Feery

Part of speech: adjective, noun

Definitions

1. Describing someone who is lively, spry and quick in movement, a usage found in Scots dialect
2. Used in Scottish speech to describe a person who is active, nimble and full of spirit
3. Characterizing someone as sprightly and healthy, a term chiefly heard in Scots and northern English dialect

Etymology: In Scots and northern English, "feery" is a dialect spelling tied to the idea of fear and the uncanny, and it is closely related to the word "eerie." Dialect spellings like this one shifted often, so the exact link is hard to pin down. The likely root is the Old English "fær," meaning "sudden danger" or "calamity," which gave Middle English words for fearful or frightening things. Forms like "eri" and "eirie," which became "eerie," probably descend from the same family of Old English and Old Norse words for fear and dread. Scots writers kept many of these older forms alive for centuries after they faded from standard English.