Delicacies

1 definition found

From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:

  Delicacy \Del"i*ca*cy\, n.; pl. {Delicacies}. [From {Delicate},
     a.]
     1. The state or condition of being delicate; agreeableness to
        the senses; delightfulness; as, delicacy of flavor, of
        odor, and the like.
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              What choice to choose for delicacy best. --Milton.
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     2. Nicety or fineness of form, texture, or constitution;
        softness; elegance; smoothness; tenderness; and hence,
        frailty or weakness; as, the delicacy of a fiber or a
        thread; delicacy of a hand or of the human form; delicacy
        of the skin; delicacy of frame.
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     3. Nice propriety of manners or conduct; susceptibility or
        tenderness of feeling; refinement; fastidiousness; and
        hence, in an exaggerated sense, effeminacy; as, great
        delicacy of behavior; delicacy in doing a kindness;
        delicacy of character that unfits for earnest action.
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              You know your mother's delicacy in this point.
                                                    --Cowper.
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     4. Addiction to pleasure; luxury; daintiness; indulgence;
        luxurious or voluptuous treatment.
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              And to those dainty limbs which Nature lent
              For gentle usage and soft delicacy?   --Milton.
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     5. Nice and refined perception and discrimination; critical
        niceness; fastidious accuracy.
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              That Augustan delicacy of taste which is the boast
              of the great public schools of England. --Macaulay.
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     6. The state of being affected by slight causes;
        sensitiveness; as, the delicacy of a chemist's balance.
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     7. That which is alluring, delicate, or refined; a luxury or
        pleasure; something pleasant to the senses, especially to
        the sense of taste; a dainty; as, delicacies of the table.
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              The merchants of the earth are waxed rich through
              the abundance of her delicacies.      --Rev. xviii.
                                                    3.
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     8. Pleasure; gratification; delight. [Obs.]
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              He Rome brent for his delicacie.      --Chaucer.
  
     Syn: See {Dainty}.
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