Tommy Tran
2021-02-02 09:02
Be away with the fairies British phrase informal
To be deep in thought, distracted, and behave in a strange way
Look at Bruno! He seems to be away with the fairies again.
To me Maria isn't a realistic person. She is always away with the fairies.
Said when someone believes in unrealistic or fanciful ideas that is impossible to happen
Impossible or unrealistic dreams, hopes, or plans
To pay your full attention to something you are doing
To not concentrate on what one is doing at the time.
To imagine pleasant scenarios.
The verb "be" should be conjugated according to its tense.
The phrase originated from the Scottish or Irish myths. It first appeared in a letter by William Drummond, a Scottish bard, in 1636:
“As for the Fairy Queen, of whom you wrote to me, her Apparitions of late have bewitched so many, that I find sundry ready to dance with the fairies.”
The belief in people being taken away or bewitched by the fairies was very well-established by the 20th century. The phrase was mentioned in the New Zealand newspaper The Otautau Standard and Wallace County Chronicle, May 1909. It retold an Irish story about Michael Coyne, who was trying to convince everyone that his rival has gone “away with fairies” and not been killed by him.
Since then, the phrase has become popular in writing and has been used in its current figurative sense in the late 20th century.
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