A streamlined structure on a ship or aircraft designed to reduce air or water resistance and improve aerodynamic flow.
From nautical 'fair' (smooth, aligned, reducing drag) plus 'water' (from Old English 'wæter'), literally 'water-fair' or a structure that makes water flow fairly (smoothly).
Fairwaters are invisible engineering—a submarine's fairwater (the bumpy structure above the hull) reduced drag so effectively that military submarines adopted the design; now every modern submarine features this century-old innovation.
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