Delicacy (?), n.; pl. Delicacies (#). [From Delicate, a.] 1. The state or condition of being delicate; agreeableness to the senses; delightfulness; as, delicacy of flavor, of odor, and the like.
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What choice to choose for delicacy best. Milton.
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2. Nicety or fineness of form, texture, or constitution; softness; elegance; smoothness; tenderness; and hence, frailty or weakness; as, the delicacy of a fiber or a thread; delicacy of a hand or of the human form; delicacy of the skin; delicacy of frame.
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3. Nice propriety of manners or conduct; susceptibility or tenderness of feeling; refinement; fastidiousness; and hence, in an exaggerated sense, effeminacy; as, great delicacy of behavior; delicacy in doing a kindness; delicacy of character that unfits for earnest action.
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You know your mother's delicacy in this point. Cowper.
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4. Addiction to pleasure; luxury; daintiness; indulgence; luxurious or voluptuous treatment.
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And to those dainty limbs which Nature lent
For gentle usage and soft delicacy? Milton.
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5. Nice and refined perception and discrimination; critical niceness; fastidious accuracy.
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That Augustan delicacy of taste which is the boast of the great public schools of England. Macaulay.
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6. The state of being affected by slight causes; sensitiveness; as, the delicacy of a chemist's balance.
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7. That which is alluring, delicate, or refined; a luxury or pleasure; something pleasant to the senses, especially to the sense of taste; a dainty; as, delicacies of the table.
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The merchants of the earth are waxed rich through the abundance of her delicacies. Rev. xviii. 3.
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8. Pleasure; gratification; delight. [Obs.]
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He Rome brent for his delicacie. Chaucer.

Syn. -- See Dainty.
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