QUAINT

a.

3 definitions — Webster’s Dictionary (1828)


1.
a.

Prudent; wise; hence, crafty; artful; wily. [Obs.] Clerks be full subtle and full quaint. Chaucer.

2.
a.

Characterized by ingenuity or art; finely fashioned; skillfully wrought; elegant; graceful; nice; neat. [Archaic] " The queynte ring." " His queynte spear." Chaucer. " A shepherd young quaint." Chapman. Every look was coy and wondrous quaint. Spenser. To show bow quaint an orator you are. Shak.

3.
a.

Curious and fanciful; affected; odd; whimsical; antique; archaic; singular; unusual; as, quaint architecture; a quaint expression. Some stroke of quaint yet simple pleasantry. Macaulay. An old, long-faced, long-bodied servant in quaint livery. W. Irving.


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