In 1511, leaders in Mecca believed coffee stimulated radical thinking and outlawed the drink. In 1524, the leaders overturned that order, and people could drink coffee again.
DAINTY
dainty, exquisite
(adjective) delicately beautiful; “a dainty teacup”; “an exquisite cameo”
dainty, nice, overnice, prissy, squeamish
(adjective) 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”
dainty
(adjective) especially pleasing to the taste; “a dainty dish to set before a kind”
dainty, delicacy, goody, kickshaw, treat
(noun) something considered choice to eat
Source: WordNet® 3.1
Etymology
Noun
dainty (plural dainties)
(obsolete) Esteem, honour.
A delicacy.
(Canada, Prairies and northwestern Ontario) A fancy cookie, pastry, or square, typically homemade, served at a social event (usually plural).
(obsolete) An affectionate term of address.
Adjective
dainty (comparative daintier, superlative daintiest)
(obsolete) Excellent; valuable, fine.
Elegant; delicately small and pretty.
Fastidious and fussy, especially when eating.
Synonyms
• neat
• petite
Source: Wiktionary
Dain"ty, n.; pl. Dainties. Etym: [OE. deinie, dainte, deintie, deyntee, OF. deintié 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. 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.
Dain"ty, a. [Compar. Daintier; superl. Daintiest.]
1. Rare; valuable; costly. [Obs.] Full many a deynté 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. Iwould be the girdle. About her dainty, dainty waist. Tennyson.
4. Requirinig daintles. Hence; Overnice; hard to please; fastidious; sqrupulous; 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.
Source: Webster’s Unabridged Dictionary 1913 Edition
Recent Word Finds
Word of the Day
24 April 2024
DECIDE
(verb) reach, make, or come to a decision about something; “We finally decided after lengthy deliberations”
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