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To make attractive; to adorn; to brighten. Let oft good humor, mild and gay, Gild the calm evening of your day. Trumbull.

To be showy, specious, or striking, and hence attractive; as, the glittering scenes of a court.

a, Euphrosyne, and Thalia, and were regarded as the inspirers of the qualities which give attractiveness to wisdom, love, and social intercourse. The Graces love to weave the rose. Moore. The Loves delighted, and the Graces played. Prior.

Agreeable to the eye or to correct taste; having a pleasing appearance or expression; attractive; having symmetry and dignity; comely; -- expressing more than pretty, and less than beautiful; as, a handsome man or woman; a handsome garment, house, tree, horse.

Having coarse, unattractive or stern features. Smollett.

Having seven units of attractive force or affinity; -- said of heptad elements or radicals.

A European plant of the genus Cerinthe, whose flowers are very attractive to bees. Loudon.

Wanting beauty or attractiveness; deformed; ugly; ill-looking. Ill-favored and lean-fleshed. Gen. xli. 3. -- Ill`-fa"vored*ly, adv. -- Ill`-fa"vored*ness, n.

Alluring; attractive; enticing. [Obs.] Sir T. Elyot.

Not attracting love; unattractive. These are ill-favored to see to; and yet, asloveless as they be, they are not without some medicinable virtues. Holland.

dowed with extraordinary personal power to excite the feelings and to win the affections; attractive; inducing attachment. She that had all magnetic force alone. Donne.

Tending to invite favor; attracting confidence, favor, esteem, or love; attractive; as, a prepossessing manner. -- Pre`pos*sess"ing*ly, adv.

asing by delicacy or grace; attracting, but not striking or impressing; of a pleasing and attractive form a color; having slight or diminutive beauty; neat or elegant without elevation or grandeur; pleasingly, but not grandly, conceived or expressed; as, a pretty face; a pretty flower; a pretty poem. This is the pretti…

Attractive; persuasive. J. Morley.

Attractive moral excellence; moral beauty. By the pulchritude of their souls make up what is wanting in the beauty of their bodies. Ray.

Sought out with care; choice. Hence: of rare quality, elegance, or attractiveness; peculiar and refined in kind.

e color, the color of a rose; pink; hence, a beautiful hue or appearance; fancied beauty, attractiveness, or promise.

A mixture of salt, coarse meal lime, etc., attractive to pigeons.

To make poignant; to give zest, flavor or interest to; to set off; to vary and render attractive. Then fell she to sauce her desires with threatenings. Sir P. Sidney.

Pleasure; delight; attractiveness. [Obs.] She shall no savor have therein but lite. Chaucer.