|
4 definitions found
From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.44 [gcide]:
Demure \De*mure"\, adjective [Perh. from OF. de murs (i. e., de bonnes
murs of good manners); de of + murs, mours, meurs, mors, F.
m?urs, fr. L. mores (sing. mos) manners, morals (see
{Moral}); or more prob. fr. OF. me["u]r, F. m[^u]r mature,
ripe (see {Mature}) in a phrase preceded by de, as de m[^u]re
conduite of mature conduct.]
1. Of sober or serious mien; composed and decorous in
bearing; of modest look; staid; grave.
Sober, steadfast, and demure. --Milton.
Nan was very much delighted in her demure way, and
that delight showed itself in her face and in her
clear bright eyes. --W. Black.
2. Affectedly modest, decorous, or serious; making a show of
gravity.
A cat lay, and looked so demure, as if there had
been neither life nor soul in her. --L'Estrange.
Miss Lizzy, I have no doubt, would be as demure and
coquettish, as if ten winters more had gone over her
head. --Miss
Mitford.
From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.44 [gcide]:
Demure \De*mure"\, verb (used without an object)
To look demurely. [Obs.] --Shak.
From WordNet (r) 2.0 [wn]:
demure
adjective: affectedly modest or shy especially in a playful or
provocative way [syn: {coy}, {overmodest}]
From Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0 [moby-thes]:
67 Moby Thesaurus words for "demure":
Quakerish, Victorian, backward, bashful, censorious, close,
confused, conscious, coy, decent, decorous, diffident, earnest,
formal, frowning, grave, grim, grim-faced, grim-visaged, hidebound,
inarticulate, long-faced, mid-Victorian, modest, mousy, narrow,
nice, old-maidish, overmodest, priggish, prim, proper, prudish,
puritanical, reserved, reticent, retiring, sanctimonious, sedate,
seemly, self-conscious, serious, shamefaced, shamefast, shy,
silent, skittish, smug, sober, sober-minded, sobersided, solemn,
somber, staid, stammering, stiff-necked, stone-faced,
straight-faced, straitlaced, stuffy, thoughtful, timid, timorous,
unassertive, unassured, unsmiling, weighty
|