Definify.com
Webster 1913 Edition
Dainty
Dain′ty
,Noun.
pl.
Dainties
(#)
. 1.
Value; estimation; the gratification or pleasure taken in anything.
[Obs.]
I ne told no
deyntee
of her love. Chaucer.
2.
That which is delicious or delicate; a delicacy.
That precious nectar may the taste renew
Of Eden’s
Of Eden’s
dainties
, by our parents lost. Beau. & Fl.
These words are here compared as denoting articles of food. The term delicacy as applied to a nice article of any kind, and hence to articles of food which are particularly attractive. Dainty is stronger, and denotes some exquisite article of cookery. A hotel may be provided with all the delicacies of the season, and its table richly covered with dainties.
These
I mean of taste, sight, smell, herbs, fruits, and flowers,
Walks and the melody of birds.
delicacies
I mean of taste, sight, smell, herbs, fruits, and flowers,
Walks and the melody of birds.
Milton.
[A table] furnished plenteously with bread,
And
And
dainties
, remnants of the last regale. Cowper.
Dain′ty
,Adj.
[
Com
par.
Daintier
; sup
erl.
Daintiest
.] 1.
Rare; valuable; costly.
[Obs.]
Full many a
deynté
horse had he in stable. Chaucer.
☞ Hence the proverb “dainty maketh dearth,” i. e., rarity makes a thing dear or precious.
2.
Delicious to the palate; toothsome.
Dainty
bitsMake rich the ribs.
Shakespeare
3.
Nice; delicate; elegant, in form, manner, or breeding; well-formed; neat; tender.
Those
For gentle usage and soft delicacy.
dainty
limbs which nature lentFor gentle usage and soft delicacy.
Milton.
I would be the girdle.
About her
About her
dainty
, dainty
waist. Tennyson.
4.
Requiring dainties. Hence: Overnice; hard to please; fastidious; squeamish; scrupulous; ceremonious.
Thew were a fine and
dainty
people. Bacon.
And let us not be
But shift away.
dainty
of leave-taking,But shift away.
Shakespeare
To make dainty
, to assume or affect delicacy or fastidiousness.
[Obs.]
Ah ha, my mistresses! which of you all
Will now deny to dance? She that
She, I'll swear, hath corns.
Will now deny to dance? She that
makes dainty
,She, I'll swear, hath corns.
Shakespeare
Webster 1828 Edition
Dainty
DA'INTY
,Adj.
1.
Nice; pleasing to the palate; of exquisite taste; delicious; as dainty food.2.
Delicate; of acute sensibility; nice in selecting what is tender and good; squeamish; soft; luxurious; as a dainty taste or palate; a dainty people.3.
Scrupulous in manners; ceremonious.4.
Elegant; tender; soft; pure; neat; effeminately beautiful; as dainty hands or limbs.5.
Nice; affectedly fine; as a dainty speaker.DA'INTY
,Noun.
1.
Something nice and delicate to the taste; that which is exquisitely delicious; a delicacy.Be not desirous of dainties, for they are deceitful meat. Prov. xxiii
2.
A term of fondness.Why, that's my dainty. Shak.
Definition 2024
dainty
dainty
English
Noun
dainty (plural dainties)
- (obsolete) Esteem, honour.
- A delicacy.
- 1719, Daniel Defoe, Robinson Crusoe
- […] my case was deplorable enough, yet I had great cause for thankfulness that I was not driven to any extremities for food, but had rather plenty, even to dainties.
- William Cowper
- [A table] furnished plenteously with bread, / And dainties, remnants of the last regale.
- 1719, Daniel Defoe, Robinson Crusoe
- (Canada, Prairies and northwestern Ontario) A fancy cookie, pastry, or square served at a social event (usually plural).
- (obsolete) An affectionate term of address.
- (Can we find and add a quotation of Ben Jonson to this entry?)
Translations
a delicacy
|
Adjective
dainty (comparative daintier, superlative daintiest)
- (obsolete) Excellent; valuable, fine.
- 1603, John Florio, translating Michel de Montaigne, Essayes, London: Edward Blount, OCLC 946730821, II.13:
- Heliogabalus the most dissolute man of the world, amidst his most riotous sensualities, intended, whensoever occasion should force him to it, to have a daintie death.
- 1603, John Florio, translating Michel de Montaigne, Essayes, London: Edward Blount, OCLC 946730821, II.13:
- Elegant; delicately small and pretty.
- Milton
- Those dainty limbs which nature lent / For gentle usage and soft delicacy.
- 1898, Winston Churchill, chapter 1, in The Celebrity:
- However, with the dainty volume my quondam friend sprang into fame. At the same time he cast off the chrysalis of a commonplace existence.
- Milton
- Fastidious and fussy, especially when eating.
- Francis Bacon
- They were a fine and dainty people.
- Shakespeare
- And let us not be dainty of leave taking, / But shift away.
- Francis Bacon
Synonyms
Translations
delicately small and pretty
fastidious and fussy when eating
|
References
- “dainty” in the Canadian Oxford Dictionary, Second Edition, Oxford University Press, 2004.