fancies

1. 1
   noun

   Plural of fancy.

   The poem indulges all sorts of strange fancies about the afterlife.

   She set aside her passing fancies and focused on the work at hand.

   Note

   Only the countable meanings of the noun make this plural: whims, half-formed notions, images in the mind, the objects of a liking. Fancy as the faculty of imagination has no real plural. The spelling is shared with the verb in she fancies a walk, so the surrounding words show which one is meant. An article or an adjective points to the noun.

2. 2
   verb

   Third-person singular simple present of fancy.

   He fancies himself a connoisseur of fine wine, though he rarely knows what he is drinking.

   She fancies that everyone at the party is secretly judging her outfit.

   Note

   The verb's meanings differ sharply in register. In British use, he fancies a coffee means he would like one. Informally, he fancies the new manager means he is attracted to her. The older sense, to imagine or suppose (she fancies herself unobserved), is now dated. The more formal sense of admiring without envy sits at the opposite end of the scale.

3. 3
   nounobsolete

   Plural of fancie. Fancie is an obsolete spelling of fancy.

   The poet wove together the fancies of youth and the regrets of age.

   Her journal brimmed with fancies she never dared speak aloud.

   Note

   An obsolete singular hides behind a familiar plural here. Fancie was once a spelling of fancy, as both noun and adjective. Only the noun forms a plural, and in the plural the old and modern spellings meet. So fancies in an older text looks exactly like the modern plural. The difference shows only where the singular appears.

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