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Airs

.

To give oneself mighty airs: to assume, in manner, appearance, and tone, a superiority to which you have no claim, The same as Air, manner (q.v.).

The plural is essential in this case to take it out of the category of mere eccentricity, or to distinguish it from “airʹ in the sense of deportment, as “he had a fine, manly air,” “his air was that of a gentleman.” Air, in the singular, being generally complimentary, but “airs” in the plural always conveying censure. In Italian, we find the phrase, Si da dell árie.

 

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Entry taken from Dictionary of Phrase and Fable, edited by the Rev. E. Cobham Brewer, LL.D. and revised in 1895.

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Aim
Aim-crier
Air
Air
Air
Air one’s opinions (To)
Air-brained
Air-line
Air-ship (An)
Air-throne
Airs
Aïrapadam
Aisle (pronounoe ile)
Aitch-bone
Ajax
Ajax
Akbar
Akuan
Akuman
Alabama
Alabaster