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.
DAINTY
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.
DAIRA
Da"ï*ra, n. [Turk. daire circuit department, fr. Ar. daïrah circle.]
Defn: Any of several valuable estates of the Egyptian khedive or his family. The most important are the Da"i*ra Sa"ni*eh, or Sa"ni*yeh, and the Da"i*ra Khas"sa, administered by the khedive's European bondholders, and known collectively as the Daira, or the Daira estates.
DAIRY
Dai"ry, n.;pl. Dairies. Etym: [OE. deierie, from deie, daie, maid; of
Scand. origin; cf. Icel. deigja maid, dairymaid, Sw. deja, orig., a
baking maid, fr. Icel. deig. Dough.]