4 definitions found From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]: Dainty \Dain"ty\, a. [Compar. {Daintier}; superl. {Daintiest}.] 1. Rare; valuable; costly. [Obs.] [1913 Webster] Full many a deynt['e] horse had he in stable. --Chaucer. [1913 Webster] Note: Hence the proverb "dainty maketh dearth," i. e., rarity makes a thing dear or precious. [1913 Webster] 2. Delicious to the palate; toothsome. [1913 Webster] Dainty bits Make rich the ribs. --Shak. [1913 Webster] 3. Nice; delicate; elegant, in form, manner, or breeding; well-formed; neat; tender. [1913 Webster] Those dainty limbs which nature lent For gentle usage and soft delicacy. --Milton. [1913 Webster] I would be the girdle. About her dainty, dainty waist. --Tennyson. [1913 Webster] 4. Requiring dainties. Hence: Overnice; hard to please; fastidious; squeamish; scrupulous; ceremonious. [1913 Webster] Thew were a fine and dainty people. --Bacon. [1913 Webster] And let us not be dainty of leave-taking, But shift away. --Shak. [1913 Webster] {To make dainty}, to assume or affect delicacy or fastidiousness. [Obs.] [1913 Webster] Ah ha, my mistresses! which of you all Will now deny to dance? She that makes dainty, She, I'll swear, hath corns. --Shak. [1913 Webster] From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]: Dainty \Dain"ty\, n.; pl. {Dainties}. [OE. deinie, dainte, deintie, deyntee, OF. deinti['e] delicacy, orig., dignity, honor, fr. L. dignitas, fr. dignus worthy. See {Deign}, and cf. {Dignity}.] 1. Value; estimation; the gratification or pleasure taken in anything. [Obs.] [1913 Webster] I ne told no deyntee of her love. --Chaucer. [1913 Webster] 2. That which is delicious or delicate; a delicacy. [1913 Webster] That precious nectar may the taste renew Of Eden's dainties, by our parents lost. --Beau. & Fl. [1913 Webster] 3. A term of fondness. [Poetic] --B. Jonson. Syn: {Dainty}, {Delicacy}. Usage: 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. [1913 Webster] These delicacies I mean of taste, sight, smell, herbs, fruits, and flowers, Walks and the melody of birds. --Milton. [1913 Webster] [A table] furnished plenteously with bread, And dainties, remnants of the last regale. --Cowper. [1913 Webster] From WordNet (r) 2.0 [wn]: dainty adj 1: affectedly dainty or refined [syn: {mincing}, {niminy-piminy}, {prim}, {twee}] 2: of delicate composition and artistry; "a dainty teacup"; "an exquisite cameo" [syn: {exquisite}] 3: especially pleasing to the taste; "a dainty dish to set before a kind"; "a tasty morsel" [syn: {tasty}] 4: excessively fastidious and easily disgusted; "too nice about his food to take to camp cooking"; "so squeamish he would only touch the toilet handle with his elbow" [syn: {nice}, {overnice}, {prissy}, {squeamish}] n : something considered choice to eat [syn: {delicacy}, {goody}, {kickshaw}, {treat}] [also: {daintiest}, {daintier}] From Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0 [moby-thes]: 194 Moby Thesaurus words for "dainty": 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, delicate, delicately weak, delicious, delightful, dessert, diaphanous, dirt-free, discriminating, downy, easy, eatable, edible, effeminate, elegant, esculent, ethereal, exquisite, fair, fastidious, filmy, fine, fine-drawn, fine-grained, finespun, finical, finicking, finicky, flimsy, fluffy, fragile, frail, frangible, fresh, fussy, fuzzy, gauzy, genteel, gentle, gimcrack, gimcracky, good, good to eat, good-tasting, goody, gossamer, gossamery, graceful, 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, pleasing, polished, pretty, 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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