fair

just; light in color; moderately good; an exhibition
Not to be confused with:fare – to get along; food; cost of transportation

fair¹

F0013200 (fâr)adj. fair·er, fair·est 1. Of pleasing appearance, especially because of a pure or fresh quality; comely.2. a. Light in color, especially blond: fair hair.b. Of light complexion: fair skin.3. Free of clouds or storms; clear and sunny: fair skies.4. Free of blemishes or stains; clean and pure: one's fair name.5. Promising; likely: We're in a fair way to succeed.6. a. Having or exhibiting a disposition that is free of favoritism or bias; impartial: a fair mediator.b. Just to all parties; equitable: a compromise that is fair to both factions.7. Being in accordance with relative merit or significance: She wanted to receive her fair share of the proceeds.8. Consistent with rules, logic, or ethics: a fair tactic.9. Moderately good; acceptable or satisfactory: gave only a fair performance of the play; in fair health.10. Superficially true or appealing; specious: Don't trust his fair promises.11. Lawful to hunt or attack: fair game.12. Archaic Free of all obstacles.adv.1. In a proper or legal manner: playing fair.2. Directly; straight: a blow caught fair in the stomach.tr.v. faired, fair·ing, fairs To join (pieces) so as to be smooth, even, or regular: faired the aircraft's wing into the fuselage.n.1. Archaic A beautiful or beloved woman.2. Obsolete Loveliness; beauty.Phrasal Verb: fair off (or up) Chiefly Southern US To become clear. Used of weather.Idioms: fair and square Just and honest. for fair To the greatest or fullest extent possible: Our team was beaten for fair in that tournament. no fair Something contrary to the rules: That was no fair.

[Middle English, from Old English fæger, lovely, pleasant.]

fair′ness n.Synonyms: fair¹, just¹, equitable, impartial, unprejudiced, unbiased, objective
These adjectives mean free from favoritism, self-interest, or preference in judgment. Fair is the most general: a fair referee; a fair deal. Just stresses conformity with what is legally or ethically right or proper: "a just and lasting peace" (Abraham Lincoln).
Equitable implies justice dictated by reason, conscience, and a natural sense of what is fair: an equitable distribution of gifts among the children. Impartial emphasizes lack of favoritism: "the cold neutrality of an impartial judge" (Edmund Burke).
Unprejudiced means without preconceived opinions or judgments: an unprejudiced evaluation of the proposal. Unbiased implies absence of a preference or partiality: gave an unbiased account of her family problems. Objective implies detachment that permits impersonal observation and judgment: an objective jury. See Also Synonyms at average, beautiful.Our Living Language American folk speech puts Standard English to shame in its wealth of words for describing weather conditions. When the weather goes from fair to cloudy, New Englanders say that it's "breedin' up a storm" (Maine informant in the Linguistic Atlas of New England). If the weather is clear, however, a New Englander might call it open. Southern fair off and fair up, meaning "to become clear," were originally Northeastern terms and were brought to the South as settlement expanded southward and westward. They are now "regionalized to the South," according to Craig M. Carver, author of American Regional Dialects. These phrases may have prompted the coining of milding and milding down, noted respectively in Texas and Virginia by the Dictionary of American Regional English.

fair²

F0013200 (fâr)n.1. A gathering held at a specified time and place for the buying and selling of goods; a market.2. An exhibition, as of farm products or manufactured goods, usually accompanied by various competitions and entertainments: a state fair.3. An exhibition intended to inform people about a product or business opportunity: a computer fair; a job fair.4. An event, usually for the benefit of a charity or public institution, including entertainment and the sale of goods; a bazaar: a church fair.

[Middle English faire, from Old French feire, from Late Latin fēria, sing. of Latin fēriae, holidays; see dhēs- in Indo-European roots.]

fair

(fɛə) adj1. free from discrimination, dishonesty, etc; just; impartial2. in conformity with rules or standards; legitimate: a fair fight. 3. (of the hair or complexion) light in colour4. beautiful or lovely to look at5. moderately or quite good: a fair piece of work. 6. unblemished; untainted7. (Nautical Terms) (of the tide or wind) favourable to the passage of a vessel8. (Physical Geography) sunny, fine, or cloudless9. (prenominal) informal thorough; real: a fair battle to get to the counter. 10. pleasant or courteous11. apparently good or valuable, but really false: fair words. 12. open or unobstructed: a fair passage. 13. Austral (of handwriting) clear and legible14. a fair crack of the whip Austral a fair shake of the dice a fair go informal a fair opportunity; fair chance15. fair and square in a correct or just way16. fair do's a. equal shares or treatmentb. an expression of appeal for equal shares or treatment17. fair enough! an expression of agreement18. fair go! informal Austral and NZ come off it!; I don't believe it!19. fair to middling about averageadv20. in a fair way; correctly: act fair, now!. 21. absolutely or squarely; quite: the question caught him fair off his guard. 22. dialect really or very: fair tired. vb (intr) dialect (of the weather) to become fine and mildnarchaic a person or thing that is beautiful or valuable, esp a woman[Old English fæger; related to Old Norse fagr, Old Saxon, Old High German fagar, Gothic fagrs suitable] ˈfairness n

fair

(fɛə) n1. a travelling entertainment with sideshows, rides, etc, esp one that visits places at the same time each year2. (Commerce) a gathering of producers of and dealers in a given class of products to facilitate business: a book fair. 3. an event including amusements and the sale of goods, esp for a charity; bazaar4. a regular assembly at a specific place for the sale of goods, esp livestock[C13: from Old French feire, from Late Latin fēria holiday, from Latin fēriae days of rest: related to festus festal]

fair¹

(fɛər)

adj. and
adv. fair•er, fair•est. 1. free from bias, dishonesty, or injustice. 2. legitimately sought, done, given, etc.; proper under the rules: a fair fight. 3. moderately large; ample: a fair income. 4. neither excellent nor poor; moderately or tolerably good: fair health. 5. a. (of the sky) bright; sunny; cloudless to half-cloudy. b. (of the weather) fine; with no prospect of rain, snow, or hail; not stormy. 6. of a light hue; not dark: fair skin. 7. pleasing in appearance; attractive: a fair young maiden. 8. (of a wind or tide) tending to aid the progress of a vessel. 9. marked by favoring conditions; likely; promising: in a fair way to succeed. 10. without irregularity or unevenness: a fair surface. 11. free from blemish. 12. courteous; civil: fair words. adv. 13. in a fair manner: He doesn't play fair. 14. favorably; auspiciously. n. 15. Archaic. something that is fair. 16. Archaic. a. a woman. b. a beloved woman. v.t. 17. to draw and adjust (the lines of a ship's hull being designed) to produce regular surfaces of the correct form. Idioms: 1. bid fair, to seem likely: This entry bids fair to win first prize. 2. fair and square, a. honestly; justly. b. honest; just; straightforward. 3. fair to middling, only tolerably good; so-so. [before 900; Middle English; Old English fæger] fair′ness, n. syn: fair, impartial, disinterested refer to lack of bias in opinions, judgments, etc. fair implies the treating of all sides alike, justly and equitably: a fair compromise. impartial also implies showing no more favor to one side than another, but suggests particularly a judicial consideration of a case: an impartial judge. disinterested implies a fairness arising from lack of desire to obtain a selfish advantage: a disinterested concern that the best person win.

fair²

(fɛər)

n. 1. a usu. competitive exhibition of farm products, livestock, etc., often combined with entertainment and held annually by a county or state. 2. a periodic gathering of buyers and sellers in an appointed place. 3. an exposition in which different exhibitors participate, often with the purpose of buying or selling or of familiarizing the public with the products: a home-furnishings fair. 4. an exhibition and sale of articles to raise money, often for some charitable purpose. [1300–50; Middle English feire < Anglo-French, Old French < Late Latin fēria religious festival, holiday (Medieval Latin: market), in Latin only pl.; akin to feast]

fair

carnival">carnival1. 'fair'

In British English, a fair is an event held in a park or field at which people pay to ride on various machines for amusement or try to win prizes in games.

...all the fun of the fair, with dodgem cars, stalls, candy floss and children's rides.2. 'carnival'

In American English, an event like this is called a carnival.

It reminds me of when the carnival came to Hudson Falls, N.Y., when I was a boy.

In British English, a carnival is an outdoor public festival which is held every year in a particular place. During a carnival, music is played and people sometimes dance in the streets.

The Notting Hill Carnival in August is the largest street festival in Europe.

fair

fairly">fairly1. 'fair'

You say that behaviour or a decision is fair when it is reasonable, right, or just.

It wouldn't be fair to disturb the children's education at this stage.Do you feel they're paying their fair share?2. 'fairly'

Don't use 'fair' as an adverb, except in the expression play fair. If you want to say that something is done in a reasonable or just way, the word you use is fairly.

We want it to be fairly distributed.He had not explained things fairly.

Fairly also has a completely different meaning. It means 'to quite a large degree'.

The information was fairly accurate.I wrote the first part fairly quickly.

Be Careful!
Don't use 'fairly' in front of a comparative form. Don't say, for example, 'The train is fairly quicker than the bus'. In conversation and less formal writing, you say 'The train is a bit quicker than the bus'.

Golf's a bit more expensive.I began to understand her a bit better.

Be Careful!
In more formal writing, you use rather or somewhat.

In short, the problems now look rather worse than they did a year ago.The results were somewhat lower than expected.

Many other words and expressions can be used to show degree.

fair

fare">fare

These words are both pronounced /feə/.

1. 'fair'

Fair can be an adjective or a noun. If something is fair, it is reasonable, right, or just.

See fair - fairly

If someone is fair or has fair hair, they have light coloured hair.

My daughter has three children, and they're all fair.

A fair is an event held in a park or field for people's amusement.

We took the children to the fair.2. 'fare'

Your fare is the money you pay for a journey by bus, taxi, train, boat, or plane.

Coach fares are cheaper than rail fares.Airline officials say they must raise fares in order to cover rising costs.

fair

Past participle: faired
Gerund: fairing

Imperative
fair
fair

Present
I fair
you fair
he/she/it fairs
we fair
you fair
they fair

Preterite
I faired
you faired
he/she/it faired
we faired
you faired
they faired

Present Continuous
I am fairing
you are fairing
he/she/it is fairing
we are fairing
you are fairing
they are fairing

Present Perfect
I have faired
you have faired
he/she/it has faired
we have faired
you have faired
they have faired

Past Continuous
I was fairing
you were fairing
he/she/it was fairing
we were fairing
you were fairing
they were fairing

Past Perfect
I had faired
you had faired
he/she/it had faired
we had faired
you had faired
they had faired

Future
I will fair
you will fair
he/she/it will fair
we will fair
you will fair
they will fair

Future Perfect
I will have faired
you will have faired
he/she/it will have faired
we will have faired
you will have faired
they will have faired

Future Continuous
I will be fairing
you will be fairing
he/she/it will be fairing
we will be fairing
you will be fairing
they will be fairing

Present Perfect Continuous
I have been fairing
you have been fairing
he/she/it has been fairing
we have been fairing
you have been fairing
they have been fairing

Future Perfect Continuous
I will have been fairing
you will have been fairing
he/she/it will have been fairing
we will have been fairing
you will have been fairing
they will have been fairing

Past Perfect Continuous
I had been fairing
you had been fairing
he/she/it had been fairing
we had been fairing
you had been fairing
they had been fairing

Conditional
I would fair
you would fair
he/she/it would fair
we would fair
you would fair
they would fair

Past Conditional
I would have faired
you would have faired
he/she/it would have faired
we would have faired
you would have faired
they would have faired

fair

carnival

Thesaurus

Noun	1.	fair - a traveling show; having sideshows and rides and games of skill etc.funfair, carnivalshow - the act of publicly exhibiting or entertaining; "a remarkable show of skill"midway - the place at a fair or carnival where sideshows and similar amusements are located
	2.	fair - gathering of producers to promote business; "world fair"; "trade fair"; "book fair"assemblage, gathering - a group of persons together in one placebook fair, bookfair - fair organized by publishers or booksellers to promote the sale of books
	3.	fair - a competitive exhibition of farm products; "she won a blue ribbon for her baking at the county fair"expo, exposition, exhibition - a collection of things (goods or works of art etc.) for public display
	4.	fair - a sale of miscellany; often for charity; "the church bazaar"bazaarcut-rate sale, sales event, sale - an occasion (usually brief) for buying at specially reduced prices; "they held a sale to reduce their inventory"; "I got some great bargains at their annual sale"book fair, bookfair - bazaar at which books are sold or auctioned off in order to raise funds for a worthy causecraft fair - a fair at which objects made by craftsmen are offered for sale
Verb	1.	fair - join so that the external surfaces blend smoothlybring together, join - cause to become joined or linked; "join these two parts so that they fit together"
Adj.	1.	fair - free from favoritism or self-interest or bias or deception; conforming with established standards or rules; "a fair referee"; "fair deal"; "on a fair footing"; "a fair fight"; "by fair means or foul"justjust - used especially of what is legally or ethically right or proper or fitting; "a just and lasting peace"- A.Lincoln; "a kind and just man"; "a just reward"; "his just inheritance"impartial - showing lack of favoritism; "the cold neutrality of an impartial judge"reasonable, sensible - showing reason or sound judgment; "a sensible choice"; "a sensible person"unfair, unjust - not fair; marked by injustice or partiality or deception; "used unfair methods"; "it was an unfair trial"; "took an unfair advantage"
	2.	fair - not excessive or extreme; "a fairish income"; "reasonable prices"fairish, reasonablemoderate - being within reasonable or average limits; not excessive or extreme; "moderate prices"; "a moderate income"; "a moderate fine"; "moderate demands"; "a moderate estimate"; "a moderate eater"; "moderate success"; "a kitchen of moderate size"; "the X-ray showed moderate enlargement of the heart"
	3.	fair - very pleasing to the eye; "my bonny lass"; "there's a bonny bay beyond"; "a comely face"; "young fair maidens"bonnie, bonny, sightly, comelybeautiful - delighting the senses or exciting intellectual or emotional admiration; "a beautiful child"; "beautiful country"; "a beautiful painting"; "a beautiful theory"; "a beautiful party"
	4.	fair - (of a baseball) hit between the foul lines; "he hit a fair ball over the third base bag"baseball, baseball game - a ball game played with a bat and ball between two teams of nine players; teams take turns at bat trying to score runs; "he played baseball in high school"; "there was a baseball game on every empty lot"; "there was a desire for National League ball in the area"; "play ball!"foul - (of a baseball) not hit between the foul lines
	5.	fair - lacking exceptional quality or ability; "a novel of average merit"; "only a fair performance of the sonata"; "in fair health"; "the caliber of the students has gone from mediocre to above average"; "the performance was middling at best"middling, mediocre, averageordinary - not exceptional in any way especially in quality or ability or size or degree; "ordinary everyday objects"; "ordinary decency"; "an ordinary day"; "an ordinary wine"
	6.	fair - attractively feminine; "the fair sex"feminine - associated with women and not with men; "feminine intuition"
	7.	fair - (of a manuscript) having few alterations or corrections; "fair copy"; "a clean manuscript"cleanlegible - (of handwriting, print, etc.) capable of being read or deciphered; "legible handwriting"
	8.	fair - gained or earned without cheating or stealing; "an honest wage"; "an fair penny"honestequitable, just - fair to all parties as dictated by reason and conscience; "equitable treatment of all citizens"; "an equitable distribution of gifts among the children"
	9.	fair - free of clouds or rain; "today will be fair and warm"clear - free from clouds or mist or haze; "on a clear day"
	10.	fair - (used of hair or skin) pale or light-colored; "a fair complexion";fairishblond, blonde, light-haired - being or having light colored skin and hair and usually blue or grey eyes; "blond Scandinavians"; "a house full of light-haired children"
Adv.	1.	fair - in conformity with the rules or laws and without fraud or cheating; "they played fairly"clean, fairly
	2.	fair - without favoring one party, in a fair evenhanded manner; "deal fairly with one another"evenhandedly, fairly

fair

¹adjective1. unbiased, impartial, even-handed, unprejudiced, just, clean, square, equal, objective, reasonable, proper, legitimate, upright, honourable, honest, equitable, lawful, trustworthy, on the level (informal), disinterested, dispassionate, above board, according to the rules I wanted them to get a fair deal.
unbiased unfair, one-sided, prejudiced, biased, partial, partisan, unjust, dishonest, discriminatory, bigoted, inequitable, bad2. respectable, middling, average, reasonable, decent, acceptable, moderate, adequate, satisfactory, not bad, mediocre, so-so (informal), tolerable, passable, O.K. or okay (informal), all right He had a fair command of English.3. light, golden, blonde, blond, yellowish, fair-haired, light-coloured, flaxen-haired, towheaded, tow-haired She had bright eyes and fair hair.4. light-complexioned, white, pale It's important to protect my fair skin from the sun.5. fine, clear, dry, bright, pleasant, sunny, favourable, clement, cloudless, unclouded, sunshiny Weather conditions were fair.6. beautiful, pretty, attractive, lovely, handsome, good-looking, bonny, comely, beauteous, well-favoured Faint heart never won fair lady.
beautiful homely, plain, uglyfair and square honestly, straight, legally, on the level (informal), by the book, lawfully, above board, according to the rules, without cheating We were beaten fair and square.

fair

²noun carnival, show, market, fête, festival, exhibition, mart, expo (informal), bazaar, exposition, mela, gala The date for the fair has been changed.

fair

adjective1. Having qualities that delight the eye:attractive, beauteous, beautiful, comely, good-looking, gorgeous, handsome, lovely, pretty, pulchritudinous, ravishing, sightly, stunning.Scots: bonny.Idiom: easy on the eyes.2. Having light hair:blond, fair-haired, towheaded.3. Of a light color or complexion:alabaster, ivory, light, pale.4. Free from clouds or mist, for example:clear, cloudless, fine, sunny, unclouded.5. Indicative of future success or full of promise:auspicious, benign, bright, brilliant, favorable, fortunate, good, propitious.6. Free from bias in judgment:disinterested, dispassionate, equitable, fair-minded, impartial, indifferent, just, nonpartisan, objective, square, unbiased, unprejudiced.Idiom: fair and square.7. Just to all parties:equal, equitable, even, evenhanded.8. According to the rules:clean, sporting, sportsmanlike, sportsmanly.9. Of moderately good quality but less than excellent:acceptable, adequate, all right, average, common, decent, fairish, goodish, moderate, passable, respectable, satisfactory, sufficient, tolerable.Informal: OK, tidy.adverb1. In a fair, sporting manner:cleanly, correctly, fairly, properly.2. With precision or absolute conformity:bang, dead, direct, directly, exactly, flush, just, precisely, right, smack, square, squarely, straight.Slang: smack-dab.

Translations

公平的博览会商品交易会头发金黄色的定期集市

fair¹

(feə) adjective1. light-coloured; with light-coloured hair and skin. fair hair; Scandinavian people are often fair. 肤色白晰的，头发金黄色的 2. just; not favouring one side. a fair test.公平的3. (of weather) fine; without rain. a fair afternoon.晴朗的4. quite good; neither bad nor good. Her work is only fair.尚好的5. quite big, long etc. a fair size.适当的6. beautiful. a fair maiden.美丽的ˈfairness noun公平ˈfairly adverb1. justly; honestly. fairly judged.公正地2. quite or rather. The work was fairly hard.相当fair play honest treatment; an absence of cheating, biased actions etc. He's not involved in the contest – he's only here to see fair play. 公平处理，公平比赛

fair²

(feə) noun1. a collection of entertainments that travels from town to town. She won a large doll at the fair.庙会2. a large market held at fixed times. A fair is held here every spring.定期集市3. an exhibition of goods from different countries, firms etc. a trade fair. 商品交易会，博览会

fair

→ 公平的zhCN, 展览会zhCN, 白皙的zhCN

fair

fair,

market exhibition at which producers, traders, and consumers meet either to barter or to buy and sell goods and services. Before the development of transportation and marketing, fairs furnished the primary opportunity for the exchange of merchandise, and served as centers of community social life. Among the ancient Greeks and Romans the days of the public market were also used to announce new public laws. In early Christian times special occasions for marketing were frequently attached to religious gatherings, notably those of pilgrims coming to a town to celebrate a special feast. In the Middle Ages fairs were the major means of exchanging commodities not produced for subsistence. Fairs were incorporated by royal charter and had their own officials, laws, and courts. Major trade routes affected the growth of individual fairs; among the most prominent were those of Geneva, Antwerp, Leipzig, Madrid, Burgundy, Lyons, Bordeaux, Novgorod, and Sturbridge and Bartholomew Fair in England. Of the variety of goods traded at such fairs, cloth was probably the most important. The volume of trade was so great that by the 15th cent. some fair towns became banking centers and were subjected to special regulations. With the breaking of the manorial system, commerce became an expanding and regular part of economic life. Trade fairs declined and to a large extent were replaced by outdoor and indoor general markets. In the 17th cent. pleasure fairs, dominated by entertainments such as plays, became popular. The expositionexposition
or exhibition,
term frequently applied to an organized public fair or display of industrial and artistic productions, designed usually to promote trade and to reflect cultural progress.
..... Click the link for more information. , combining entertainment and commerce, flourishes today. A variety of advanced industrial wares (such as computers) are exhibited, and important technological innovations are displayed. International trade fairs, devoted solely to commercial display and directed toward businessmen, have also become popular since World War II. Agricultural fairs—held to improve farming methods, stocks, and crops—have been particularly important in the history of the United States. Many states and counties still maintain annual fairs, though some have been discontinued. In recent years, specialized fairs, such as the Frankfurt Book Fair, have taken on international significance.

Bibliography

See H. Augur, The Book of Fairs (1939); W. Addison, English Fairs and Markets (1953); C. Walford, Fairs Past and Present (1967); R. Weiss, Fairs, Pavilions, Exhibits and their Audiences (1982).

Fair

(now more commonly known as trade fair), one of the various kinds of regular trading markets—for example, a periodic market organized at regular intervals at a traditionally established site; a seasonal sale of one or more kinds of goods.

Fairs originated in Europe in the early Middle Ages, at a time when the natural type of economy and economic dissociation prevailed; trade, which was irregular and incidental in character, served primarily the affluent social strata, mainly by supplying them with rare and expensive imported wares. The limited market and unsafe trade routes prompted merchants to join together in caravans for joint trading and to concentrate in specially selected and well-protected sites—for example, by the walls of a castle or monastery—where large numbers of people gathered; such sites were found at the intersection of trade routes and in places where people’s assemblies, large religious festivals, and other public events were held.

In the early Middle Ages, especially where cities had not yet grown into centers of handicraft and trade, fairs played an essential role as the only large-scale barter centers. They grew in significance in the tenth and 11th centuries with the emergence and development of the cities, the growth of urban handicraft production, the inception of domestic markets, the strengthening of international trade relations, and the development of land routes and means of communication. The large-scale fairs were wholesale trade centers that were increasingly dealing in “heavy” goods (bread, wine, ores and metals, salt, and cloth); in addition, seasonal produce was sold at regional and small local fairs. In some instances these two types were combined.

The need to regulate trading practices at the fairs led to the emergence of a special set of laws for the purpose. The owner of the land on which fairs were located received sizable revenues in the form of trade duties and requisitions; therefore the right to arrange trade fairs or to grant permission for them to be held was an important feudal privilege. The privilege was granted, usually by the king, to individual cities and to ecclesiastical or secular seignors.

Fairs often specialized in certain types of goods. Thus, Italian fairs were famous for expensive fabrics and Oriental wares, French fairs for wine and cloth, English fairs for wool, coarse cloth, lead, tin, and coal, South German fairs for wine, Danish fairs for herring, and Swedish fairs for iron and copper. The largest of the fairs were international trading centers; in the 13th century and up to the mid-14th, such were the fairs of the Champagne region, toward which trade and monetary operations converged from all parts of Europe.

By the mid-14th century the fairs in the northern part of France and in the Netherlands had acquired great renown. In the late 14th and in the 15th centuries, Bruges (Flanders) was the largest trade fair and warehouse center. Important centers of European trade in the early 15th century were the Geneva fairs (which we first find mentioned in 1262) and, in the 15th and 16th centuries, the fairs at Lyon, which had replaced Geneva as the center of Europe’s money market; the Lyon fairs, first held in 1420, enjoyed the patronage of the French king. In the 16th century the Spanish city Medina del Campo was an international trade fair and credit center, especially for the southern European countries; fairs were also held in Antwerp. The Leipzig fairs, known from the 13th century, gained international significance in the 18th century.

Fairs played an important role in the development of medieval trade, monetary circulation, the money market, and credit. Money changers, who conducted loan and credit operations, set up their offices at trade fairs. Because of the wholesale nature of trade at the fairs, the inconvenience and danger of transporting large sums of money, and the merchants’ interest in credit trading, increasing use was made of noncash trade transactions by means of written acknowledgment of monetary debts and letters of proxy, which were gradually transformed into promissory notes.

Trade fairs declined in importance during the formative period of capitalism. Direct selling changed into the sale of merchandise by samples and later by standard specifications as well. In the 19th century the large wholesale trade fairs turned into exhibitions of samples; commodity trading at these exhibitions was similar to commodity trading on the stock exchange. The best-known fairs of Western Europe in the 19th and early 20th centuries were the international trade fairs held in Leipzig each spring and fall (with fürs and pelts the major sale items). With the growth of wholesale trade and the expansion of regular trading outlets, fairs were no longer used as trading centers. Local merchandise—chiefly agricultural products—continued to be sold at the seasonal markets and at small, regular local markets. Large regional fairs almost disappeared.

International trade fairs after World War II have grown into exhibitions of a commercial nature; samples of merchandise are shown there and, in addition, national- and international-scale trade transactions are concluded. Such trade fairs are practically indistinguishable in character and purpose from regular commercial exhibits and showrooms. The various types of trade fairs include general-purpose fairs, such as those held in Plovdiv (Bulgaria) and Izmir (Turkey), multibranch fairs, as in Poznari (Poland) and in Paris, and specialized fairs, such as the trade fairs held in Munich for sporting goods and in Basel (Switzerland) for transportation equipment.

Table 1. Sites of major international trade fairs
Socialist countries	Developed capitalist countries	Developing countries
Brno, Czechoslovakia ...............	Hanover, Federal	Algiers, Algeria
Bucharest, Rumania ...............	Republic of Germany	Baghdad, Iraq
Budapest, Hungary ...............	Lyon, France	Bogotá, Colombia
Leipzig, German ...............	Milan, Italy	Cairo, Egypt
Democratic Republic ...............	Paris, France	Casablanca, Morocco
Plovdiv, Bulgaria ...............	Toronto, Canada	Damascus, Syria
Poznań, Poland ...............	Vienna, Austria	Izmir, Turkey
Zagreb, Yugoslavia ...............		Lima, Peru

Today’s trade fairs have typically shifted from general-purpose to single-branch fairs—most frequently technical ones—and to consumer goods fairs; various technical means are used to exhibit merchandise, and the trade fairs are combined with scientific and technical congresses and symposia. Thus the general-purpose Leipzig fair was reorganized as a multibranch trade fair and is now both a meeting place for the business world and an important international center of scientific, technical, and economic information.

The basic orientation of international trade fair activity is regulated by the Union of International Fairs, founded in 1925 (headquarters in Paris), which aims at more efficient organization of international trade fairs and promotion of commodity exchanges between states. The union had 94 members in 1974. The average yearly number of visitors to the union’s international trade fair exceeds 50 million.

The sites of the most important trade fairs are shown in Table 1.

REFERENCES

Pavlov, K. A. Mezhdunarodnye iarmarki i vystavki. Moscow, 1962.
La Foire. Brüssels, 1954.
Bautier, R. H. Les Foires de Champagne. Brüssels, 1954.
Coornaert, E. “Caractères et mouvement des foires internationales au moyen âge et au XVI siècle.” In Studi in onore di Armando Sapori. Milan, 1957.A. A. SVANIDZE and P. A. CHERVIAKOVIn Russia and the USSR. In prerevolutionary Russia, fairs were usually held in conjunction with church festivals. The oldest one, held at Arsk (near Kazan), was known from the 13th century. Because of the robberies suffered by Russian merchants at the hands of the Tatars, Vasilii III forbade all travel to the Arsk fair and in 1524 founded a new fair at Vasil’sursk; this was subsequently shifted to the Zheltovodskii (or Makar’ev) Monastery and became known as the Makar’ev Fair.
With the development of trade relations and the establishment of the Russian centralized state, the trade fairs grew in number and in the volume of financial turnover. They served as centers for the formation of a nationwide market. Their duration ranged from one day to several months. The principal trading items were agricultural products, livestock, horses, handicrafts, industrial goods, fürs, and skins. In 1865 there were 6,500 trade fairs operating in Russia, 35 of which had a turnover of more than 1 million rubles. The largest of the fairs were concentrated in the Ural region (including the Irbit and Menzelinsk fairs) and in the Ukraine (for example, at Kharkov, Poltava, and Rovno).
With the beginning of large-scale railroad construction in the second half of the 19th century, the fairs’ importance in terms of Russia’s domestic trade declined, and the volume of their commodity turnover diminished. The commodity turnover of the main trade fair at Kursk fell from more than 22 million rubles in 1834 to only 800,000 rubles in 1911. In Russia as a whole, however, the number of trade fairs was growing; 16,000 of them were in operation in 1911, with a total turnover of 1 billion rubles. Around 87 percent of them were small fairs held in the villages on religious holidays. There were 23 large-scale trade fairs with a turnover of more than 1 million rubles. The one with the largest turnover was the Nizhny Novgorod Fair; the Irbit Fair was in second place, and the Menovyi Dvor Fair, near Orenburg, in third.
The Ukrainian fairs were very important, especially in the 19th century; the major ones, which lasted from three to four weeks, were held in Kharkov—the Kreshchenskaia, Troitskaia, Us-penskaia, and Pokrovskaia fairs. In 1834 their combined turnover was more than 22 million rubles; in 1913 it was close to 36 million rubles. Among the largest of the trade fairs in the North, the Margaritinskaia Fair in Arkhangel’sk had a turnover of nearly 2 million rubles in 1911. There were also specialized fairs for horses, livestock, and forest products. The Contract Fair in Kiev, which originated in the early 19th century, was a special type of trade fair where wholesale contracts were concluded for the sale and purchase of such products as sugar, bread, metals and coal. Trading at the fairs was governed by special laws, and fair committees were organized to supervise trading at the largest fairs. With the start of World War I, the fairs’ number and volume of turnover decreased.
During the Civil War of 1918–20, no trade fairs were held in Soviet Russia under “War Communism.” The transition to the New Economic Policy brought a revival of the trade fairs, which by 1927 numbered approximately 7,500 in the RSFSR, 15,200 in the Ukrainian SSR, and 417 in the Byelorussian SSR. They were divided into all-Union, republic, oblast, and local fairs. The all-Union category included the Nizhny Novgorod and Baku fairs. Sales by samples and contract sales accounted for most of the turnover at the Nizhny Novgorod Fair. The Baku Fair was an important center for trade with the Eastern countries. Cash sales at these fairs accounted for no more than one-third of the turnover.
Trade fairs were abolished in the USSR in the early 1930’s. They were brought back in the postwar period as a form of state and cooperative trade. Periodic interregional and interrepublic trade fairs, with wholesale transactions and selling based on samples, have been held since 1958. The USSR is an active participant in many international trade fairs.

REFERENCES

Chulkov, M. D. Slovar’ uchrezhdennykh v Rossii iarmarok, izdannyi dlia obrashchaiushchikhsia v torgovle. Moscow, 1788.
Spisok sushchestvuiushchikh v Rossiiskoi imperil iarmarok. St. Petersburg, 1834.
Merder, I. K. Konskaia torgovlia v Rossii (Iarmarki). St. Petersburg, 1880.
Denisov, V. I. Iarmarki (K voprosu o pod”eme ekonomicheskikh sil Rossii). Moscow, 1911.
Kandelaki, I. Rol’ iarmarok v russkoi torgovle. St. Petersburg, 1914.
Vsesoiuznye iarmarki i ikh znachenie vo vnutrennei torgovle i torgovle s Voslokom. Moscow, 1926.
Kafengauz, B. B. Ocherki vnutrennego rynka Rossii pervoi poloviny XVIII v. Moscow, 1958.
Dikhtiar, G. A. Vnutrenniaia torgovlia v dorevoliutsionnoi Rossii. Moscow, 1960.
Uchastie Sovetskogo Soiuza v mezhdunarodnykh iarmarkakh i vystavkakh. Moscow, 1957.

P. A. ZAIONCHKOVSKII

fair

[fer] (meteorology) Generally descriptive of pleasant weather conditions, with regard for location and time of year; it is subject to popular misinterpretation, for it is a purely subjective description; when this term is used in forecasts of the U.S. Weather Bureau, it is meant to imply no precipitation, less than 0.4 sky cover of low clouds, and no other extreme conditions of cloudiness or windiness.

fair

¹1. (of the tide or wind) favourable to the passage of a vessel 2. sunny, fine, or cloudless

fair

² a gathering of producers of and dealers in a given class of products to facilitate business

FAIR

(language)An early system on the IBM 705.

[Listed in CACM 2(5):1959-05-16].

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Synonyms for fair

adj unbiased

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adj respectable

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adj light

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adj light-complexioned

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adj fine

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adj beautiful

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phrase fair and square

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noun carnival

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Synonyms for fair

adj having qualities that delight the eye

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adj having light hair

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adj of a light color or complexion

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adj free from clouds or mist, for example

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adj indicative of future success or full of promise

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adj free from bias in judgment

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adj just to all parties

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adj according to the rules

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adj of moderately good quality but less than excellent

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adv in a fair, sporting manner

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adv with precision or absolute conformity

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noun a traveling show

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