'Dainty' definitions:
Definition of 'dainty'
From: WordNet
adjective
adjective
Delicately beautiful; "a dainty teacup"; "an exquisite cameo" [syn: dainty, exquisite]
adjective
Especially pleasing to the taste; "a dainty dish to set before a kind";
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" [syn: dainty, nice, overnice, prissy, squeamish]
noun
Definition of 'Dainty'
From: GCIDE
- Dainty \Dain"ty\, n.; 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.] [1913 Webster]
- I ne told no deyntee of her love. --Chaucer. [1913 Webster]
- 2. That which is delicious or delicate; a delicacy. [1913 Webster]
- That precious nectar may the taste renew Of Eden's dainties, by our parents lost. --Beau. & Fl. [1913 Webster]
- 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. [1913 Webster]
- These delicacies I mean of taste, sight, smell, herbs, fruits, and flowers, Walks and the melody of birds. --Milton. [1913 Webster]
- [A table] furnished plenteously with bread, And dainties, remnants of the last regale. --Cowper. [1913 Webster]
Definition of 'Dainty'
From: GCIDE
- Dainty \Dain"ty\, a. [Compar. Daintier; superl. Daintiest.]
- 1. Rare; valuable; costly. [Obs.] [1913 Webster]
- Full many a deynt['e] horse had he in stable. --Chaucer. [1913 Webster]
- Note: Hence the proverb "dainty maketh dearth," i. e., rarity makes a thing dear or precious. [1913 Webster]
- 2. Delicious to the palate; toothsome. [1913 Webster]
- Dainty bits Make rich the ribs. --Shak. [1913 Webster]
- 3. Nice; delicate; elegant, in form, manner, or breeding; well-formed; neat; tender. [1913 Webster]
- Those dainty limbs which nature lent For gentle usage and soft delicacy. --Milton. [1913 Webster]
- I would be the girdle. About her dainty, dainty waist. --Tennyson. [1913 Webster]
- 4. Requiring dainties. Hence: Overnice; hard to please; fastidious; squeamish; scrupulous; ceremonious. [1913 Webster]
- Thew were a fine and dainty people. --Bacon. [1913 Webster]
- And let us not be dainty of leave-taking, But shift away. --Shak. [1913 Webster]
- To make dainty, to assume or affect delicacy or fastidiousness. [Obs.] [1913 Webster]
- Ah ha, my mistresses! which of you all Will now deny to dance? She that makes dainty, She, I'll swear, hath corns. --Shak. [1913 Webster]
Synonyms of 'dainty'
From: Moby Thesaurus
- 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