dainty en · ADJ
Pronunciation
Etymology
From Middle English deynte (as noun), from Old French deintié, from Latin dignitātem. Doublet of dignity.
Meanings
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Elegant; delicately small and pretty.
However, with the dainty volume my quondam friend sprang into fame. At the same time he cast off the chrysalis of a commonplace existence.
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:As for thoſe People of the Eaſt, (Goa, Calecute, Malaca,) they vvere a Fine, and Dainty People; Frugall, and yet Elegant, though not Militar.
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:Those dainty limbs which nature lent / For gentle usage and soft delicacy.
1634 October 9 (first performance; Gregorian calendar), [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: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.
1947 January and February, O. S. Nock, “"The Aberdonian" in Wartime”, in Railway Magazine, page 9:
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Fastidious and fussy, especially when eating.
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.
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:And let us not be dainty of leave taking, / But shift away.
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]:
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(obsolete) Excellent; valuable, fine.
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.
1603, Michel de Montaigne, chapter 13, in John Florio, transl., The Essayes […], book II, London: […] Val[entine] Simmes for Edward Blount […], →OCLC:
Forms
| Spelling | Features | Labels | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| daintier | Degree=Cmp | lexicographic | |
| daintiest | Degree=Sup | lexicographic |
Deriveds
daintiness · overdainty · superdainty · undainty · prick-me-dainty · daintiful · undainteous · daintify · Canadian dainty · daintily
Synonyms
Translations (56)
mi marore (delicately small and pretty) · de anspruchsvoll (fastidious and fussy when eating) · de pingelig (fastidious and fussy when eating) · fi valikoiva (fastidious and fussy when eating) · de geziert (fastidious and fussy when eating) · es mañoso (fastidious and fussy when eating) · kw denti (fastidious and fussy when eating) · sv nätt (delicately small and pretty) · de niedlich (small and pretty) · fr mignon (delicately small and pretty) · ru изы́сканный (delicately small and pretty) · da laekkeri (delicately small and pretty) · bg сладък (small and pretty) · es delicado (delicately small and pretty) · fr délicat (delicately small and pretty) · pt delicada (delicately small and pretty) · ca delicat (delicately small and pretty) · ru элега́нтный (delicately small and pretty) · fi siro (delicately small and pretty) · ru утончённый (delicately small and pretty) · ga beadaí (fastidious and fussy when eating) · de zierlich (delicately small and pretty) · ru не́жный (delicately small and pretty) · cs vybíravý (fastidious and fussy when eating) · ru деликатный (delicately small and pretty) · la dēlicātus (delicately small and pretty) · cs mlsný (fastidious and fussy when eating) · bg изящен (small and pretty) · ca bufó (delicately small and pretty) · de putzig (small and pretty) · pl arcydelikatny (delicately small and pretty) · ru изя́щный (delicately small and pretty) · eo malkruda (delicately small and pretty) · sh izbirljiv (fastidious and fussy when eating) · de zart (delicately small and pretty) · de fein (delicately small and pretty) · jv ayu (small and pretty) · ru ла́комый (delicately small and pretty) · nl delicaat (delicately small and pretty) · grc ἁβρός (delicately small and pretty) · bg изи́скан (delicately small and pretty) · fi nirso (fastidious and fussy when eating) · cy amheuthun (delicately small and pretty) · de niedlich (delicately small and pretty) · bg приди́рчив (fastidious and fussy when eating) · ru приди́рчивый (fastidious and fussy when eating) · de delikat (delicately small and pretty) · pt delicado (delicately small and pretty) · de mäkelig (fastidious and fussy when eating) · grc τρυφερός (delicately small and pretty) · mi tōitiiti (delicately small and pretty) · ro delicat (delicately small and pretty) · bg не́жен (delicately small and pretty) · ru привере́дливый (fastidious and fussy when eating) · cmn 纖巧 /纤巧 (delicately small and pretty) · cs roztomilý (delicately small and pretty)