delicious, a.
(dɪˈlɪʃəs)
Also 4–6 -yci-, -icy-, -ycy-, -ous, -owse, dilicious(e, 5 dylycy-, 6 delicius, di-, 6–7 delitious, 7 delishous.
[a. OF. and Anglo-Fr. delicious (later F. delicieus, -eux) = Pr. delicios, Sp. delicioso, It. delizioso, ad. late L. dēliciōs-us delicious, delicate (Augustine), f. L. dēlicia, -æ: see delice and -ous.]
1. a. Highly pleasing or delightful; affording great pleasure or enjoyment.
In mod. use, usually less dignified than ‘delightful’, and expressing an intenser degree and lower quality of pleasure.
| c 1300 K. Alis. 38 Theo wondres, of worm and best, Deliciouse hit is to lest. c 1374 Chaucer Boeth. ii. iii. 36 Þise ben faire þinges..and only while þei ben herd..þei ben deliciouse. c 1534 tr. Pol. Verg. Eng. Hist. (Camden) I. 20 Plenti of delicius rivers, pleasauntlie wateringe there feldes. 1632 Lithgow Trav. v. 222 A Delicious incircling Harbour, inclos'd within the middle of the Towne. a 1661 Fuller Worthies (1840) III. 283 [Guy's Cliff] a most delicious place, so that a man in many miles riding cannot meet so much variety, as there one furlong doth afford. 1742 Collins Eclog. i. 24 Each gentler ray, delicious to your eyes. 1824 Dibdin Libr. Comp. 611 A delicious array of Miltonic treasures. 1861 E. O'Curry MS. Materials Anc. Irish Hist. 263 The delicious strains of the harp. 1879 Farrar St. Paul (1883) 349 A green delicious plain. |
b. Intensely amusing or entertaining.
| 1642 Milton Apol. Smect. viii. Wks. (1847) 92/1 Delicious! he had that whole Bevie at command whether in Morrice or at May-pole; whilst I..left so impoverish'd of what to say, as to turn my Liturgy into my Lady's Psalter. 1851 Ruskin Stones Ven. (1874) I. App. 362 The strut of the foremost cock, lifting one leg at right angles to the other, is delicious. 1853 Kingsley Hypatia vi. (1879) 71 A delicious joke it would have been. |
2. a. Highly pleasing or enjoyable to the bodily senses, esp. to the taste or smell; affording exquisite sensuous or bodily pleasure.
| 1340 Hampole Pr. Consc. 9287 Þat savour sal be ful plenteuouse, And swa swete and swa delicious. c 1400 Mandeville (Roxb.) xv. 71 Ane oþer maner of drinke gude and delicious. c 1440 York Myst. xxix. 76 Itt is licoure full delicious. c 1532 G. Du Wes Introd. Fr. in Palsgr. 921 A quyete slepe is right necessary and delycious. 1548 Hall Chron. 230 b, In the same delicious climate. 1634 Sir T. Herbert Trav. 183 Bananas or Plantanes..the fruite..gives a most delicious taste and rellish. 1667 Milton P.L. ii. 400 The soft delicious Air. 1732 Berkeley Alciphr. i. §1 We walked under the delicious shade of these trees. 1847 Emerson Repr. Men, Uses Gt. Men Wks. (Bohn) I. 274 In Valencia the climate is delicious. 1850 L. Hunt Autobiog. ii. x. 31 There is something in the word delicious which may be said to comprize a reference to every species of pleasant taste. |
b. With capital initial: designating a variety of eating apple of North American origin. Also as n.
| 1903 Budd & Hansen Amer. Hort. Man. ii. 70 The Apple..Delicious. Originated by Jesse Hiatt..Iowa; tree a regular and heavy bearer. Fruit large, roundish conic, ribbed; skin medium thick..color yellow, washed with mixed red. 1932 Discovery July 220/1 Canada is proud of the Mackintosh Red, Delicious, Jonathan, [etc.]. 1959 A. McLintock Descr. Atlas N.Z. 42 The most popular export varieties are Sturmer, Delicious, Jonathan, Granny Smith, and Cox's Orange. |
† 3. a. Characterized by or tending to sensuous indulgence; voluptuous, luxurious. Obs.
| a 1340 Hampole Psalter ix. 6 Deliciouse affecciouns of flescly lust. a 1450 Knt. de la Tour (1868) 54 The flesshe is tempted by delicious metes and drinkes, the whiche bene leteres and kindelers of the brondes of lecherye. 1563 Homilies ii. Fasting i. (1859) 280 An abstinence..from all delicious pleasures and delectations worldly. 1632 Lithgow Trav. i. 22 Forsaking the delicious lives of the effeminate Affricans. 1651–3 Jer. Taylor Serm. for Year (1678) 339 The habitual Intemperance which is too commonly annexed to festival and delicious Tables. |
† b. Of persons: Addicted to sensuous indulgence; voluptuous, luxurious, dainty. Obs.
| 1393 Gower Conf. III. 33 If that thou understode, What is to ben delicious, Thou woldest nought ben curious. c 1450 Mirour Saluacioun 914 Of mete nor drinke was sho neure yhit diliciouse. 1483 Caxton Gold. Leg. 116/2 Thyse monckes ben ouer delycious. 1530 Palsgr. 309/2 Delyciouse, daynty mouthed or delycate. 1598 Sylvester Du Bartas ii. i. Eden (1641) 84/1 Idleness..Defiles our body, Yea sobrest men it makes dilicious. 1680 Morden Geog. Rect. (1685) 71 The Gentry are..Costly in their Apparel, Delicious in their Diet. 1681 W. Robertson Phraseol. Gen. (1693) 448 A delicious mouth or palate. |