Dictionary

douceur en · NOUN

Pronunciation

• (Southern-England) audio

Etymology

Borrowed from French douceur (“sweetness”), from Old French dolçor, dulcur, etc., from Latin dulcōr + -em, from dulcis (“sweet”). Naturalized in Middle English as douceoure, dousour but treated as a French loanword from the 17th century onward. Doublet of dulcour.

Meanings

1. (countable, uncountable) Sweetness of manner: agreeableness, gentleness.
2. (countable, obsolete, uncountable) Sweet speech: a compliment.
3. (countable, uncountable) A sweetener: a gift offered to sweeten another's attitude, a tip or bribe.
   • When Dangerfield put the little roll in his hand, Irons looked suspicious and frightened, and balanced it in his palm, as if he had thoughts of chucking it from him, as though it were literally a satanic douceur. But it is hard to part with money, and Irons, though he still looked cowed and unhappy, put the money into his breeches' pocket, and he made a queer bow […] 1863, Sheridan Le Fanu, The House by the Churchyard:
4. (UK, countable, uncountable) A tax break provided as an inducement to sell valuable items (especially art) to public collections rather than on the open market.

Forms

Synonyms

and Thesaurus:bribe · praise (sweet speech) · gift (sweetener) · gratuity