I. ˈfā adjective
( -er/-est )
Etymology: Middle English feie, feye, fay, from Old English fǣge; akin to Old Saxon fēgi, fēg doomed to die, Old High German feigi, Old Norse feigr, and perhaps to Old English fāh hostile, outlawed — more at foe
1.
a. now chiefly Scotland : fated to die : doomed
they dashed and hewed and smashed till fey men died away — Robert Burns
b. : marked or disturbed by an apprehension of death or calamity
another and lesser man … gave a fey lonely warning — Hodding Carter
2.
a. : being in a wild or elated state of mind formerly believed to portend death : behaving in an excited irresponsible manner : beside oneself
she must be fey and in that case has not long to live — Sir Walter Scott
was fey that night, with a kind of febrile gaiety, because the favored lover of the moment was home — Frances Towers
b. : out of one's mind : mad
he went fey
: touched
the apparently fey but sharply pointed eccentricities — Louis Untermeyer
3.
[probably influenced in meaning by fay (IV) ]
a. : able to see fairies or to have intuitions about the future : possessing a sixth sense : clairvoyant
what qualifications have I to discuss fairies; am I fey — O.S.J.Gogarty
not being fey he never suspected what it would lead to
b. : characterized by an unworldly air or attitude : elfin
she has that half shy, half fey smile and that birdlike perkiness — A.G.Ogden
the fey quality was there, the ability to see the moon at midday — John Mason Brown
: visionary
a Celtic penchant for fey fancies that contrasted with the other's stolid matter-of-factness
II.
variant of fay II
III. adjective
1. : excessively refined : precious
2. : quaintly unconventional : campy