Dainty

Definition of Dainty

Dain´ty
n.1.Value; estimation; the gratification or pleasure taken in anything.
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 dainties, by our parents lost.
- Beau. & Fl.
3.A term of fondness.
These 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 dainties, remnants of the last regale.
- Cowper.
a.1.Rare; valuable; costly.
Full many a deynté horse had he in stable.
- Chaucer.
2.Delicious to the palate; toothsome.
Dainty bits
Make rich the ribs.
- Shak.
3.Nice; delicate; elegant, in form, manner, or breeding; well-formed; neat; tender.
Those dainty limbs which nature lent
For gentle usage and soft delicacy.
- Milton.
I would be the girdle.
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 dainty of leave-taking,
But shift away.
- Shak.
To make dainty
to assume or affect delicacy or fastidiousness.
Ah ha, my mistresses! which of you all
Will now deny to dance? She that makes dainty,
She, I'll swear, hath corns.
- Shak.

Related Words

acute, agreeable, airy, ambrosia, ambrosial, appetizing, attenuate, attenuated, beautiful, bleached, bonne bouche, bonny, breakable, bright, brittle, cate, cheap-jack, choice, choice morsel, civilized, clean, cleanly, cobwebby, comestible, comfit, crumbly, cultivated, cultured, cunning, cute, delectable, delicacy, delicat, delicately weak, delicious, delightful, dessert, diaphanous, dirt-free, discriminating, downy, easy, eatable, edible, effeminate, elegant, esculent, ethereal, exquisite, fair, fastidious, filmy, fine-drawn, fine-grained, finespun, finical, finicking, finicky, flimsy, fluffy, fragile, frangible, fresh, fussy, fuzzy, gauzy, genteel, gentle, gimcrack, gimcracky, good, good to eat, good-tasting, goody, gossamer, gossamery, gracile, gracious, gustable, gusty, immaculate, jerry, jerry-built, juicy, kickshaw, kosher, light, lightweight, likable, lovely, luscious, lush, manna, mignon, mincing, morsel, namby-pamby, neat, nectar, nectareous, nectarous, nice, nonpolluted, of cleanly habits, of gourmet quality, overrefined, palatable, papery, particular, pasteboardy, perceptive, pernickety, persnickety, polished, pubescent, puny, pure, rare, rarefied, recherche, refined, ritually pure, sapid, satin, satiny, savorous, savory, scrumptious, select, sensitive, shattery, shiny, silky, sissified, sleazy, slight, smooth, smut-free, smutless, soft, sophisticated, spotless, squeamish, stainless, subtile, subtle, succulent, superior, sweet, sweetmeat, tacky, tahar, tasty, tender, tenuous, thin, thin-spun, tidbit, titbit, toothsome, treat, tubbed, unadulterated, unbesmirched, unblemished, unblotted, undefiled, unmuddied, unpolluted, unsmirched, unsmudged, unsoiled, unspotted, unstained, unsubstantial, unsullied, untainted, untarnished, velutinous, velvety, well-scrubbed, well-washed, white, whitened, wiredrawn, wispy, womanish, yummy
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