Meanings
- uncountablefantasyA magical powder that would give the power of flight to whoever it was sprinkled on.
Of course Peter had been trifling with them, for no one can fly unless the fairy dust has been blown on him.
1911, J[ames] M[atthew] Barrie, “Come away, Come away!”, in Peter and Wendy, 1st American edition, New York, N.Y.: Charles Scribner’s Sons, →OCLC, page 54Synonyms: pixie dust
- broadlyuncountableAny apparently magical ingredient or effect; a panacea.
It's not that some magic private sector fairy dust makes the firms all be runs^([sic]) soundly. Lots of bad businesses are out there. But they tend to lose money and close.
2011 May 19, Megan McArdle, quoting Matt Yglesias, “When Should Governments Contract Out?”, in James Bennet, editor, The Atlantic, Washington, D.C.: The Atlantic Monthly Group, →ISSN, →OCLC - slanguncountableThe drug phencyclidine.
This led to a certain amount of complacency on my part and certainly the fairy dust and mescaline cocktails I took day and night could only have contributed to my uncommonly satiated drive for a good fuck.
2001, Simon Logan, I-O, Prime, →ISBN, page 102Synonyms: angel dust
Synonyms & antonyms
nounA magical powder that would give the power of flight to whoever it was sprinkled on.
nounThe drug phencyclidine.
Origin
Based on the story of the fictional character Peter Pan, see quotations.
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Finnish keijupöly, keijupöly
- keijupölymagical powder
- keijupölyany apparently magical ingredient or effect
French poussière de fée, poudre de fée
- poussière de féemagical powder
- poudre de féemagical powder
- poudre de perlimpinpinany apparently magical ingredient or effect
German Feenstaub
- Feenstaubmagical powder
Italian polvere di fata
- polvere di fatamagical powder
Portuguese pó de fada, pó de fada, pó mágico
- pó de fadamagical powder
- pó de fada, pó mágicoany apparently magical ingredient or effect
Spanish polvo de hadas
- polvo de hadasmagical powder
Cite this entry
fairy dust. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/fairy%20dust
“fairy dust.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/fairy%20dust. Accessed November 2, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “fairy dust,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/fairy%20dust.
Source: fairy dust on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.