graceful, a.
(ˈgreɪsfʊl)
[f. grace n. + -ful.]
† 1. Full of divine grace; spiritually profitable; (of persons) holy. Obs.
| c 1420 Anturs of Arth. xx, Þes arne þe graceful giftes of þe holy goste. c 1430 Lydg. Ball. Commend. Our Lady 52 Som drope of graceful dewe to us propyne. c 1449 Pecock Repr. i. xiii. 66 The seid reeding was to hem so graceful, and so delectable. 1611 Shakes. Wint. T. v. i. 171 You haue a holy Father, A gracefull Gentleman. |
† 2. Of persons: Possessed of graces of character, virtuous.
Obs.| 1605 Camden Rem. (1637) 171 Their gracefull issue Prince Charles, the Lady Elizabeth. a 1715 Burnet Own Time (1724) I. 171 A Royal family of three Princes and two Princesses, all young and graceful persons. |
† 3. Favourable, friendly.
Obs.| 1606 Shakes. Ant. & Cl. ii. ii. 60, I Your Partner in the cause 'gainst which he fought, Could not with gracefull eyes attend those Warres Which fronted mine owne peace. |
† 4. Conferring grace or honour.
Obs.| 1595 Spenser Epithal. 3 Others to adorne, Whom ye thought worthy of your gracefull rymes. |
5. Possessed of pleasing or attractive qualities. Now in more restricted sense (
cf. grace n. 1): Elegant in form, proportions, movement, expression, or action. Of actions:
esp. acts of courtesy, concessions, and the like: Felicitously well-timed or becoming.
| a 1586 Sidney Arcadia iii. (1590) 248 b, Their countenaunces full of a gracefull grauitie. 1599 Shakes. Much Ado iii. iv. 42 But for a fine queint gracefull and excellent fashion, yours [i.e. your gown] is worth ten on't. 1624 Wotton Arch. ii. 108 Of this Plastique Art, the chiefe vse with vs is in the gracefull fretting of roofes. 1647 Clarendon Hist. Reb. i. §120 He was..a graceful speaker upon any subject. 1662 J. Davies tr. Mandelslo's Trav. 4 The King..was a very handsome graceful person. 1698 Fryer Acc. E. India & P. 285 To these he has given..graceful Houses. 1725 Pope Odyss. xviii. 182 He shook the graceful honours of his head. 1742 Richardson Pamela IV. 121 She was one of the gracefullest Figures in the Place. 1766 Fordyce Serm. Yng. Wom. (1767) II. xiii. 224 In your sex manly exercises are never graceful. 1809 Roland Fencing 7 This position is not so graceful as the old one. 1826 Disraeli Viv. Grey vi. i, A magnificently cut chandelier, which threw a graceful light upon a sumptuous banquet table. 1849 Macaulay Hist. Eng. v. I. 665 She left a paper written, indeed, in no graceful style, yet such as was [etc.]. 1856 Stanley Sinai & Pal. iii. (1858) 168 A dome graceful as that of St. Peter's. 1860 Tyndall Glac. i. iii. 27 It [a chamois] was a most graceful animal. |
| quasi-adv. 1712–14 Pope Rape Lock v. 7 Clarissa graceful waved her fan. |