Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- noun A fur, probably squirrel, much used in medieval times to line and trim robes.
- noun Heraldry A representation of fur.
from The Century Dictionary.
- noun A kind of fur in use in the middle ages.
- noun In heraldry, one of the furs. See
tincture , 2.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- noun The skin of the squirrel, much used in the fourteenth century as fur for garments, and frequently mentioned by writers of that period in describing the costly dresses of kings, nobles, and prelates. It is represented in heraldry by a series of small shields placed close together, and alternately white and blue.
- noun (Her.) a fur resembling vair, except in the arrangement of the patches or figures.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- noun archaic A type of
fur from asquirrel with a black back and white belly, much used on garments in the Middle Ages. - noun heraldry An
heraldic fur formed by a regulartessellation of blue and whitebell shapes.
Etymologies
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
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Examples
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But me luvz teh rain vair much so I don't mind if it doesn't!
Archive 2009-04-01 2009
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It is a land of mountains and forests, where there are to be found the animals called vair [215], ermine, and sable.
The Itinerary of Benjamin of Tudela Benjamin of Tudela
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In these laws sable is called vair, and it has been asserted that Perrault marked the dignity conferred upon Cinderella by the fairy's gift of a slipper of vair, a privilege confined to the highest rank of princesses.
Literary Blunders; A chapter in the "History of Human Error" 1893
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In these laws sable is called vair, and it has been asserted that Perrault marked the dignity conferred upon Cinderella by the fairy's gift of a slipper of vair, a privilege confined to the highest rank of princesses.
Literary Blunders Henry Benjamin Wheatley 1877
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Cinderella's famous slipper was made of "vair," which, through a misapprehension in being translated
Arts and Crafts in the Middle Ages A Description of Mediaeval Workmanship in Several of the Departments of Applied Art, Together with Some Account of Special Artisans in the Early Renaissance Julia de Wolf Gibbs Addison
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She was idly wondering what a "vair" might be when her dreams were crashed into by mother's reproving voice: "Missy, what are you doing?
Missy Dana Gatlin
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If I was smart like Joe I would be restoring vintage caddy, not vintage vair.
charles statman Charles Statman 2009
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I can't say it's the best crossover recording "ever made," but I do love Die Singphoniker's "Serenade" (they sing a bunch of Beatles songs as well as "Zair vair bells on zhu hill" from "The Music Man") 3.
Salvati dunque e scolpati Matthew Guerrieri 2007
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If I was smart like Joe I would be restoring vintage caddy, not vintage vair.
Archive 2009-05-01 Charles Statman 2009
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Nor does it seem to be a case of mishearing, with Perrault writing verre for vair when transcribing an oral account, since vair, a medieval word, was no longer used in his time.
Were Cinderella’s glass slippers a mistranslation? « Musings from an overworked translator 2008
sionnach commented on the word vair
A fur much used for lining and trimming garments in the 13th and 14th centuries, generally assumed to have been that of a variety of squirrel with a gray back and white belly.
Heraldry: a fur represented by a pattern of escutcheon- or bell-shaped figures, each outlining the adjacent sides of those beside it so that the figures alternate vertically and horizontally both in position and in tinctures, of which argent and azure are common.
The belief that Cinderella wore glass slippers actually arises from a confusion of vair (squirrel-fur) with its homonym verre (glass). In all probability, she went to the ball wearing fashionable furry footwear.
November 12, 2007
fakeymcfakeypants commented on the word vair
In typography, 'vertical dimension of hairlines' Interactive Evolution of Fonts
September 21, 2016
fakeymcfakeypants commented on the word vair
Also, 'the vertical thickness of the connecting strokes of lowercase letters' Fonts & Encodings
September 21, 2016