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In a critical manner; with nice discernment; accurately; exactly. Critically to discern good writers from bad. Dryden.

The state or quality or being curious; nicety; accuracy; exactness; elaboration. [Obs.] Bacon. When thou wast in thy gilt and thy perfume, they mocked thee for too much curiosity. Shak. A screen accurately cut in tapiary work . . . with great curiosity. Evelin.

Difficult to please or satisfy; solicitous to be correct; careful; scrupulous; nice; exact. [Obs.] Little curious in her clothes. Fuller. How shall we, If he be curious, work upon his faith Bean &

A member or molding of the cornice, the profile of which is wavelike in form.

That part of a pedestal included between the base and the cornice (or surbase); the die. See Illust. of Column. Hence:

In a dainty manner; nicely; scrupulously; fastidiously; deliciously; prettily.

The quality of being dainty; nicety; niceness; elegance; delicacy; deliciousness; fastidiousness; squeamishness. The daintiness and niceness of our captains Hakluyt. More notorious for the daintiness of the provision . . . than for the massiveness of the dish. Hakewill. The duke exeeded in the daintiness of his leg and…

Nice; delicate;elegant, in form, manner, or breeding; well-formed; neat; tender. Those dainty limbs which nature lent For gentle usage and soft delicacy. Milton. Iwould be the girdle. About her dainty, dainty waist. Tennyson.

iding what is to be done or to take place; edict, law; authoritative ru "The decrees of Venice." Sh There went out a decree from Cæsar Augustus that all the world should be taxed. Luke ii. 1. Poor hand, why quiverest thou at this decree Shak.

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.

Pleasing to the senses; refinedly; hence, adapted to please a nice or cultivated taste; nice; fine; elegant; as, a delicate dish; delicate flavor.

A small square block or projection in cornices, a number of which are ranged in an ornamental band; -- used particularly in the Ionic, Corinthian, and Composite orders.

A microscopic plant of the family Desmidiæ, a group of unicellular algæ in which the species have a greenish color, and the cells generally appear as if they consisted of two coalescing halves.

One of the Diatomaceæ, a family of minute unicellular Algæ having a siliceous covering of great delicacy, each individual multiplying by spontaneous division. By some authors diatoms are called Bacillariæ, but this word is not in general use.

That part of a pedestal included between base and cornice; the dado.

The quality of being discriminating; faculty of nicely distinguishing; acute discernment; as, to show great discrimination in the choice of means.

Nice discrimination; hence, clearness; precision; as, he stated his arguments with great distinctness.

One who discerns accurately the difference of things; a nice or judicious observer. Dryden.

The chief magistrate in the republics of Venice and Genoa.

To fit in or connect strongly, skillfully, or nicely; to fit ingeniously or complexly. He put together a piece of joinery so crossly indented and whimsically dovetailed . . . that it was indeed a very curious show. Burke.