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prettiest |
1 definition found From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) [web1913]: Pretty \Pret"ty\, a. [Compar. {Prettier}; superl. {Prettiest}.] [OE. prati, AS pr[ae]ttig, pr[ae]tig, crafty, sly, akin to pr[ae]t, pr[ae]tt, 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}.
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