fair maidn.
/ˌfɛː ˈmeɪd/, U.S. /ˈfɛ(ə)r ˈmeɪd/ 1. In the names of any of several plants having attractive and delicate flowers.
a. fair maid of France n. (also fair maids of France) [compare French belle-pucelle de France (1785 or earlier)] (a) ragged robin, Lychnis flos-cuculi; (b) aconite-leaved buttercup, Ranunculus aconitifolius, esp. the double-flowered variety flore pleno; (c) meadow saxifrage, Saxifraga granulata; (d) sneezewort, Achillea ptarmica.
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the world > plants > particular plants > cultivated or valued plants > particular cultivated or ornamental plants > particular flower or plant esteemed for flower > [noun] > campions and catchflies
rose campion1530
jagged pink1574
cuckoo-gilliflower1578
flower Constantinople1578
marsh gilliflower1578
wild William1578
crow-flower1597
gardener's delight1597
nonsuch1597
cuckoo-flower1629
fair maid of France1629
meadow pink1660
Bristol Non-such1668
flower of Bristol1672
knight-cross1725
ragged robin1731
fair maid of Kent1813
flower of Jove1840
mullein pink1840
fire pink1848
sticky catchfly1908
the world > plants > particular plants > plants and herbs > according to family > Ranunculaceae (crowfoot and allies) > [noun] > other plants of the Ranunculaceae
aconitum1551
frog-wort1562
fair maid of France1823
starve-acre1855
mountain lily1880
trollius1899
1629 J. Parkinson Paradisi in Sole xxxviii. 256 The feathered Campions are called Armoraria pratensis, and Flos Cuculi... And some call the double hereof, The faire Maide of France.
1775 R. Weston Flora Anglicana 116 White Mountain Ranunculus, or Fair Maid of France.
1823 G. Crabb Universal Technol. Dict. at Fair Fair Maid of France, the Ranunculus aconitifolius of Linnæus, a perennial.
1878 J. Britten & R. Holland Dict. Eng. Plant-names Saxifraga granulata, L. Billy Button, Cuckoo-flower, Fair Maid of France, First of May.
1884 W. Miller Dict. Eng. Names Plants 155/1 Achillea... Ptarmica. Bastard Pellitory, Fair-Maids-of-France, Goose-tongie, Sneeze-wort.
1920 W. E. Brenchley Weeds of Farm Land xiii. 216 Lynchnis Flos-cuculi..cuckoo gilliflower, fair maid of France, [etc.].
1947 E. H. Hausman Illustr. Encycl. Amer. Wild Flowers 118/1 Sneezewort (Achillea Ptarmica) Other common names are: White Tansy, Sneezewort-Yarrow, Fair-maid-of-France.
1996 Chiltern Seeds Catal. 213 Meadow Saxifrage, Fair Maids of France. A rather charming native wild flower.
2008 Times (Nexis) 13 Sept. (Mag.) 80 We walk past great swaths of blue meconopsis poppies and fair maids of France.
b. fair maid of February n. (also fair maids of February) the snowdrop, Galanthus nivalis.
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the world > plants > particular plants > cultivated or valued plants > particular cultivated or ornamental plants > particular flower or plant esteemed for flower > [noun] > daffodil and allied flowers > snowdrop
snowdrop1664
snow-flower1664
fair maid of February1754
1754 Gentleman's Mag. Sept. 430/2 (note) The snow drops, in Suffolk, are call'd The fair maids of February.
1776 W. Withering Bot. Arrangem. Veg. Great Brit. II. 783 Snowdrop... Fair Maids of February.
1843 Sat. Mag. 28 Jan. 31/1 The 'Fair Maid of February', or Snowdrop, which, though not originally indigenous to England, is now spoken of in our botanical works as a native plant.
1863 R. C. A. Prior On Pop. Names Brit. Plants 76 Fair Maids of February, white flowers that blossom about the 2nd of that month.
1903 Coast July 13/2 In England it [sc. the snow drop] is called ‘the fair maid of February’.
2000 J. S. Jones Welsh Boys Too 59 They'd gone off for a walk in the winter sunshine and discovered a beautiful old walled garden ablaze with crocus, Lenten roses and fair maids of February.
c. fair maid of Kent n. (also fair maids of Kent) = fair maid of France n. (b) at sense 1a.
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the world > plants > particular plants > cultivated or valued plants > particular cultivated or ornamental plants > particular flower or plant esteemed for flower > [noun] > campions and catchflies
rose campion1530
jagged pink1574
cuckoo-gilliflower1578
flower Constantinople1578
marsh gilliflower1578
wild William1578
crow-flower1597
gardener's delight1597
nonsuch1597
cuckoo-flower1629
fair maid of France1629
meadow pink1660
Bristol Non-such1668
flower of Bristol1672
knight-cross1725
ragged robin1731
fair maid of Kent1813
flower of Jove1840
mullein pink1840
fire pink1848
sticky catchfly1908
1813 J. M. Good et al. Pantologia Fair-maid-of-Kent, in botany. See Ranunculus.
1878 J. Britten & R. Holland Dict. Eng. Plant-names Fair Maids of Kent, the double-flowered variety of Ranunculus aconitifolius.
1904 Child Life 15 Oct. 207/2 Sometimes special localities are denoted: London Pride (Saxifraga umbrosa); Fair Maids of Kent (Ranunculus aconitifolius); and the Star of Bethlehem.
2004 D. Joyce Best Flowers to grow & Cut 63/3 Ranunculus aconitifolius.., fair maids of Kent, white bachelor's buttons. Dazzling white border perennial.
2. English regional (Cornwall). A pilchard preserved by curing. Cf. fumade n.
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the world > food and drink > food > animals for food > seafood > [noun] > fish > cured fish > salted or pickled fish
pickle-herring1463
round shore-herring1469
split herring1469
white herring1469
white-salted herring1469
ling fish1489
pickled herring?1577
mudfish1600
old ling1600
sea-stick1604
cor1624
crux-herrings1641
red fish1728
dunfish1746
sea steak1798
caveach1822
fair maid1823
dun codfish1839
crape-fish1856
black herring1883
rollmop1892
schmaltz herring1912
stink-fish1913
stinking fish1935
Spithead pheasant1948
1823 T. Bond Topogr. & Hist. Sketches E. & W. Looe 82 (note) At a trial at the Cornish Assizes some years ago, a witness..puzzled his lordship and the council, by telling them he was..‘eating Fair maids and drinking Mahogany’.
1848 C. A. Johns Week at Lizard 54 The Italians call them [sc. salted pilchards] fumados..from a corruption of this word they are universally called, in Cornwall, ‘fair-maids’.
1883 Official Catal. Internat. Fisheries Exhib. (ed. 4) 128 Quarter Hogsheads of Fairmaids.
1902 Longman's Mag. 40 351 The sums realised by the sale of fresh pilchards, and those furnished by the export of ‘fairmaids’ to the Mediterranean, had been put together.
1990 A. Barber Mousehole Cat On Thursdays they grilled fairmaids, a mouth-watering meal.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, December 2013; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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n.1629