fairy ring

plural fairy rings

1. artsA place where fairies congregate in a ring, particularly in order to dance.

   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?

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

   1828, Thomas Keightley, The Fairy Mythology, volume I, London: William Harrison Ainsworth, page 262

   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.

   1972, North Carolina Folklore Society, North Carolina Folklore Journal, Volumes 20-21: 1972-1973, page 51

   Synonyms: elf circle, fairy circle, pixie ring

2. biologyA ring of fungi marking the periphery of the perennial underground growth of the mycelium.

   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.

   1884, The Journal of Horticulture, Cottage Gardener, and Home Farmer, Volume 7, 3rd Series, July—December, 1883, page 213

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   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. […]

   1821, Edward Polehampton, chapter VIII, in The Gallery of Nature and Art: Or, A Tour Through Creation and Science, volume 5, page 316

   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.

   2012, Juliana Regina Delion, Heart Attack!: Shadows on the Eve of Tomorrow, Xlibris Corporation, →ISBN, page 18

   Synonyms: elf circle, elf-dance, fairy circle, pixie ring