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From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.44 [gcide]:
Dainty \Dain"ty\, adjective [Compar. {Daintier}; superl. {Daintiest}.]
1. Rare; valuable; costly. [Obs.]
Full many a deynt['e] horse had he in stable. --Chaucer.
Note: Hence the proverb ''dainty maketh dearth,'' i. e., rarity makes a thing dear or precious.
2. Delicious to the palate; toothsome.
Dainty bits Make rich the ribs. --Shak.
3. Nice; delicate; elegant, in form, manner, or breeding; well-formed; neat; tender.
Those dainty limbs which nature lent For gentle usage and soft delicacy. --Milton.
I would be the girdle. About her dainty, dainty waist. --Tennyson.
4. Requiring dainties. Hence: Overnice; hard to please; fastidious; squeamish; scrupulous; ceremonious.
Thew were a fine and dainty people. --Bacon.
And let us not be dainty of leave-taking, But shift away. --Shak.
{To make dainty}, to assume or affect delicacy or fastidiousness. [Obs.]
Ah ha, my mistresses! which of you all Will now deny to dance? She that makes dainty, She, I'll swear, hath corns. --Shak.
From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.44 [gcide]:
Dainty \Dain"ty\, noun; 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.]
I ne told no deyntee of her love. --Chaucer.
2. That which is delicious or delicate; a delicacy.
That precious nectar may the taste renew Of Eden's dainties, by our parents lost. --Beau. & Fl.
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.
These delicacies I mean of taste, sight, smell, herbs, fruits, and flowers, Walks and the melody of birds. --Milton.
[A table] furnished plenteously with bread, And dainties, remnants of the last regale. --Cowper.
From WordNet (r) 2.0 [wn]:
dainty
adjective
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}]
noun: 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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