What does "fancy" mean?
Fancy: 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 Shak.
Additional senses
- 2.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. Locke.
- 3.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. Shak.
- 4.That which pleases or entertains the taste or caprice without much use or value. London pride is a pretty fancy for borders. Mortimer.
- 5.A sort of love song or light impromptu ballad. [Obs.] Shak. 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. De Quincey. See Imagination.
- 6.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. Locke.
- 7.To love. [Obs.] Shak.
- 8.To form a conception of; to portray in the mind; to imagine. He whom I fancy, but can ne'er express. Dryden.
- 9.To have a fancy for; to like; to be pleased with, particularly on account of external appearance or manners. "We fancy not the cardinal." Shak.
- 10.To believe without sufficient evidence; to imagine (something which is unreal). He fancied he was welcome, because those arounde him were his kinsmen. Thackeray.
- 11.Adapted to please the fancy or taste; ornamental; as, fancy goods.
- 12.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. Macaulay. 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.
Sources
- Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913 edition (public domain, via GCIDE / Project Gutenberg).
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- Published: 2026-07-17T00:00:00-07:00 · Modified: 2026-07-17T00:00:00-07:00