fairing

Etymology 1

From fair (“community gathering, market”). In the sense of food, because cakes and sweets were sold at fairs.

noun

1. (now archaic) A gift or other souvenir bought at a fair.
   She told me she was on her way to the fair in Bolzano and assumed I was going there too. Should we meet there, I must buy her a fairing [translating Jahrmarkt]. 1962, JW Goethe, translated by WH Auden and Elizabeth Mayer, Italian Journey, Penguin, published 1970, page 28
2. (now rare) A present, especially given by a lover.
3. (Scotland, Ireland, now rare) Something that is deserved; one's deserts.
4. A type of small gingerbread biscuit; a ginger nut.
   […] the ground […] was already being occupied by the “cheap Jacks,” with their green-covered carts and marvellous assortment of wares; and the booths of more legitimate small traders, with their tempting arrays of fairings and eatables; and penny peep-shows and other shows, containing pink-eyed ladies, and dwarfs, and boa-constrictors, and wild Indians. 1857, Thomas Hughes, Tom Brown's School Days, Part I, Chapter 2

Etymology 2

From fair (“to smoothen or even a surface”).

verb

1. present participle and gerund of fair

noun

1. A structure on various parts of a vehicle, for example an aircraft, automobile, or motorcycle, that produces a smooth exterior and reduces drag.