Webster
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Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary · 1913

Pretty

Pret′ty (prĭt′ty̆), a. [Compar. Prettier; superl. Prettiest.] [OE. prati, AS. prættig, prætig, crafty, sly, akin to præt, prætt, deceit, trickery, Icel. prettugr tricky, prettr a trick; probably fr. Latin, perhaps through Celtic; cf. W. praith act, deed, practice, LL. practica execution, practice, plot. See Practice.] 1. Pleasing by delicacy or grace; attracting, but not striking or impressing; of a pleasing and attractive form a color; having slight or diminutive beauty; neat or elegant without elevation or grandeur; pleasingly, but not grandly, conceived or expressed; as, a pretty face; a pretty flower; a pretty poem.

This is the prettiest lowborn lass that ever Ran on the greensward. Shak.

2. Moderately large; considerable; as, he had saved a pretty fortune. "Wavering a pretty while." Evelyn.

3. Affectedly nice; foppish; — used in an ill sense.

The pretty gentleman is the most complaisant in the world. Spectator.

4. Mean; despicable; contemptible; — used ironically; as, a pretty trick; a pretty fellow.

5. Stout; strong and brave; intrepid; valiant. [Scot.]

[He] observed they were pretty men, meaning not handsome. Sir W. Scott.

Syn. — Elegant; neat; fine. See Handsome.

Pret′ty (prĭt′ty̆), adv. In some degree; moderately; considerably; rather; almost; — less emphatic than very; as, I am pretty sure of the fact; pretty cold weather.

Pretty plainly professes himself a sincere Christian. Atterbury.

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.