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Fancy   /fˈænsi/   Listen
verb
Fancy  v. t.  
1.
To form a conception of; to portray in the mind; to imagine. "He whom I fancy, but can ne'er express."
2.
To have a fancy for; to like; to be pleased with, particularly on account of external appearance or manners. "We fancy not the cardinal."
3.
To believe without sufficient evidence; to imagine (something which is unreal). "He fancied he was welcome, because those arounde him were his kinsmen."



Fancy  v. i.  (past & past part. fancied, pres. part. fancying)  
1.
To figure to one's self; to believe or imagine something without proof. "If our search has reached no farther than simile and metaphor, we rather fancy than know."
2.
To love. (Obs.)



adjective
Fancy  adj.  
1.
Adapted to please the fancy or taste, especially when of high quality or unusually appealing; ornamental; as, fancy goods; fancy clothes.
2.
Extravagant; above real value. "This anxiety never degenerated into a monomania, like that which led his (Frederick the Great's) father to pay fancy prices for giants."
Fancy ball, a ball in which porsons appear in fanciful dresses in imitation of the costumes of different persons and nations.
Fancy fair, a fair at which articles of fancy and ornament are sold, generally for some charitable purpose.
Fancy goods, fabrics of various colors, patterns, etc., as ribbons, silks, laces, etc., in distinction from those of a simple or plain color or make.
Fancy line (Naut.), a line rove through a block at the jaws of a gaff; used to haul it down.
Fancy roller (Carding Machine), a clothed cylinder (usually having straight teeth) in front of the doffer.
Fancy stocks, a species of stocks which afford great opportunity for stock gambling, since they have no intrinsic value, and the fluctuations in their prices are artificial.
Fancy store, one where articles of fancy and ornament are sold.
Fancy woods, the more rare and expensive furniture woods, as mahogany, satinwood, rosewood, etc.



noun
Fancy  n.  (pl. fancies)  
1.
The faculty by which the mind forms an image or a representation of anything perceived before; the power of combining and modifying such objects into new pictures or images; the power of readily and happily creating and recalling such objects for the purpose of amusement, wit, or embellishment; imagination. "In the soul Are many lesser faculties, that serve Reason as chief. Among these fancy next Her office holds."
2.
An image or representation of anything formed in the mind; conception; thought; idea; conceit. "How now, my lord! why do you keep alone, Of sorriest fancies your companoins making?"
3.
An opinion or notion formed without much reflection; caprice; whim; impression. "I have always had a fancy that learning might be made a play and recreation to children."
4.
Inclination; liking, formed by caprice rather than reason; as, to strike one's fancy; hence, the object of inclination or liking. "To fit your fancies to your father's will."
5.
That which pleases or entertains the taste or caprice without much use or value. "London pride is a pretty fancy for borders."
6.
A sort of love song or light impromptu ballad. (Obs.)
The fancy, all of a class who exhibit and cultivate any peculiar taste or fancy; hence, especially, sporting characters taken collectively, or any specific class of them, as jockeys, gamblers, prize fighters, etc. "At a great book sale in London, which had congregated all the fancy."
Synonyms: Imagination; conceit; taste; humor; inclination; whim; liking. See Imagination.






Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48








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"Fancy" Quotes from Famous Books



... toad, which was still countenanced by at least one medical authority of note. I have read recently in some medical journal, that an American practitioner, whose name is known to the country, is prescribing the hoof of a horse for epilepsy. It was doubtless suggested by that old fancy of wearing a portion of elk's hoof hung round the neck or in a ring, for this disease. But it is hard to persuade reasonable people to swallow the abominations of a former period. The evidence which satisfied Fernelius will not serve ...
— The Autocrat of the Breakfast-Table • Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr. (The Physician and Poet not the Jurist)

... 'Purity.' Then quick, With restless hands, she culled the floral star— Queen of the wave—emblem of innocence, And hung it in the lion's matted mane, And twined it round the serpent's glittering neck; Thus humoring her fancy in the play Till half the morning hours had slipped and gone. Then, startled by the voice she loved so well, She left the sport, the creatures, and the flowers, And hastened back with Adam to the trees Where God was walking ...
— The Continental Monthly, Vol. 3 No 2, February 1863 - Devoted To Literature And National Policy • Various

... fancy distanced the tree on its imaginary voyage, but his memory lagging behind some twenty years or more in point of time saw a young and slim Almayer, clad all in white and modest-looking, landing from the Dutch mail-boat on the dusty jetty of Macassar, coming ...
— Almayer's Folly - A Story of an Eastern River • Joseph Conrad

... know that Elsa's soul is fast bound in the spell of suspicion which Ortrud put upon her. She gets nearer and nearer to the fatal question, and suddenly in the impotent rage of a fretful woman who cannot get her way—a woman driven mad by baseless jealousy—in fancy she sees the swan coming to lead Lohengrin away from her; with mournful and dreary effect a fragment of the swan theme sounds from the orchestra. This simple touch is weird to a degree never dreamed of by all the purveyors of operatic horrors; it is unearthly, uncanny, in its wild beauty. The ...
— Richard Wagner - Composer of Operas • John F. Runciman

... in his dog-cart; the Empress drove with the Princess Metternich in a victoria to the field, where she left her and returned to the chateau. I fancy she was afraid of the dampness of this bleak ...
— In the Courts of Memory 1858-1875. • L. de Hegermann-Lindencrone


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