| Quaint | a. [ OE. queint, queynte, coint, prudent, wise, cunning, pretty, odd, OF. cointe cultivated, amiable, agreeable, neat, fr. L. cognitus known, p. p. of cognoscere to know; con + noscere (for gnoscere) to know. See Know, and cf. Acquaint, Cognition. ] 1. Prudent; wise; hence, crafty; artful; wily. [ Obs. ] [ 1913 Webster ] Clerks be full subtle and full quaint. Chaucer. [ 1913 Webster ] 2. Characterized by ingenuity or art; finely fashioned; skillfully wrought; elegant; graceful; nice; neat. [ Archaic ] “ The queynte ring.” “ His queynte spear.” Chaucer. “ A shepherd young quaint.” Chapman. [ 1913 Webster ] Every look was coy and wondrous quaint. Spenser. [ 1913 Webster ] To show bow quaint an orator you are. Shak. [ 1913 Webster ] 3. Curious and fanciful; affected; odd; whimsical; antique; archaic; singular; unusual; as, quaint architecture; a quaint expression. [ 1913 Webster ] Some stroke of quaint yet simple pleasantry. Macaulay. [ 1913 Webster ] An old, long-faced, long-bodied servant in quaint livery. W. Irving. [ 1913 Webster ] Syn. -- Quaint, Odd, Antique. Antique is applied to that which has come down from the ancients, or which is made to imitate some ancient work of art. Odd implies disharmony, incongruity, or unevenness. An odd thing or person is an exception to general rules of calculation and procedure, or expectation and common experience. In the current use of quaint, the two ideas of odd and antique are combined, and the word is commonly applied to that which is pleasing by reason of both these qualities. Thus, we speak of the quaint architecture of many old buildings in London; or a quaint expression, uniting at once the antique and the fanciful. [ 1913 Webster ] |
