FAIR

[beck123]

Inspired by Slava's "pretty."

1. (n.) a marketplace or showcase: the county fair

2. (adj.) not unsightly; pretty: My Fair Lady

3. (adj.) mediocre; middle-of-the-road: Despite all her work, she earned only a fair grade on her project.

4. (adj.) considerable (amount); more than a little: he was left with a fair amount of work to do before leaving

5. (adj.) equitable; unbiased; according to established rules: a fair trial

6. (adj.) describing weather that is neither cloudy nor rainy, neither too hot nor too cold

[Slava]

dictionary.com, in its first entry, has 31 different uses for this simple word. Why are the simple ones the most complicated?

Here's some background from the same source:

O.E. fæger "beautiful, pleasant," from P.Gmc. *fagraz (cf. O.N. fagr, O.H.G. fagar "beautiful," Goth. fagrs "fit"), from PIE *fag-. The meaning in reference to weather (c.1200) preserves the original sense (opposed to foul). Sense of "light complexioned" (1550s) reflects tastes in beauty; sense of "free from bias" (mid-14c.) evolved from another early meaning, "morally pure, unblemished" (late 12c.). The sporting senses (fair ball, fair catch etc.) began in 1856. Fair play is from 1590s; fair and square is from c.1600. Fair-haired in the figurative sense of "darling, favorite" is from 1909. First record of fair-weather friends is from 1736.

[saparris]

from http://puzzles.about.com/library/weekly/blmosdef.htm

"The word 'set' has the most definitions of any word in the English language. 'Set' has 464 definitions in the Oxford English Dictionary. Here's how the others stack up:

RUN - 396
GO - 368
TAKE - 343
STAND - 334
GET - 289
TURN - 288
PUT - 268
FALL - 264
STRIKE - 250

[Audiendus]

There has been a recent tendency in England to give the word fair (in the sense of "rural marketplace" or "fête") the archaic spelling fayre. This is now probably the more common British spelling of the word in that sense. (Where the emphasis is on entertainment - as in "funfair" or "circus" - fair is more usual.)

The word fare (in the sense of "food") is also now usually spelt fayre (which I believe is historically wrong). In both cases, the idea seems to have been to give an "Olde England" association to the events and the produce sold there. Come to the Village Fayre and buy some good wholesome fayre!