Webster
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Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary · 1913

Dainty

Dain′ty, n.; pl. Dainties (#). [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.

☞ 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.

I would be the girdle. About her dainty, dainty waist. Tennyson.

4. Requiring dainties. Hence: Overnice; hard to please; fastidious; squeamish; scrupulous; 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.

Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Noah Porter, editor (Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913). Public domain. Text as transcribed by MICRA, Inc., from Project Gutenberg. Changed for Deep Dive Bible: Greek, which our source spelled in Latin letters, set in Greek letters; entries of one spelling merged into one article; Greek words our source left out (shown as “?”), read from the 1898 printing, from the same plates (the Library of Congress’s copy), where the place could be found with certainty. Of the others, 1,362 (a word or a single letter each) were inferred by AI from the context by the dictionary’s own rules and are marked with a wavy underline (tap or point at one to see the note); the rest, which could not be inferred with confidence, are left as “?”.