| delicacy | Origin: From Delicate. 1. The state or condition of being delicate; agreeableness to the senses; delightfulness; as, delicacy of flavor, of odour, and the like. "What choice to choose for delicacy best." (Milton) 2. Nicety or fineness of form, texture, or constitution; softness; elegance; smoothness; tenderness; and hence, frailty or weakness; as, the delicacy of a fibre or a thread; delicacy of a hand or of the human form; delicacy of the skin; delicacy of frame. 3. Nice propriety of manners or conduct; susceptibility or tenderness of feeling; refinement; fastidiousness; and hence, in an exaggerated sense, effeminacy; as, great delicacy of behavior; delicacy in doing a kindness; delicacy of character that unfits for earnest action. "You know your mother's delicacy in this point." (Cowper) 4. Addiction to pleasure; luxury; daintiness; indulgence; luxurious or voluptuous treatment. "And to those dainty limbs which Nature lent For gentle usage and soft delicacy?" (Milton) 5. Nice and refined perception and discrimination; critical niceness; fastidious accuracy. "That Augustan delicacy of taste which is the boast of the great public schools of England." (Macaulay) 6. The state of being affected by slight causes; sensitiveness; as, the delicacy of a chemist's balance. 7. That which is alluring, delicate, or refined; a luxury or pleasure; something pleasant to the senses, especially to the sense of taste; a dainty; as, delicacies of the table. "The merchants of the earth are waxed rich through the abundance of her delicacies." (Rev. Xviii. 3) 8. Pleasure; gratification; delight. "He Rome brent for his delicacie." (Chaucer) Synonym: See Dainty. Source: Websters Dictionary (01 Mar 1998) |
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