fairy dart

English

Noun

fairy dart (plural fairy darts)

  1. (archaeology) A prehistoric stone arrowhead; an elf arrow.
    • 1886, Longman's Magazine, page 194:
      Hence, by having a fairy dart in your possession, you can defy the fairies, or can even turn them from active enemies into powerful friends and personal patrons. This curious property makes the stone arrowhead a most valuable charm ...
    • 1969, Joseph Jacobs, Alfred Trübner Nutt, Arthur Robinson Wright, William Crooke, Folklore:
      The shape is believed to have been derived from its being originally the mounting of an elf-shot or fairy dart, i.e. flint arrowhead. An old man in Kincardineshire   […]
    • 1918, Folklore Society (Great Britain), Publications:
      Cattle are shot with stones and can only be cured by a "fairy dart" or ancient stone arrowhead. These objects are kept in numerous wrappings by every properly qualified "fairy doctor," who rub[s] them on the sick beasts with appropriate charms ...
This article is issued from Wiktionary. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.