Del"i*ca*cy (?), n.; pl.
Delicacies (#). [From Delicate,
a.] 1. The state or condition
of being delicate; agreeableness to the senses; delightfulness; as,
delicacy of flavor, of odor, 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 fiber 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.
[Obs.]
He Rome brent for his delicacie.
Chaucer.
Syn. -- See Dainty.
