‖ douceur
(dusœːr)
Forms: 4 dousour, 5 -ceour, 6– -ceur, (7 doulcure, 8 doucœur).
[a. F. douceur, in OF. dulcur, dou{cced}or, dousor, dou{cced}our, = Pr. dolzor, Sp. dulzor, It. dolciore:—Romanic type *dol{cced}ore, *dul{cced}ore, for L. dulcōr-em sweetness, f. dulcis sweet. In ME. app. naturalized; but in modern use, since 17th c., a French loan-word.]
† 1. Formerly, sweetness and pleasantness of manner; amiability, gentleness. Revived in sense ‘something pleasant or agreeable’. So douceur de (la) vie or douceur de vivre: the pleasure or the sweet things of life.
| 13.. E.E. Allit. P. A. 429 For synglerty o hyr dousour, We calle hyr fenyx of Arraby. 1422 tr. Secreta Secret., Priv. Priv. (E.E.T.S.) 189 To Souerayns reuerence and honoure..to fellowis company and douceoure. 1620 Fortesc. Papers (Camden) 126 (Stanf.) Your Majesties douceur and facilitie. 1623 Abp. Williams in Hacket Life i. (1692) 116, I have given special Order to the Judges for Sweetness, and Doulcure to the English Catholicks. 1700 Congreve Way of World iv. 57 My morning thoughts, agreeable wakings, indolent slumbers, all ye douceurs, ye Someils du Matin adieu. 1758 Ralph Case Authors by Profess. 5 All the Douceurs of Life arising from Observance and Respect will be wanting. 1793 F. Burney Let. to Mrs. Phillips 14 May, He..answered with all his accustomed douceur and politeness. 1938 W. S. Maugham Summing Up 294 They will not know the easy, sheltered life which makes many who were at their prime before the war look upon those years as did the survivors of the French Revolution when they looked back on the Ancien Régime. They will not know the douceur de vivre. 1952 W. Plomer Museum Pieces 130 As if he were lamenting a douceur de vivre of which he had caught the last fragrance. 1958 I. Murdoch Bell xxvi. 305 A curious relationship grew up between Michael and Dora, something undefined and wistful which had for Michael a certain ease and douceur. 1962 Times 13 Feb. 11/3 These institutions are sometimes a bit short of les douceurs de la vie. 1962 Listener 6 Dec. 979/2 Yet another reminder of that douceur de vivre which in 1939 vanished for ever. 1963 Punch 3 July 4/2 A certain softness,..easy-going placidity, douceur de vie. 1965 ‘J. Darcy’ Killing in Hats iii. 59 Between the douceur de la vie which was about to pass, and the tantalising future. |
† 2. An agreeable or pleasant speech; a complimentary phrase. Obs.
| 1672 Dryden Marr. à la Mode v. i, Truce with your douceurs, good servant. 1726 Amherst Terræ Fil. xliv. 232 Those printed douceurs that pass between authors and their betters, vulgarly call'd dedications. 1807 Edin. Rev. X. 190 (Stanf.) Such elaborate douceurs as occur in the following letter..look too much like adulation. |
3. A conciliatory present or gift; a gratuity or ‘tip’; a bribe.
| 1763 H. Walpole Lett. (1857) IV. 67 (Stanf.) Her lord has..added..little douceurs..to her jointure. 1769 in Priv. Lett. Ld. Malmesbury (1870) I. 174 Thirty guineas being publicly given to this last soldier, as a sort of douceur for what he had suffered. 1779 F. Burney Diary Nov., [After] one remarkable speech in the House of Commons..receiving some douceur to be silent ever after. 1818 R. Peters in J. Jay's Corr. & Pub. Papers (1893) IV. 424 Money..devoted to secret service and douceurs to French agents. 1880 J. T. Wheeler Short Hist. India iii. iv. 354 The commander-in-chief of the Bengal army..reckoned on receiving a handsome douceur. 1922 Classical Rev. XXXVI. 31/2 The Emperor..adds that a douceur will be necessary in order to get him to consent to the loan. 1965 N. Gulbenkian Pantaraxia xiv. 305 On the few occasions when I have a bet, a winning one, my wife gets a little nonsense and all my servants get a little douceur. |
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Add: [3.] b. spec. A U.K. tax benefit given as an inducement to a person to sell something of historical value (esp. a work of art) by private treaty to a public collection in the U.K., rather than on the open market.
| 1979 National Heritage Fund (Cmnd. 7428) 4 The acceptance in lieu procedure incorporates tax benefits for owners and a ‘douceur’ arrangement to encourage them to dispose of their property to public institutions. However, identical tax and douceur arrangements apply in the case of private treaty sales. 1983 Listener 6 Jan. 9/3 The value of the tax ‘douceur’, or sweetener, can easily be outweighed by a higher price from an American institution. 1988 Times 20 Oct. 14/5 The curator may be able to arrange a private treaty sale with the vendor, whereby the Treasury agrees to waive tax and the vendor gets a 25 per cent douceur. |