The Collaborative International Dictionary
Delicacy \Del"i*ca*cy\, n.; pl. Delicacies. [From Delicate, a.]
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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. 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.
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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. -
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. -
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. The state of being affected by slight causes; sensitiveness; as, the delicacy of a chemist's balance.
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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. -
Pleasure; gratification; delight. [Obs.]
He Rome brent for his delicacie.
--Chaucer.Syn: See Dainty.
Douglas Harper's Etymology Dictionary
"things dainty and gratifying to the palate," mid-15c., from plural of delicacy.
Wiktionary
n. (plural of delicacy English)
Wikipedia
Delicacies is a compilation album by British electronic band Simian Mobile Disco. It was released on the iTunes Store on 23 November 2010, and released in physical form on 29 November 2010. It is a collection of tracks inspired and named for various unusual foods the band have sampled while touring the world, hence the name.
Usage examples of "delicacies".
The colonists were all dressed in their best clothes Everyone was bustling around, helping, toting, arranging, and fixing the last of the delicacies brought from the old worlds and saved for one last gorge on the new.
Its sole exports were the seafood delicacies for which it was renowned across the Confederation.
Even the fields of crops were hungry looking (one reason why imported delicacies were so popular and profitable in all asteroid settlements).
Moyce’s main income came from supplying goods and delicacies to estates and the upwardly mobile clear across the continent.
Al had been insistent about that, drunk possessed could never keep the illusion of delicacies going.
And he’d sampled all of the imported delicacies in the kitchen, washing them down with fine wines and a lot of Norfolk Tears.
I’d have the best delicacies the universe can offer, cooked by the finest chef in the Confederation, and Norfolk Tears to go with it.
Rich people could afford imported delicacies, but even their staple diet was produced right alongside the burger paste and potato granules of the hoi polloi.
Damon picked up his frothy concoction of summer fruit and alcohol, watched with interest as Talley sampled one of the delicacies of Pell and reacted with pleasure.
If it hadn't been Hiruna who monopolized the attentions of their promised ladies, the two friends would have snagged them away at the very first opportunity, but Hiruna seemed to require that they serve him the various delicacies prepared by the colonists' best cooks.
Raw nuts and seeds are not much to my liking, but there are sweet cream delicacies that would serve to delight those far above my humble station.
From time to time, 'Dini delicacies were shipped to the exchange personnel but today was not an occasion.
It was a bright clear day, the colors of the hills mellower, deeper, and no one raised any objection when Tukolom announced that they would visit the succession houses on the Joslin plateau where delicacies were grown.
He's always complaining that delicacies disappear from storage, but I know for a fact he's the one snitching.
Besides, the special dinner was being served: special even for those at the lower table, since Nerat had sent up fresh red-fruits and other delicacies, transported a-dragonback.