fay

Etymology 1

From Middle English faie, fei (“a place or person possessed with magical properties”), from Middle French feie, fée (“fairy", "fae”). More at fairy.

noun

1. A fairy.

adj

1. Fairy like.

Etymology 2

From Middle English feyen, feien, from Old English fēġan (“to join, unite”), from Proto-Germanic *fōgijaną (“to join”), from *fōgō (“joint, slot”), from Proto-Indo-European *paḱ- (“to fasten, place”). Akin to Old Frisian fōgia (“to join”), Old Saxon fōgian (“to join”), Middle Low German fögen (“to join, add”), Dutch voegen (“to add, place”), Old High German fuogen (“to connect”) (German fügen (“to connect”)), Old English fōn (“to catch”). More at fang.

verb

1. (obsolete) To fit.
2. (shipbuilding, transitive) To join (pieces of timber) tightly.
   I have a strip cutter and I can cut the exact widths I need to fit, they are easy to fay together and attach very firmly to the bulkheads. Model Shipbuilders, 2010
3. (shipbuilding, intransitive) Of pieces of timber: to lie close together.
4. (obsolete) To fadge.

adj

1. Fitted closely together.
   Under the four outer corners of the horizontal frame platform 22 are four tubular leg sleeves 23 that are fay together one at each outer corner. US Patent Application 20070033853, 2006

Etymology 3

From Middle English fegien, fæien (“to cleanse”), from Old Norse fægja (“to cleanse, polish”), from Proto-Germanic *fēgijaną (“to decorate, make beautiful”), from Proto-Indo-European *pōḱ-, *pēḱ- (“to clean, adorn”). Cognate with Swedish feja (“to sweep”), Danish feje (“to sweep”), German fegen (“to cleanse, scour, sweep”), Dutch vegen (“to sweep, strike”). More at feague, fake, fair.

verb

1. (dialectal) To cleanse; clean out.

Etymology 4

Abbreviation of ofay.

noun

1. (US slang) A white person.

adj

1. (US slang) White; white-skinned.