dulcet, a. and n.
(ˈdʌlsɪt)
Forms: α. 5–7 doucet, 5 dowcet; β. 5 dulcette, 6 doulcet(e, (6–7 dulced, 7 doulced), 6– dulcet.
[A refashioning of doucet (from F.), after L. dulcis sweet: cf. It. dolcetto, dim. of dolce. See also doucet.]
† 1. Sweet to the taste or smell. Obs. or arch.
| α c 1430 Two Cookery-bks. 33 Seson it with Sugre, & loke þat it be poynant & doucet. c 1440 Promp. Parv. 128/1 Dowcet mete, or swete bake mete. c 1475 Partenay 972. 1664 Evelyn Kal. Hort. (1729) 196 Doucet Pippins. |
| β 1398 Trevisa Barth. De. P.R. v. xl. (1495) 156 The other partyes..arne the swetter and more dulcette. 1505 Tower of Doctr. 49 in Percy's Reliq., Thys dulcet water. 1528 Paynel Salerne's Regim. H ij, All doulcet wynes. 1623 Cockeram, Dulced, sweet. 1667 Milton P.L. v. 347 And from sweet kernels prest She tempers dulcet creams. 1742 Shenstone Schoolmistress 312 Whose art did first these dulcet cakes display. 1854 Longfellow Catawba Wine vi, But Catawba wine Has a taste more divine, More dulcet, delicious, and dreamy. |
2. Sweet to the eye, ear, or feelings; pleasing, agreeable; soothing, gentle. Now chiefly of sounds.
| α 14.. Prose Leg. in Anglia VIII. 178 Wiþ doucet not and ryme. c 1475 Partenay 877 Doucet songes hurde of briddes enuiron. Ibid. 1008 Fair melusine, the suete doucet made [= maid]. |
| β 1477 Norton Ord. Alch. v. in Ashm. (1652) 53 With doulced [MS. in margin dowcet] speech. 1503 Hawes Examp. Virt. v. (Arb.) 20 Her delycate and doulcete complacence. 1567 Drant Horace, Ep. to Mæcenas D iij, He will see the my dulcet frinde. 1607 T. Walkington Opt. Glass xi. 118 It is a dulcet [ed. 1664 dulcid] humour. 1667 Milton P.L. i. 712 Dulcet Symphonies and voices sweet. c 1750 Shenstone Elegies vii. 52 Still to her dulcet murmurs not a foe. 1837 Disraeli Venetia ii. iii, Her dulcet tones seemed even sweeter than before. |
3. Comb., as
dulcet-chinking,
dulcet-eyed,
dulcet-streaming.
| a 1784 Johnson Parody Transl. Medea ii, With dulcet-streaming sound. a 1821 Keats Fancy 81 Dulcet-eyed as Ceres' daughter. 1864 Sir F. Palgrave Norm. & Eng. III. 23 Five dulcet-chinking pennies. |
B. n. † 1. A dulcet note or tone.
Obs.| 1575 Laneham Let. (1871) 61 Mine Italian dulcets, my dutch houez, my doobl releas. |
† 2. ?
= doucet 3.
Obs.| 1583 Stanyhurst æneis i. (Arb.) 24 Thee stags vpbreaking they slit to the dulcet or inchepyn. |
3. † a. A wind instrument: see
doucet 2.
Obs. b. An organ stop resembling the Dulciana, but an octave higher in pitch;
= dulciana principal.
| 1876 J. Hiles Catech. Organ ix, Dulcet, a delicate stop of 4 feet, small scale metal pipes. 1880 E. J. Hopkins in Grove Dict. Mus. II. 598 In the organ made..Green..included [in the Swell] not only a Dulciana but also its octave, the Dulcet or Dulciana Principal. |
Hence
ˈdulcetly adv.,
ˈdulcetness.
| 1528 Paynel Salerne's Regim. H b, The doulce wynes (for theyr doulcetnes) are vehemently drawen. 1536 Primer Hen. VIII, lf. 149 Jesu, the author of buxomnes..Of dulcednes the well of grace. a 1555 Bradford Wks. (Parker Soc.) 338 The..short time that we have to use them should assuage their dulcetness. 1832 L. Hunt Sonnet Poems 209 His brow with patient pain dulcetly sour. |