[syn: fancy, go for, take to]
ADJECTIVE (1)
1. not plain; decorative or ornamented;
- Example: "fancy handwriting"
- Example: "fancy clothes"
The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:
Fancy \Fan"cy\, v. t.
1. To form a conception of; to portray in the mind; to
imagine.
[1913 Webster]
He whom I fancy, but can ne'er express. --Dryden.
[1913 Webster]
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." --Shak.
[1913 Webster]
3. To believe without sufficient evidence; to imagine
(something which is unreal).
[1913 Webster]
He fancied he was welcome, because those arounde him
were his kinsmen. --Thackeray.
[1913 Webster]
The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:
Fancy \Fan"cy\ (f[a^]n"s[y^]), n.; pl. Fancies. [Contr. fr.
fantasy, OF. fantasie, fantaisie, F. fantaisie, L. phantasia,
fr. Gr. ???????? appearance, imagination, the power of
perception and presentation in the mind, fr. ???????? to make
visible, to place before one's mind, fr. ??????? to show;
akin to ????, ???, light, Skr. bh[=a]to shine. Cf. Fantasy,
Fantasia, Epiphany, Phantom.]
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.
[1913 Webster]
In the soul
Are many lesser faculties, that serve
Reason as chief. Among these fancy next
Her office holds. --Milton.
[1913 Webster]
2. An image or representation of anything formed in the mind;
conception; thought; idea; conceit.
[1913 Webster]
How now, my lord ! why do you keep alone,
Of sorriest fancies your companoins making ? --Shak.
[1913 Webster]
3. An opinion or notion formed without much reflection;
caprice; whim; impression.
[1913 Webster]
I have always had a fancy that learning might be
made a play and recreation to children. --Locke.
[1913 Webster]
4. Inclination; liking, formed by caprice rather than reason;
as, to strike one's fancy; hence, the object of
inclination or liking.
[1913 Webster]
To fit your fancies to your father's will. --Shak.
[1913 Webster]
5. That which pleases or entertains the taste or caprice
without much use or value.
[1913 Webster]
London pride is a pretty fancy for borders.
--Mortimer.
[1913 Webster]
6. A sort of love song or light impromptu ballad. [Obs.]
--Shak.
[1913 Webster]
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.
[1913 Webster]
At a great book sale in London, which had
congregated all the fancy. --De Quincey.
Syn: Imagination; conceit; taste; humor; inclination; whim;
liking. See Imagination.
[1913 Webster]
The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:
Fancy \Fan"cy\, v. i. [imp. & p. p. Fancied, p. pr. & vb. n.
Fancying.]
1. To figure to one's self; to believe or imagine something
without proof.
[1913 Webster]
If our search has reached no farther than simile and
metaphor, we rather fancy than know. --Locke.
[1913 Webster]
2. To love. [Obs.] --Shak.
[1913 Webster]
The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:
Fancy \Fan"cy\, a.
1. Adapted to please the fancy or taste, especially when of
high quality or unusually appealing; ornamental; as, fancy
goods; fancy clothes.
[1913 Webster]
2. Extravagant; above real value.
[1913 Webster]
This anxiety never degenerated into a monomania,
like that which led his [Frederick the Great's]
father to pay fancy prices for giants. --Macaulay.
[1913 Webster]
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.
[1913 Webster]
WordNet (r) 3.0 (2006):
fancy
adj 1: not plain; decorative or ornamented; "fancy handwriting";
"fancy clothes" [ant: plain]
n 1: something many people believe that is false; "they have the
illusion that I am very wealthy" [syn: illusion,
fantasy, phantasy, fancy]
2: a kind of imagination that was held by Coleridge to be more
casual and superficial than true imagination
3: a predisposition to like something; "he had a fondness for
whiskey" [syn: fondness, fancy, partiality]
v 1: imagine; conceive of; see in one's mind; "I can't see him
on horseback!"; "I can see what will happen"; "I can see a
risk in this strategy" [syn: visualize, visualise,
envision, project, fancy, see, figure, picture,
image]
2: have a fancy or particular liking or desire for; "She fancied
a necklace that she had seen in the jeweler's window" [syn:
fancy, go for, take to]
Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0:
574 Moby Thesaurus words for "fancy":
Amor, Babylonian, Byzantine, Christian love, Corinthian, Daedalian,
Eros, Platonic love, a bit much, abandoned, account as, adept,
admiration, adoration, adorned, adroit, affection, affinity, agape,
aim at, ambitious, animus, apparition, appetence, appetency,
appetite, apprehension, approve, apt, arabesque, ardency, ardor,
artistic, assume, attachment, attraction, authoritative,
automatic response, awe-inspiring, awful, bag, barbaric, baroque,
be afraid, be desirous of, be fond of, be partial to, bee,
befrilled, believe, bent, bias, blind impulse, bodily love,
boundless, boutade, brain wave, brainchild, brainstorm, bravura,
brilliant, brotherly love, bubble, burn with love, busy, capriccio,
caprice, capricious, care for, caritas, charity, chichi, chimera,
choice, choose, chosen kind, classy, clean, clever, coin, colored,
command, complex, complicated, conation, conatus, conceit,
conceive, concept, conception, conceptualize, conclude, concoct,
concupiscence, conjecture, conjugal love, conjure up, consider,
contrariness, coordinated, costly, crack, crackerjack, crank,
crave, craving, craze, crazy idea, create, creation, creativeness,
creativity, crotchet, cunning, cup of tea, curiosity, cute,
cutthroat, daedal, daresay, daydream, dear, dear-bought, decision,
decorated, decorative, deem, deft, delirium, delusion, delusive,
deluxe, desiderate, desideration, desire, determination, devotion,
dexterous, dextrous, diplomatic, discretion, disposition, divine,
dote on, dote upon, dream, dream up, drive, druthers, eagerness,
egregious, eidolon, elaborate, elegant, embellished, embroidered,
endorse, enormous, envisage, envisagement, envision, envisioning,
esteem, estimate, exacting, exaggerated, excellent, excessive,
exorbitant, expect, expensive, experience imaginatively, expert,
extortionate, extravagant, extreme, fable, fabricate, fabrication,
fabulous, fad, faithful love, fanciful, fantasize, fantasque,
fantastic, fantastic notion, fantasticism, fantasy, fascination,
favor, feel, fervor, festooned, fiction, fictionalize, figment,
figurative, figured, fine, flamboyant, flame, flash,
fleeting impulse, flight of fancy, flimflam, florid, flossy,
flowery, fondness, fool notion, freak, freakish inspiration,
free choice, free love, free will, free-lovism, frilly,
fumes of fancy, fussy, gather, gigantic, gingerbread, glorious,
gluttonous, go for, good, goodish, gouging, graceful, grand,
grandiose, grant, grossly overpriced, guess, gut response,
hallucination, handy, hankering, harebrained idea, hatch,
have a hunch, have an idea, have an impression, have an inkling,
have designs on, have eyes for, have it bad, have the idea, heart,
hero worship, high, high-class, high-flown, high-flying,
high-priced, high-toned, high-wrought, highfalutin, highfaluting,
hold, hold as, hope, horme, humor, hunger for, hyperbolic,
hypertrophied, idea, ideate, idle fancy, idolatry, idolism,
idolization, illusion, illusory, image, imagery, imagination,
imaginativeness, imagine, imagining, imago, immoderate, imposing,
impression, impressive, impulse, inclination, incontinent, infer,
inflated, inflationary, ingenious, inordinate, inspiration,
instinct, insubstantial image, intellectual curiosity,
intellectual object, intemperate, intention, intricate, invent,
invention, inventiveness, involuntary impulse, irrationality,
judge, kink, labored, lasciviousness, leaning, let, let be, libido,
like, liking, lofty, long for, longing, look upon as, love,
lovemaking, lush, lust, lust after, lust for learning, luxuriant,
luxurious, luxury, maggot, magisterial, magnificent, maintain,
majestic, make up, make-believe, married love, masterful, masterly,
megrim, memory-trace, mental image, mental impression, mind,
mirage, mold, monstrous, moresque, mutual affinity,
mutual attraction, myth, natural impulse, neat, need, nightmare,
no mean, noble, not affordable, notion, objectification, objective,
observation, of great cost, opine, opinion, originate, ornamental,
ornamented, ornate, ostentatious, out of bounds, out of sight,
outrageous, overbig, overcharged, overdeveloped, overelaborate,
overelegant, overgreat, overgrown, overlabored, overlarge,
overloaded, overmuch, overpriced, overweening, overworked,
overwrought, palatial, partiality, particular choice,
passing fancy, passion, peculiarity, penchant, perception,
personal choice, perverseness, phantasm, phantom, physical love,
picture, picturesque, pine for, pleasure, pleasure principle,
plush, politic, popular regard, popularity, posh, predilection,
predisposition, prefer, preference, prefigure, prejudice, premium,
prepossession, preposterous, presume, presuppose, presurmise,
pretentious, pretty-pretty, pricey, prime, princely, proclivity,
produce, professional, proficient, prohibitive, propensity, proud,
provisionally accept, purple, quality, quick, quick hunch, quirk,
quite some, ready, recept, reckon, reflection, reflex, regard,
representation, repute, resolution, resourceful, rich, ritzy,
rococo, romance, sanction, say, select, sentiment, set down as,
sex, sexual desire, sexual love, shape, shine, sick fancy,
skillful, skyrocketing, slick, some, special, spiraling,
spiritual love, splendacious, splendid, splendiferous, stately,
statesmanlike, steep, stiff, style, stylish, sudden thought,
sumptuous, superb, superfancy, superfine, superior, suppose,
supposition, surmise, suspect, swank, swanky, swell, sympathy,
tactful, take, take for, take for granted, take it, take to,
take to be, taste, tendency, tender feeling, tender passion,
the compleat, the complete, theory, thick-coming fancies, thing,
think, think up, thirst for knowledge, thought, tony, too much,
top, toy, trip, trow, truelove, turn, type, unbridled,
unconscionable, understand, undue, unpayable, unrealistic,
unreality, unreasonable, unreasonableness, unrestrained,
unwarranted, urge, usurious, uxoriousness, vagary, vapor, vaunting,
velleity, view as, virtuoso, vision, visionary, visualize,
volition, want, wanting, weakness, ween, well-done, whim,
whim-wham, whimsical, whimsy, wildest dreams, will,
will and pleasure, will power, wish, wish for, wish fulfillment,
wish to goodness, wish very much, workmanlike, worship,
would fain do, yearning