fairy ring

Definitions

1. A place where fairies congregate in a ring, particularly in order to dance.
2. A ring of fungi marking the periphery of the perennial underground growth of the mycelium.

Equivalents

5 more languages

Suominoidankehäsienikehä

Italianocerchio delle streghe

Nederlandsheksenkring

Polskiczarci krągczarcie koło

Portuguêsanel de fadas

Examples

“They are fond of music and dancing. It is their dancing that forms the fairy rings.”

“1914, "Rhys at the Fairy Dance⟳" in Maud Keary, Enchanted Tulips and Other Verses for Children, Macmillan and Company, page 102, Though many a year has passed away, / None have⟳ seen Rhys since that day! / Does he dance⟳ and does he sing⟳ / For ever in a Fairy Ring⟳?”

“Welsh folklore also reveals few references to fairy rings but there is a fine example found in the legend "Rhys at the Fairy Dance⟳" (collected in 1827) in which Rhys is lost but found again when several people venture to a nearby fairy ring⟳.”

“This curious phenomenon has been differently accounted for. The following is Mr. Nicholson's description and explanation: "the appearance in the grass, says he, commonly called Fairy Rings, is well known. It consists either of a ring⟳ of grass of more luxuriant vegetation than the rest⟳, or a kind of circular path in which the vegetation is more defective than elsewhere. It appears to be pretty well ascertained that the latter state precedes the former. […]”

“The best known Fungus occupant of fairy rings is the Fairy Ring⟳ Agaric or Champignon, Marasmius oreades, termed in the older botanical textbooks Agaricus oreades.”

“So writing it down and reading it later, I realized somehow my subconscious was giving me a warning of things to come⟳. In the dream⟳ I woke up at the height of the full moon in my garden. I didn't realize⟳ that in my drunken stupor I had fallen asleep amidst a fairy ring⟳. A fairy ring⟳ is a bunch of mushrooms growing in a circle. I often see⟳ them growing on lawns. Legend has it that if one gets caught in this circle on a full moon, the fairies will take⟳ him or her captive and do as they please⟳.”

CEFR level