suavity
(ˈswɑːvɪtɪ, older ˈswæv-)
Also 5 suavitee, 6 -ite, -yte, 6–7 -itie.
[ad. L. suāvitās (partly through F. suavité), f. suāvis: see suave and -ity.]
† 1. Sweetness or agreeableness to the senses; esp. sweetness (of taste), fragrance (of odour). Obs.
| c 1450 Mirour Saluacioun (1888) 144 There, is alle suavitee delitable to touching. 1513 Bradshaw St. Werburge i. 3372 Suche a suauite and fragrant odoure Ascended from the corps. Ibid. ii. 1907 O redolent rose repleit with suauite. 1646 Sir T. Browne Pseud. Ep. vii. vii. 351 Rachel..desired them [sc. mandrakes] for rarity, pulchritude or suavity. 1658 R. White tr. Digby's Powd. Symp. (1660) 51 The smell of beans..is a smell that hath a suavity with it. 1661 Boyle Style Script. 253 Of both their Suavities [viz. of God's word and of honey], Experience gives much Adventageouser Notions than Descriptions can. |
† b. Sweetness (of sound, harmony, expression).
| 1614 J. Davies Commend. Poems (1878) 10/1 Musickes haters haue no Forme, or Soule: For, had they Soules produc't in Harmony, They would be rauisht with her Suauity. c 1645 Howell Lett. (1655) II. lviii. 78 Touching her [sc. the Greek tongue's] degeneration from her primitive suavity and elegance. 1678 Cudworth Intell. Syst. i. iv. 296 Plato does..very much commend the Orphick Hymns, for their Suavity and Deliciousness. a 1821 V. Knox Ess. cv. Wks. 1824 I. 517, I know not whether the curiosa felicitas..may not be said to consist in delicacy of sentiment and suavity of expression. |
2. Pleasurableness, agreeableness; pl. delights, amenities. Now only as coloured by sense 4.
| 1594 Nashe Terrors Nt. Wks. (Grosart) III. 268 One..who in the midst of his paine falls delighted asleepe, and in that suauitie of slumber surrenders the ghost. 1619 Hales Gold. Rem. ii. (1673) 65 The suavity of their Doctrine in the word Peace and Good things. 1656 Earl of Monmouth tr. Boccalini's Advts. fr. Parnass. ii. lix. (1674) 211 To taste the sweet of Government, the suavity of Command. 1669 Gale Crt. Gentiles i. iii. i. 18 The delights or suavities, which attend the teachings of Poesie. 1823 J. Badcock Dom. Amusem. 63 The common suavities of social life. 1860 O. W. Holmes Prof. Breakf.-t. vi, The elegances and suavities of life. |
† b. A state of sweet calm in the soul when specially favoured by God; pl. feelings of spiritual sweetness or delight. Obs.
| [c 1610 Women Saints 55 Her bodie yielding a most fragrant odour..a greate token of her ghostlie suauitie.] a 1617 Bayne Chr. Lett. (1620) L 8, I thanke God in Christ, sustentation I haue,..but suauities spirituall I taste not any. 1648 Boyle Motives Love of God (1659) 52 The unimaginable suavity, that the fixing of ones Love on God, is able to blesse the Soul with. 1671 Woodhead St. Teresa i. xv. 93 That, which the Soul is to do..is only to rest with suavity, and without noyse. a 1680 Glanvill Some Disc. i. (1681) 55 The conceit of our special dearness to God..that goes no further than to some suavities, and pleasant fancies within our selves. |
† 3. Graciousness; sweetness of manner or treatment. Obs.
| 1508 Fisher 7 Penit. Ps. Wks. (1876) 248 Suauis dominus vniuersis..In euery thynge that god dooth is suauyte. 1642 H. More Song of Soul iv. Oracle (1647) 297 Mild-smiling Cupid's there, With lively looks and amorous suavitie. a 1649 in N. & Q. Ser. i. X. 357 Suavitie, or sweetnes of carriage, is a wynning quality. |
4. The quality or condition of being suave in manner or outward behaviour; bland agreeableness or urbanity.
| 1815 W. H. Ireland Scribbleomania 252 Histories..which uniformly tend to inculcate suavity of manners. 1818 Scott Br. Lamm. xxix, ‘Lucy, my love,’ she added, with that singular combination of suavity of tone and pointed energy which we have already noticed. 1848 Dickens Dombey xxix, These words, delivered with a cutting suavity. 1878 Black Green Past. iii, Sometimes a flash of vehement enthusiasm..would break through the suavity of manner which some considered to be just a trifle too supercilious. |
b. pl. Suave actions.
| 1852 Mrs. Stowe Uncle Tom's C. viii, Cajoled by the attentions of an electioneering politician with more ease than Aunt Chloe was won over by Master Sam's suavities. |