Dictionary

archness en · NOUN

Etymology

Etymology tree English arch Proto-Germanic *-inōną Proto-Indo-European *-dyé- Proto-Germanic *-atjaną Proto-Indo-European *-tus Proto-Germanic *-þuz Proto-Germanic *-assuz Proto-Germanic *-inassuz Proto-West Germanic *-nassī Old English -nes Middle English -nesse English -ness English archness From arch (“principal; primary; mischievous”, adjective) + -ness.

Meanings

1. (countable, uncountable) The state of being arch.
   • Marianne was surprised and confused, yet she could not help smiling at the quiet archness of his manner 1811, Jane Austen, chapter 18, in Sense and Sensibility:
   • Meanwhile the farce was going on very successfully, and Mrs. Leary, in a hussar jacket and braided pantaloons, was enchanting the audience with her archness, her lovely figure, and her delightful ballads. 1848 November – 1850 December, William Makepeace Thackeray, chapter 29, in The History of Pendennis. […], volume (please specify |volume=I or II), London: Bradbury and Evans, […], published 1849–1850, →OCLC:
   • There was something artless in Toby's delivery; he was working in the family tradition of teasing, but he was too relenting and couldn't yet match Gerald's heavy archness. 2004, Alan Hollinghurst, chapter 3, in The Line of Beauty […], London: Picador, →ISBN:

Forms