dainty
Language: English
Part of speech: adj
Pronunciation: ipa: /ˈdeɪnti/
rhymes: -eɪnti
Forms: form: daintier
form: daintiest
Etymology: From Middle English deynte (as noun), from Old French deintié, from Latin dignitātem. Doublet of dignity.
Senses: examples: text: As for thoſe People of the Eaſt, (Goa, Calecute, Malaca,) they vvere a Fine, and Dainty People; Frugall, and yet Elegant, though not Militar.
ref: 1622 (date written), Francis [Bacon], “An Advertisement Touching an Holy Warre. […]”, in William Rawley, editor, Certaine Miscellany Works of the Right Honourable Francis Lo. Verulam, Viscount S. Alban. […], London: […] I. Hauiland for Humphrey Robinson, […], published 1629, →OCLC, page 104:
text: Those dainty limbs which nature lent / For gentle usage and soft delicacy.
ref: 1634 October 9 (first performance), [John Milton], edited by H[enry] Lawes, A Maske Presented at Ludlow Castle, 1634: […] [Comus], London: […] [Augustine Matthews] for Hvmphrey Robinson, […], published 1637, →OCLC; reprinted as Comus: […] (Dodd, Mead & Company’s Facsimile Reprints of Rare Books; Literature Series; no. I), New York, N.Y.: Dodd, Mead & Company, 1903, →OCLC:
english: Comus
translation: Comus
text: However, with the dainty volume my quondam friend sprang into fame. At the same time he cast off the chrysalis of a commonplace existence.
ref: 1897 December (indicated as 1898), Winston Churchill, chapter I, in The Celebrity: An Episode, New York, N.Y.: The Macmillan Company; London: Macmillan & Co., Ltd., →OCLC:
text: The cutting sides were gay with heather in bloom, and masses of dainty Scots bluebells, while patches of clear sky overhead were bringing life and colour to the sea.
ref: 1947 January and February, O. S. Nock, “"The Aberdonian" in Wartime”, in Railway Magazine, page 9:
glosses: Elegant; delicately small and pretty.
examples: text: UUho when he ſhal embrace you in his arms
UUil tell how many thouſand men he ſlew.
And when you looke for amorous diſcourſe,
Will rattle foorth his facts of war and blood:
Too harſh a ſubiect for your daintie eares.
ref: c. 1587–1588 (date written), [Christopher Marlowe], Tamburlaine the Great. […] The First Part […], 2nd edition, part 1, London: […] [R. Robinson for] Richard Iones, […], published 1592, →OCLC; reprinted as Tamburlaine the Great (A Scolar Press Facsimile), Menston, Yorkshire; London: Scolar Press, 1973, →ISBN, Act III, scene ii:
text: And let us not be dainty of leave taking, / But shift away.
ref: c. 1606 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Macbeth”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act II, scene iii]:
glosses: Fastidious and fussy, especially when eating.
examples: text: 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.
ref: 1603, Michel de Montaigne, chapter 13, in John Florio, transl., The Essayes […], book II, London: […] Val[entine] Simmes for Edward Blount […], →OCLC:
glosses: Excellent; valuable, fine.
Synonyms: neat
petite
Derived terms: Canadian dainty
daintify
daintily
daintiness
overdainty
prick-me-dainty
superdainty
undainteous
undainty