish, with ease we fansy near. 1833H. Martineau Vanderput & S. i. 11 Learning to fancy himself better than he is. 1856Kane Arct. Expl. II. xxii. 218, I could have fancied it a walrus. 1869J. Martineau Ess. II. 64 He fancies himself not in the senate, but on the bench.
†c. with inf. as obj. Obs.
1726J. M. tr. Tragic. Hist. Chev. de Vaudray 157 He, at last, fancy'd to have found the Mystery of it. 1754A. Murphy Gray's Inn Journal (1756) II. 194 No. 83, I fancied to myself to see my amiable Country-women engaged in a deep Debate.
d. with obj. and inf. or object clause. Also, † To represent imaginatively.
1551Bp. Gardiner Explic. true Cath. Fayth 137 Fansinge that as one waue in the water thrusteth away an other, so doth one fourme an other. 1630R. Johnson's Kingd. & Commw. 64 The figure of Europe is fancied to resemble a Queene. 1638Baker tr. Balzac's Lett. II. 64 Imployments, in which I fancy in my minde, we may spend our time. 1654tr. Scudery's Curia Pol. 5 A device..which fansied me to passe beyond Hercules's Pillars. a1682Sir T. Browne Tracts (1683) 107 He is aptly phancied even still revengefully to pursue his hated Wife. 1791Mrs. Radcliffe Rom. Forest x, She almost fancied she heard voices swell in the storm. 1845M. Pattison Ess. (1889) I. 7 We read Bingham, and fancy we are studying ecclesiastical history.
e. In colloq. use often in the imperative as an exclamation of suprise. Also absol.
1813Jane Austen Let. 6 Nov. (1932) II. 90 Very snug, in my own room, lovely morng, excellent fire, fancy me. 1834Medwin Angler in Wales I. 159 Fancy me boxed up in the narrow vehicle. 1850E. Ruskin Let. 9 Feb. in M. Lutyens Effie in Venice (1965) i. 139 But, only fancy, the Thousands and Thousands of wax lights. 1859Lang Wand. India 13 Fancy we three meeting again in the Himalaya mountains! 1861Thackeray Round. Papers, On being found out 126 Fancy all the boys in all the school being whipped. 1881Grant White Eng. Without & Within xvi. 388 Fancy, now! [in England] a very common expression of surprise. a1943R. G. Collingwood Idea Hist. (1946) v. 270 Whom is she shielding? Either her father or her young man. Is it her father? No: fancy the rector! 1971E. McGirr No Better Fiend 83, I did the ‘fancy that!’ line of patter.
† f. to fancy out: to represent by an image; to exemplify. Obs. rare.
1669Sturmy Mariner's Mag. vi. 105 The two later Motions are fancied out unto us, by a Man turning a Crane-Wheel, or Grind-stone 365 times round, while a Worm..creeps once round the contrary way.
2. To believe without being able to prove; to have an idea that. Frequently in I fancy: I rather think.
1672Sir C. Lyttelton in Hatton Corr. (1878) 99, I phancy the Dukes match wth y⊇ Archduchesse is a little dulld. 1790T. Jefferson Writ. (1859) III. 162 This day, I fancy, will determine whether we are to be removed to Philadelphia or not. 1825Cobbett Rur. Rides (1885) II. 33 The estate is, I fancy, theirs yet. 1883F. M. Peard Contrad. xviii, We fancy she is engaged to a Mr. Atherton.
3. To liken (a thing) in fancy † to; to transform (it) into. rare.
1646Buck Rich. III Ded., I fancy them to our shaddowes. 1801Southey Thalaba iv. ix, Hast thou never, in the twilight, fancied Familiar object into some strange shape? 1868Lowell Witchcraft Prose Wks. 1890 II. 356 The first child that ever bestrode his father's staff, and fancied it into a courser.
†4. To arrange in or according to fancy, or with artistic taste; to contrive, devise, design, plan.
1624Massinger Parl. Love iv. ii, Something I must fancy, to dissuade him From doing sudden violence on himself. 1635Swan Spec. M. v. §2 (1643) 136 They [painters] fashion diversly according to their skill in phancying the laying of their colours. 1665Sir T. Herbert Trav. (1677) 145 The figure of a Horse preparing to defend himself against a Lion; but so rarely fancied as gains the Sculptor praise. 1716Lady M. W. Montague Lett. (1763) I. vii. 32 Furniture..so well fancied and fitted up. a1759Goldsm. Bee No. 2 On Dress, Clothes..fancied by the artist who dresses the three battalions of Guards. 1759B. Martin Nat. Hist. Eng. I. 298 The mourning Pallases at the Base of it [a martial Figure] are both well fansied and well adapted.
†5. To allot or ascribe in fancy. Obs.
a1643W. Cartwright Ordinary iv. ii, I fancy'd you a beating. 1646Sir T. Browne Pseud. Ep. i. vi. 23 To fancy wings unto Dædalus. 1647N. Bacon Disc. Govt. Eng. i. lvi. (1739) 103 Fame hath fancied him that Title.
6. To have a good conceit of, plume oneself upon (oneself, one's own actions or qualities). colloq.
1866Daily Tel. 20 Jan. 8/1 He ogles, he ‘fancies himself’. 1886H. Conway Living or Dead viii, I was conceited and fancied my game at whist.
II. With reference to fondness or liking.
†7.
a. To be to the fancy of; to please.
b. To attach by ‘fancy’ or liking to. Obs. rare.
1566Painter Pal. Pleas. (1890) III. 431 The sauourous fruict..fansied the sensuall taste of Adams Wyfe. c1590Greene Fr. Bacon (1630) 17 Fast fancied to the Keepers bonny Lasse.
8. To take a fancy to; to entertain a liking for; to be pleased with; to like.
a. with obj. a person. (In early use often = to be or fall in love with.)
1545Udall, etc. Erasm. Par. Luke i. 54 The people of Israel..as a people more derely beloued and fansyed. 1568Grafton Chron. II. 225 She went as simply as she might, to thentent that the king should not phansie her. 1596Shakes. Tam. Shr. ii. i. 12, I neuer yet beheld that speciall face, Which I could fancie, more then any other. 1614Raleigh Hist. World i. i. §8. 199 Ninus..fancied her so strongly, as, (neglecting all Princely respects) he took her from her husband. 1663–4Dryden Rival Ladies i. ii, I do not think she fancies much the man. 1838Mrs. Carlyle Lett. I. 95 Carlyle breakfasted with Moore..and fancied him.
absol.1588Greene Perimedes 53 Sheepheards can fancie, but they cannot saye. 1601Shakes. Twel. N. ii. v. 29 Should shee fancie, it should bee one of my complection. 1713Swift Cadenus & Vanessa, Five thousand guineas in her purse! The doctor might have fancy'd worse.
b. with obj. a thing; also † with inf. as obj.
1598B. Jonson Ev. Man in Hum. i. i, Not to spend Your coyne on euery bable, that you phansie. 1644Milton Areop. (Arb.) 39 Burning..what they fansied not. 1669A. Browne Ars Pict. App. (1675) 24 One phansies to draw Pictures by the Life. 1727Pope, &c. Art of Sinking 119 Throw all the adventures you fancy into one tale. 1852Mrs. Stowe Uncle Tom's C. xx, Miss Ophelia was uneasy that Eva should fancy Topsy's society so much. Mod. The patient may eat anything that he fancies.
c. To view (a horse) favourably as a likely winner of a race.
1922Joyce Ulysses 391 A racing-horse he fancied. 1923Wodehouse Inimitable Jeeves xi. 116 Ocean Breeze is fancied, as I am told the expression is, for a race which will take place..at Goodwood.
III. 9. To breed (animals or birds); to grow (plants) so as to develop in them conventional ‘points’ of beauty. Also, simply to breed.
1851Mayhew Lond. Labour I. 15 Pigeons are ‘fancied’ to a large extent. 1876[see fancying vbl. n.].
Hence ˈfancying vbl. n., the action of the verb in various senses; also concr. something that one fancies.
1662Petty Taxes 6 Civil wars are..caused by peoples fansying that [etc.]. a1729S. Clarke Serm. I. (1738) xl. 252 A childish..imagination, that God is pleas'd with their..fansying that they believe they know not what. 1758Franklin Let. Wks. 1887 III. 8 Another of my fancyings..a pair of silk blankets. a1839Praed Poems (1864) II. 184 The fancyings of fancy costumes. 1876Encycl. Brit. IV. 249/2 ‘Fancying’ is not governed by rules identical with those which regulate breeding for economic purposes. 1889Athenæum 16 Nov. 667/3 The excellent fancying of the little ‘genteel’ colony in Bankside. |