embellish

en-verb

embellish (third-person singular simple present embellishes, present participle embellishing, simple past and past participle embellished)

embellishes (present singular third-person)
embellishing (participle present)
embellished (participle past)
embellished (past)

From Middle English embelishen, from Old French embellir, from em- + bel.

The old book cover was embellished with golden letters

He was a notable patron of the arts who lavishly embellished his royal residences and rebuilt and enlarged Westminster Abbey, destined as the burialplace of himself and many of his successors, in honor of his patron saint, Edward the Confessor.

1998, C.H. Knowles, “Henry III (1207-1272; r. 1216-72)”, in Medieval England: An Encyclopedia, Garland Publishing, →ISBN, →LCCN, →OCLC, page 345, column 2:

To make more beautiful and attractive by adding ornamentation; to decorate.


curvaceous

en-adj

curvaceous (comparative more curvaceous, superlative most curvaceous)

more curvaceous (comparative)
most curvaceous (superlative)

From curve + -aceous. Originally American English, 1930s.

He watched her walk, upon curvaceous legs, to the edge of the bed. For just a second, she smiled down at him.

1962, M. E. Knerr, The Sex Life of the Gods:

Anya is tall, gorgeous and curvaceous, all of which I enjoy sexually, especially the curvaceous part: I enjoy squeezing and grabbing all the sexy, abundant parts of her body.

2023 May 13, Kitty Drake, “This is how we do it: ‘A tired, throwaway midweek shag doesn’t interest me’”, in The Guardian, →ISSN:

(of a woman) Having shapely and voluptuous curves; curvy.


ten

From Middle English ten, tene, from Old English tīen, from Proto-West Germanic *tehun, from Proto-Germanic *tehun, from Proto-Indo-European *déḱm̥. Cognate with Scots ten, tene (“ten”), West Frisian tsien (“ten”), Saterland Frisian tjoon (“ten”), North Frisian tiin (“ten”). See also teen.

The number occurring after nine and before eleven, represented in Arabic numerals (base ten) as 10 and in Roman numerals as X.

tammá

the cardinal number occurring after 9 and before 11

十

じゅう, jū; とお, tō


ten

en-noun

ten (countable and uncountable, plural tens)

not touch something with a ten-foot pole

I was in the Woodley Park–Zoo in D.C. and mom and sister were waiting to see the pandas, so me and my pops broke away to check out the monkey house. Well, there was a beautiful teacher, I mean we're talking a ten, she was blond, had a low-cut dress on, just gorgeous. And she has about eight or nine students and she's pointing out all the different monkeys. And me and my dad noticed this huge orangutan kind of fiddling with himself. And on close [censored] And we kept checking it out and he was looking directly at the teacher. Well, a couple minutes passed by [censored] he proceeds to [censored] that's when the teacher noticed and, you know, took the kids away very hurriedly. But I looked at my dad and said, you know, they're so much like us.

2006 May 9, Penn Jillette, Michael Goudeau, quoting Chris, 22:22 from the start, in Penn Radio:

An Office Ten is a person who falls somewhere between average to mildly good-looking in the world at large but skyrockets to wildly attractive within the confines of an open-concept desk plan.

2023 September 11, Danielle Cohen, “Why Am I Attracted to My Coworker? Meet ‘The Office Ten’”, in New York Magazine:

(countable, US, slang) A perfect specimen, (particularly) a physically attractive person.

At the 1,000-metres post we gave a ten, which raised our lead to 1⅔ lengths; the Belgians were rowing hard, but one felt that they still had plenty of spurting power.

1911, The Cambridge Review, volume 32, page 486:

Morris gave a ten, and an unbelievable surge ran through the boat, one that I had never felt before.

1982, Stanley French, Aspects of Downing history, page 105:

(countable, rowing) The act of rowing ten strokes flat out.


cast

Etymology tree
Proto-Germanic *kas-
Proto-Germanic *kastōną
Old Norse kastabor.
Middle English casten
English cast
From Middle English casten, from Old Norse kasta (“to throw, cast, overturn”), from Proto-Germanic *kastōną (“to throw, cast”), of unknown origin.
Cognate with Scots cast (“to cast, throw”), Danish kaste (“to throw”), Swedish kasta (“to throw, cast, fling, toss, discard”), Icelandic kasta (“to pitch, toss”). In the sense of "flinging", displaced native warp.
The senses relating to broadcasting are based on that same term; compare -cast.

cog

Her features had a delicate cast to them.

Using a tungsten-balanced film outdoors results in a blue cast to the photo.

2004, Betsy Brill, Photojournalism: The Professional's Approach, page 240:

He stared down at his champagne glass with narrowed eyes and a hard cast to his mouth.

2007, Lindsay Armstrong, The Australian's Housekeeper Bride, page 78:


handsome

en-adj

handsome (comparative more handsome or handsomer, superlative most handsome or handsomest)

more handsome (comparative)
handsomer (comparative)
most handsome (superlative)
handsomest (superlative)

→ Japanese: ハンサム

From Middle English handsum, hondsom, equivalent to hand + -some. Compare Dutch handzaam, German Low German handsaam. The original sense was ‘easy to handle or use’, hence ‘suitable’ and ‘apt, clever’ (mid 16th century), giving rise to the current appreciatory senses (late 16th century).

I was struck dumb. Here was the most handsome man I’d ever seen in my life coming out of the surf.

Scott was a man then who looked like a boy with a face between handsome and pretty. He had very fair wavy hair, a high forehead, excited and friendly eyes and a delicate long-lipped Irish mouth that, on a girl, would have been the mouth of a beauty. His chin was well built and he had good ears and a handsome, almost beautiful, unmarked nose.

1964, Ernest Hemingway, “Scott Fitzgerald”, in A Moveable Feast, New York, N.Y.: Charles Scribner’s Sons, →OCLC, page 149:

Having a pleasing appearance, good-looking, attractive, particularly:

Of a man or boy: attractively manly, having a pleasing face and overall effect.

She was either handsome or her uniform created a flattering effect but—being very nearsighted—he couldn't tell from this distance.

Of a woman: statuesque, beautiful in a masculine or otherwise imposing way.

সুন্দরী

of a woman: striking, impressive and elegantly proportioned, though not conventionally beautiful

That is one handsome tree you've got there.

I saw, I confess, some good dancing and some handsome women, which was all my pleasure.

1661–1669 (date written; Gregorian calendar), Samuel Pepys, Mynors Bright, transcriber, “(please specify the entry date)”, in Henry B[enjamin] Wheatley, editor, The Diary of Samuel Pepys […], volume (please specify |volume=I to X), London: George Bell & Sons […]; Cambridge: Deighton Bell & Co., published 1893–1899, →OCLC:

At the farther end of this great lamp-lit apartment was another doorway closed in with heavy Oriental-looking curtains, quite unlike those that hung before the doors of our own rooms, and here stood two particularly handsome girl mutes, their heads bowed upon their bosoms and their hands crossed in an attitude of humble submission.

1886 October – 1887 January, H[enry] Rider Haggard, She: A History of Adventure, London: Longmans, Green, and Co., published 1887, →OCLC:

On the opposite side of the street, on the corner, is the city hall, a very handsome building of brick and stone.

1916, On H.R. 4683, site for post-office building at Chicago, Ill, page 117:

The mother, Ekaterina Pavlovna, who at one time had been handsome, but now, asthmatic, depressed, vague, and over-feeble for her years, tried to entertain me with conversation about painting. Having heard from her daughter that I might come to Shelkovka, she had hurriedly recalled two or three of my landscapes which she had seen in exhibitions in Moscow, and now asked what I meant to express by them.

1917, Anton Chekhov, translated by Constance Garnett, The Darling and Other Stories, Project Gutenberg, →ISBN, page 71:

Often, human mortals describe their visits to the Tuatha's [places] in similar terms: they were great bright places, occupied by exceedingly handsome men and women, that sported wonderful crystal chairs, inexhaustible supplies of mead or ale ...

2006, Richard Leviton, The Gods in Their Cities, iUniverse, →ISBN, page 44:


picture

Krio: pikchɔ

/ˈpɪt͡ʃə(ɹ)/

From Middle English pycture, from Old French picture, itself from Latin pictūra (“the art of painting, a painting”), from pingō (“I paint”). Doublet of pictura.

der

The garden is a real picture at this time of year.

it was heartening to see a young Indian football team Mata had invited to Manchester. His face was a picture when he listened to the little footballers sing a team song for him.

2018 January 1, Donald McRae, “The Guardian footballer of the year 2017: Juan Mata”, in the Guardian:


species

la-noun

speciēs f (genitive speciēī); fifth declension

speciēs (canonical feminine)
speciēī (genitive)
speciēs (nominative singular)
speciēs (nominative plural)
speciēī (genitive singular)
fōrmārum (genitive plural)
speciēī (dative singular)
fōrmīs (dative plural)
speciem (accusative singular)
speciēs (accusative plural)
speciē (ablative singular)
fōrmīs (ablative plural)
speciēs (singular vocative)
speciēs (plural vocative)
speciēs (nominative singular)
speciēs (nominative plural)
speciēī (genitive singular)
speciērum (genitive plural)
speciēī (dative singular)
speciēbus (dative plural)
speciem (accusative singular)
speciēs (accusative plural)
speciē (ablative singular)
speciēbus (ablative plural)
speciēs (singular vocative)
speciēs (plural vocative)

la-ndecl

In Classical Latin including that of Cicero, inflections of <i class="Latn mention" lang="la">fōrma</i> are used to substitute for the genitive plural and dative and ablative plural.

Catalan: espècie

English: species, spice

French: espèce, épice

Galician: especie, especia

German: Spezies

Italian: spezie, specie

→ Albanian: spec

Portuguese: espécie

Romanian: specie

Sicilian: spezzi

Spanish: especia, especie

external appearance, looks; general outline or shape


comely

en-adj

comely (comparative comelier or more comely, superlative comeliest or most comely)

comelier (comparative)
more comely (comparative)
comeliest (superlative)
most comely (superlative)

The adjective is derived from Middle English comly, comli, cumly, cumlich (“of a person: beautiful, handsome, etc.; of noble birth, bearing, or character; of behaviour: appropriate, becoming; of an event: convenient; favourable; of a thing: beautiful, wonderful; fitting, proper”), from Old English cymlīċ, cȳmlīċ (“beautiful, comely; splendid; convenient”), from cȳme (“beautiful, comely; splendid; exquisite, fine”) + -līċ (suffix meaning ‘like; relating to’ forming adjectives). Cȳme is derived from Proto-Germanic *kūmiz (“delicate; feeble”), from *kūmalīkaz (“dear; pitiful”), probably related to *kūmaz, *kūmijaz (“pitiful; frail, weak”), from Proto-Indo-European *gewH- (“to call, name; to call on, invoke; to cry, cry out”). The word was influenced by come (verb).
The verb is derived from the adjective.
cognates
* Middle Dutch komelick, komlick
* Middle High German gomelīh, komelīh

inh

a comely woman

Not once perceive their foul disfigurement, / But boaſt themſelves more comely than before

1634 October 9 (first performance), [John Milton], edited by H[enry] Lawes, A Maske Presented at Ludlow Castle, 1634: […] [Comus], London: […] [Augustine Matthews] for Hvmphrey Robinson, […], published 1637, →OCLC; reprinted as Comus: […] (Dodd, Mead & Company’s Facsimile Reprints of Rare Books; Literature Series; no. I), New York, N.Y.: Dodd, Mead & Company, 1903, →OCLC, page 3:

This is properly Venus, Beauty, vvhich kindles the fire of Love in Mankinde: […] VVe ſee many perſons exact, and unaccuſtomable in every part, deſtitute of this grace and comlineſſe; others leſſe perfect in thoſe particular conditions, excellently graceful and comely; […]

1656, Tho[mas] Stanley, “[Plato.] A Platonick Discourse, Written in Italian by John Picus Earl of Mirandula, in Explication of a Sonnet by Hieronimo Benivieni.”, in The History of Philosophy, the Second Volume, volume II, London: […] Humphrey Moseley, and Thomas Dring: […], →OCLC, 5th part (Containing the Academick Philosophers), 3rd part of the discourse, scenes VI–VIII, page 116:

He that is comely, when old and decrepit, ſurely was very beautiful, when he was young.

1662 November 19 (Gregorian calendar); first published 1692, Robert South, “A Sermon Preached at the Cathedral-Church of St. Paul’s, November the 9th, 1662 [Julian calendar]”, in Twelve Sermons Preached upon Several Occasions. […], volume I, London: […] J[ohn] H[eptinstall] for Thomas Bennet, […], →OCLC, page 55:

[T]he Bishop of London [Humphrey Henchman], who sat there in a pew, made a purpose for him by the pulpitt, do give the last blessing to the congregation; which was, he being a comely old man, a very decent thing, methought. The Lieutenant of the Tower, Sir J[ohn] Robinson, would needs have me by coach home with him, and sending word home to my house I did go and dine with him, his ordinary table being very good, and his lady [Anne Whitmore] a very high-carriaged but comely big woman; I was mightily pleased with her.

1664 March 9 (date written; Gregorian calendar), Samuel Pepys, Mynors Bright, transcriber, “February 28th, 1663–1664 (Lord’s Day)”, in Henry B[enjamin] Wheatley, editor, The Diary of Samuel Pepys […], volume IV, London: George Bell & Sons […]; Cambridge: Deighton Bell & Co., published 1894, →OCLC, page 58:

Then had I come, preventing Sheba's Queen, / To ſee the comelieſt of the Sons of Men; […]

1718, Mat[thew] Prior, “Solomon on the Vanity of the World. A Poem in Three Books.”, in Poems on Several Occasions, London: […] Jacob Tonson […], and John Barber […], →OCLC, book II (Pleasure), page 448:

He [Friday] vvas a comely, handsome Fellovv, perfectly vvell made, vvith ſtrait long Limbs, not too large, tall and vvell ſhap'd; and, as I reckon, about tvventy-ſix Years of Age.

1719 May 6 (Gregorian calendar), [Daniel Defoe], The Life and Strange Surprizing Adventures of Robinson Crusoe, […], London: […] W[illiam] Taylor […], →OCLC, page 243:

Near to the winter fire sat a beautiful young girl, so like that last that Scrooge believed it was the same, until he saw her, now a comely matron, sitting opposite her daughter.

1843 December 19, Charles Dickens, “Stave Two. The First of the Three Spirits.”, in A Christmas Carol. In Prose. Being a Ghost Story of Christmas, London: Chapman & Hall, […], →OCLC, page 68:

As the painter looked at the gracious and comely form he had so skilfully mirrored in his art, a smile of pleasure passed across his face, and seemed about to linger there.

1891, Oscar Wilde, chapter I, in The Picture of Dorian Gray, London, New York, N.Y., Melbourne, Vic.: Ward Lock & Co., →OCLC, page 2:

The chief's name was To-jo, and his household consisted of seven females and himself. These women were much more comely, or rather less hideous than those of Tsa's people; one of them, even, was almost pretty, being less hairy and having a rather nice skin, with high coloring.

1918 September–November, Edgar Rice Burroughs, “The Land That Time Forgot”, in The Blue Book Magazine, Chicago, Ill.: Story-press Corp., →OCLC; republished as chapter IX, in Hugo Gernsback, editor, Amazing Stories, part II, number 12, New York, N.Y.: Experimenter Publishing, March 1927, →OCLC, page 1143, column 2:

Of a person: attractive or pleasing to look at; beautiful, handsome; also, attractive but not particularly beautiful or handsome.

миловиден

of a person: attractive or pleasing to look at — see also beautiful, handsome

hyvännäköinen

of a person: attractive but not particularly beautiful or handsome

In ſhootinge at the prickes, haſtye and quicke drawinge is neyther ſure nor yet comely.

1544 (date written; published 1571), Roger Ascham, Toxophilus, the Schole, or Partitions, of Shooting. […], London: […] Thomas Marshe, →OCLC; republished in The English Works of Roger Ascham, […], London: […] R[obert] and J[ames] Dodsley, […], and J[ohn] Newbery, […], 1761, →OCLC, book 2, page 162:

Of a thing: beautiful, elegant, well-composed; also, delicate, fine.


comely

en-verb

comely (third-person singular simple present comelies, present participle comelying, simple past and past participle comelied)

comelies (present singular third-person)
comelying (participle present)
comelied (participle past)
comelied (past)

One diligent seruiture, skilfull to waight, / more comelieth thy table than other some eight, / That stand for to listen, or gasing about, / not minding their dutie, within nor without.

1878, Thomas Tusser, “Lessons for Waiting Seruants”, in Five Hundred Pointes of Good Husbandrie. […], London: Published for the English Dialect Society by Trübner & Co., […], →OCLC; republished as W[illiam] Payne, Sidney J[ohn Hervon] Herrtage, editors, Five Hundred Pointes of Good Husbandrie. […], London: Published for the English Dialect Society by Trübner & Co., […], 1878, →OCLC, stanza 1, page 189:

(transitive, obsolete, rare) To embellish or grace (something).


comely

en-adv

comely (comparative more comely, superlative most comely)

more comely (comparative)
most comely (superlative)

From Middle English comli, cumly, cumeliche (“beautifully, handsomely; gracefully; splendidly; fittingly, properly; well”), from Old English cȳme (adjective) (see etymology 1) + Middle English -li (suffix forming adverbs).

inh

So ſlides he dovvne vppon his greyned bat [i.e., a walking stick]; / And comely diſtant ſits he by her ſide, […]

1609, William Shakespeare, “A Louers Complaint”, in Shake-speares Sonnets. […], London: By G[eorge] Eld for T[homas] T[horpe] and are to be sold by William Aspley, →OCLC, signature K2, verso:

T'is very good to vvaſh his hands and face often, to haue faire linnen about him, to be decently and comely attired, for ſordes vitiant, naſtineſſe defiles, & deiects any man that is ſo voluntarily, or compelled by vvant, it dulleth the ſpirits.

1621, Democritus Junior [pseudonym; Robert Burton], “Rectifying, Retention and Evacuation”, in The Anatomy of Melancholy, […], Oxford, Oxfordshire: […] John Lichfield and Iames Short, for Henry Cripps, →OCLC, partition 2, section 2, member 2, page 313:

So may men praiſe their Preacher, he ſpeaks pertinently, or he contrives vvittily, or he ſpeaks comely, […]

1651, Jer[emy] Taylor, “[https://books.google.com/books?id=jEtPAQAAIAAJ&pg=RA1-PP12 [XXVIII Sermons Preached at Golden Grove; Being for the Summer Half-year, […].] To the Right Honourable and Truly Noble, Richard Lord Vaughan, Earl of Carbery, Baron of Emlin, and Molingar, Knight of the Honourable Order of the Bath]”, in ΕΝΙΑΥΤΟΣ [Eniautos]. A Course of Sermons for All the Sundays of the Year. […], 2nd edition, London: […] Richard Royston […], published 1654, →OCLC:

(archaic) Synonym of comelily (“in a comely manner: in an attractive or pleasing manner; in a manner which meets accepted moral or social norms”)


slim

en-adj

slim (comparative slimmer, superlative slimmest)

slimmer (comparative)
slimmest (superlative)

Borrowing from Low German or Dutch slim (“bad, sly, clever”), from Middle Dutch slim (“bad, crooked”), from Old Dutch *slimb, from Proto-West Germanic *slimb, from Proto-Germanic *slimbaz (“oblique, crooked”). The sense development would have been "slanting, cunning" (Dutch) > "insignificant, slight" and then "thin, graceful" in English, a shift that Liberman calls an "incredible amelioration" of word meaning.
The pejorative sense found in Low German and Dutch is also found preserved in the archaic English noun slim (“worthless or lazy person”), also comparable to the South African use of the adjective as "crafty, sly."
Compare Dutch slim (“smart, clever, crafty”), Middle High German slimp (“slanting, awry”), German schlimm (“bad”), West Frisian slim (“bad, dire”).

cog

Movie stars are usually slim, attractive, and young.

(of a person or a person's build) Slender in an attractive way.

Slender; thin.
Slender in an attractive way.


bel

From Old French bel, biau, from Latin bellus, from Old Latin *duenelos. Doublet of beau.

Physically appealing; attractive, pretty.


hot

en-adj

hot (comparative hotter, superlative hottest)

hotter (comparative)
hottest (superlative)

From Middle English hot, hat, from Old English hāt, from Proto-Germanic *haitaz (“hot”), from Proto-Indo-European *keHy- (“hot; to heat”). Cognate with Scots hate, hait (“hot”), North Frisian hiet (“hot”), Saterland Frisian heet (“hot”), West Frisian hjit (“hot”).

der

Alternative forms: hawt, hott

That stripper is hot!

(figurative) Relating to excited emotions.

(colloquial, of a person) Very physically and/or sexually attractive.

There was only one problem. Paul was HIV positive. And just a few weeks after his hot encounter with Max, a letter arrived for him, containing some legalese about HIV infection being a criminal act, with a few chilling words

2010, Rick R. Reed, Moving Toward The Light, →ISBN, page 50:

(colloquial) Sexual or sexy; involving sexual intercourse or sexual excitement.

This kind of chili pepper is way too hot for my taste.

(of food) Spicy, pungent, piquant, as some chilis and other spices are.


eyesore

From Middle English eye sor, eie-sor, eyen soore, eæge-sare, equivalent to eye + sore.

The building, towering over its surroundings with its square concrete frame and reflective walls of gold-tinted glass, was an eyesore visible throughout the city.

Two entrants shared this award for their work on two quite different stations, but with the same purpose of bringing a redundant station building back into use for the benefit of the community, with the added result of conserving an historic building. Saltash Town Council bought Saltash station building after it had become very decrepit and 'an eyesore' - such that it was nearly pulled down to make way for housing.

2021 December 15, Robin Leleux, “Awards honour the best restoration projects: The Network Rail Community Award: Saltash and Stow”, in RAIL, number 946, page 58:

A displeasing sight; something prominently ugly or unsightly.


busted

en-adj

busted (comparative more busted, superlative most busted)

more busted (comparative)
most busted (superlative)

From bust + -ed. See bust (Etymology 2).

She was cute, but all her friends were busted.

ok this gals bod is hot but her face is busted

2004 July 30, Ms Pnoopie Pnats, “talking about hot or not...”, in alt.support.shyness (Usenet):


laid

fr-adj

laid (feminine laide, masculine plural laids, feminine plural laides)

laide (feminine)
laids (masculine plural)
laides (feminine plural)

From Middle French laid (“hideous, ugly”), from Old French laid, leid (“unpleasant, horrible, odious”), from Vulgar Latin *laitus (“unpleasant, ugly”), from Frankish *laiþ (“unpleasant, obstinate, odious”), from Proto-Germanic *laiþaz (“sorrowful, unpleasant”), from Proto-Indo-European *leyt- (“unpleasant”).
Akin to Old High German leid (“unpleasant, odious”) (German leid (“unfortunate”), Leid (“grief”)), Old Norse leiþr (“odious”), Old English lāþ (“unpleasant, odious”), Catalan lleig (“ugly”), Occitan lag (“ugly”). More at loath.


look

→ Dutch: look

→ French: look

→ Romanian: look

→ Spanish: look

→ Italian: look

some Northern Enɡlish dialects, esp. Bolton, Geordie

From Middle English loken, lokien, from Old English lōcian, from Proto-West Germanic *lōkōn. Further origin unknown, no certain cognates outside Germanic. Cognate with Scots luke, luik, leuk (“to look, see”), West Frisian lôkje, loaitsje (“to look”), Dutch loeken (“to look”), German Low German löken. Likely also related to German lugen (“to peek”), Alemannic German luege (“to look”), Yiddish לוגן (lugn). Possibly related to Sanskrit लोक् (lok, “to see, behold”) (from Proto-Indo-European *lewk- (“light”) in the sense of "illuminating" (cf. related word रुच् (ruc) "to shine, illuminate")).

unk

unknown

She got her mother’s looks.

I don’t like the look of the new design.

He tried to persuade Cicely to stay away from the ball-room for a fourth dance. […] But she said she must go back, and when they joined the crowd again her partner was haled off with a frightened look to the royal circle, […]

1909, Archibald Marshall [pseudonym; Arthur Hammond Marshall], chapter I, in The Squire’s Daughter, New York, N.Y.: Dodd, Mead and Company, published 1919, →OCLC:

(often plural) Physical appearance, visual impression.


aesthetic

en-adj

aesthetic (comparative more aesthetic, superlative most aesthetic)

more aesthetic (comparative)
most aesthetic (superlative)

From German Ästhetik or French esthétique, both from New Latin aesthēticus, itself borrowed from Ancient Greek αἰσθητικός (aisthētikós, “of sense perception”), from αἰσθάνομαι (aisthánomai, “I feel”); analysable as aesthe(sis) + -tic.
Cognates include Proto-Germanic *awiz (“obvious”), Sanskrit आविस् (āvís, “manifestly, evidently”) and Latin audiō.

cog

Coordinate term: cosmetic

It works well enough, but the shabby exterior offends his aesthetic sensibilities.

If you're anxious for to shine in the high aesthetic line as a man of culture rare,
You must get up all the germs of the transcendental terms, and plant them everywhere.

If Euston is not typically English, St. Pancras is. Its façade is a nightmare of improbable Gothic. It is fairly plastered with the aesthetic ideals of 1868, and the only beautiful thing about it is Barlow's roof. It is haunted by the stuffier kind of ghost. Yet there is something about the ordered whole of St. Pancras that would make demolition a terrible pity.

1941 August, C. Hamilton Ellis, “The English Station”, in Railway Magazine, page 358:

But he was also a natural chronicler: one senses that, even as his schemes collapsed, this aesthetic Arab Quixote knew the stories would make great material for his witty, sharp, melancholic writings.

2011, Simon Sebag Montefiore, Jerusalem: The Biography – A History of the Middle East, page 268:

Concerned with beauty, artistic effect, or appearance.


gussy up

en-verb

gussy up (third-person singular simple present gussies up, present participle gussying up, simple past and past participle gussied up)

gussies up (present singular third-person)
gussying up (participle present)
gussied up (participle past)
gussied up (past)

You can have plain green beans, or gussie them up with a bit of cheese and onion.

WWE and WCW gussied up the ritual with a lot of shock-and-awe pyrotechnics and the most innovative use of video graphics this side of MTV. Not so Extreme Championship Wrestling.

2006, Thomas Hackett, Slaphappy: Pride, Prejudice, and Professional Wrestling, New York, NY: HarperCollins, →ISBN, page 22:

The trouble arrives when he tries to gussy up his psychologist’s hat with his more elaborate public intellectual’s attire.

2021 September 29, Jennifer Szalai, “In ‘Rationality,’ Steven Pinker Sticks Up (Again) for Reason’s Role in Human Progress”, in The New York Times, →ISSN:

(informal, transitive) To make fancy or attractive, as by artificial or contrived means.


fit

Unknown, possibly from Old English fitt (“conflict”). Compare Cornish fit (“game match, bout”); or else, probably cognate with Italian fitta (“pain, especially sudden and stabbing pain”).
See more at Latin fīgere.

cog

(medicine) A sudden and vigorous appearance of a symptom over a short period of time.


fit

(slang) fit (in good shape; physically well)


fit

fit (nominative singular)
fity (nominative plural)
fita (genitive singular)
fitów (genitive plural)
fitowi (dative singular)
fitom (dative plural)
fita (accusative singular)
fity (accusative plural)
fitem (instrumental singular)
fitami (instrumental plural)
ficie (locative singular)
fitach (locative plural)
ficie (singular vocative)
fity (plural vocative)


beautiful

en-adj

beautiful (comparative more beautiful, superlative most beautiful)

more beautiful (comparative)
most beautiful (superlative)

grotesque

antonym(s) of “possessing charm and attractive”

From Middle English bewteful, beautefull (“attractive to the eye, beautiful”), equivalent to beauty + -ful. In this sense, largely displaced Old English fæġer (whence fair).

wonderful

any of these can be prefixed with an intensifier such as bloody, damned or just

Anyone who has ever met her thought she was absolutely beautiful.

There's a beautiful lake by the town.

It's rather like a beautiful Inverness cloak one has inherited. Much too good to hide away, so one wears it instead of an overcoat and pretends it's an amusing new fashion.

1963, Margery Allingham, chapter 5, in The China Governess: A Mystery, London: Chatto & Windus, →OCLC:

It is a beautiful kitchen! — It is beautiful.
Audio (US): (file)

2016, VOA Learning English (public domain)


cute

cute (comparative cuter, superlative cutest)

cuter (comparative)
cutest (superlative)

→ Arabic: كْيُوت (kyūt), كِيُوت (kiyūt)

→ Armenian: քյութ (kʻyutʻ)

→ Dutch: kjoet

Aphetic form of acute, originally “keenly perceptive or discerning, shrewd” (1731). Meaning transferred to “pretty, fetching” by US students (slang) c. 1834. Meaning drifted further to describe the pleasing attraction to features usually possessed by the young.

having features mainly attributed to infants and small

Let's go to the mall and look for cute girls.

Lovable, charming, attractive or pleasing, especially in a youthful, dainty, quaint or fun-spirited way.

عسول

attractive or pleasing in a youthful, dainty, quaint or fun-spirited way


fly

fly (comparative flier or flyer, superlative fliest or flyest)

flier (comparative)
flyer (comparative)
fliest (superlative)
flyest (superlative)

Uncertain; probably from the verb or noun.

He's pretty fly.

when Ortega got fixed up in his fly duds like that, an ord'nary man's overcoat wouldn't make 'im a pair o' socks.

1888, Frederick Thickstun Clark, A Mexican Girl, page 270:

Give it to me, baby! Uh huh, uh huh! And all the girlies say, I’m pretty fly for a white guy.

1998, “Pretty Fly (For a White Guy)”performed by The Offspring:

Starring the light-skinned Ron O'Neal with his shoulder-length perm and fly threads, Super Fly exudes a sense of black pride as O'Neal bucks the dope game, dismisses his white girlfriend, and beats The Man at his own hustle.

2001 September 20, “Super Fly”, in Vibe, volume 9, number 9, page 252:

A fly sister rolled in with a suitcase full of hip-hop novels called The Glamorous Life, and an African brother with long dreads wanted to sell them some incense and some fake Jacob watches.

2006, Noire [pseudonym], Thug-A-Licious: An Urban Erotic Tale, New York, N.Y.: One World, Ballantine Books, →ISBN, page 169:

How NOT to Facebook / […] no naked pictures, no deep emotions (awkward), no tagging a bunch of people in a picture of some fly Nikes, no making dinner plans (just use a PHONE).

2012, Lindy West, Dan Savage, Christopher Frizzelle, How to Be a Person: The Stranger's Guide to College, Sex, Intoxicants, Tacos, and Life Itself:

Harry [Styles] and Grimmy had struck up quite a friendship with Rita [Ora] and a few weeks earlier had been seen at G-A-Y for her album launch. She tweeted a picture of the trio saying: ‘Thanks for coming my little fashionistas. Looking flyer than a mofo.’

2013, Louisa Jepson, “‘At the moment it appears I have, like 7000 girlfriends’”, in Harry Styles: Every Piece of Me, London: Simon & Schuster UK Ltd, published 2014, →ISBN, page 209:

I'm so fly, I don't even try / I get so high, I can touch the sky / Dress for myself, I don't dress for hype / I dress for myself, you dress for the likes

2019, “Balenciaga”, performed by Princess Nokia:

(slang) Well dressed, smart in appearance; in style, cool.


display

en-noun

display (countable and uncountable, plural displays)

desctree

→ Russian: диспле́й (displéj)
→ Kazakh: дисплей (displei)

From Middle English displayen, from Anglo-Norman despleier and Old French despleier, desploiier, from Medieval Latin displicare (“to unfold, display”), from Latin dis- (“apart”) + plicāre (“to fold”). Doublet of deploy.

der

The trapeze artist put on an amazing acrobatic display.


similarity

en-noun

similarity (countable and uncountable, plural similarities)

From French similarité.
Morphologically similar + -ity

Closeness of appearance to something else.


fox

fox (plural foxes or (nonstandard, dialectal) foxen)

foxes (plural)
foxen (dialectal nonstandard plural)

→ Cheyenne: vóhkéso

→ Japanese: フォックス (fokkusu)

→ Maori: pōkiha

From Middle English fox, from Old English fox (“fox”), from Proto-West Germanic *fuhs, from Proto-Germanic *fuhsaz (“fox”), from Proto-Indo-European *púḱsos (“the tailed one”), possibly from *puḱ- (“tail”).
Cognate with Scots fox (“fox”), West Frisian foks (“fox”), Fering-Öömrang North Frisian foos and Sölring and Heligoland fos, Dutch vos (“fox”), Low German vos (“fox”), German Fuchs (“fox”), Icelandic fóa (“fox”), Tocharian B päkā (“tail, chowrie”), Russian пух (pux, “down, fluff”), Sanskrit पुच्छ (púccha) (whence Torwali پوش (pūš, “fox”), Hindi पूंछ (pūñch, “tail”)).

inh

the quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog

And Jerry was cute, you know, I liked him, but Frank was a total fox. And he was rougher than Jerry, you know, not so cultured.

1993, Laura Antoniou, The Marketplace, page 90:

It wasn't just that Jayne was a fox – although, fuck, was she ever a fox. That arse, those tits, those lips. They could have a really good time together.

2012, Adele Parks, Still Thinking of You:

(slang, figurative) A physically attractive man or woman.

(mechanics) A wedge driven into the split end of a bolt to tighten it.

(cartomancy) The fourteenth Lenormand card.


sharp

en-adj

sharp (comparative sharper, superlative sharpest)

sharper (comparative)
sharpest (superlative)

bland

antonym(s) of “having an intense and acrid flavour”

From Middle English scharp, from Old English sċearp, from Proto-West Germanic *skarp, from Proto-Germanic *skarpaz, from Proto-Indo-European *(s)kerb-, from *(s)ker- (“to cut”).
Cognate with West Frisian skerp, Low German scharp, Dutch scherp, German scharf, Danish skarp. Compare Irish cearb (“keen; cutting”), Latin acerbus (“tart, bitter”), Tocharian B kärpye (“rough”), Latvian skârbs (“sharp, rough”), Russian щерба (ščerba, “notch”), Polish szczerba (“gap, dent, jag, chip, nick, notch”), Albanian harb (“rudeness”). More at shear.

better than a poke in the eye with a sharp stick

You look so sharp in that tuxedo!

A sharp dresser partial to snakeskin shoes whose miniature Australian shepherd dog Saatchi is a constant fixture on family outings, [Donald] Tang's next move was to reinvent himself as a dealmaker connecting China with Hollywood amid growing demand for entertainment content in both countries.

2024 July 13, Laura Onita, Eleanor Olcott, “Shein's master of reinvention treads tricky path to IPO”, in FT Weekend, page 11:

(colloquial) Stylish, smart or attractive.


instrumental

English: instrumental

From Medieval Latin instrumentalis; equivalent to instrument + -al.

Resembling a (specific kind of) instrument in appearance.


beefcake

en-noun

beefcake (countable and uncountable, plural beefcakes)

From beef + cake. In sense 1, by analogy with cheesecake (“an image of a sexy young woman”).

The audience goes bugshit. The security beefcakes separate them and the host gets between them, talking in a voice that is soothing on top, inciteful beneath.

2014, Stephen King, Mr. Mercedes: A Novel, Simon and Schuster, →ISBN:

(informal, countable) Such a male, especially as seen as physically desirable.


image

image (nominative singular)
image'e (nominative plural)
image'u (genitive singular)
image'ów (genitive plural)
image'owi (dative singular)
image'om (dative plural)
image (accusative singular)
image'e (accusative plural)
image'em (instrumental singular)
image'ami (instrumental plural)
image'u (locative singular)
image'ach (locative plural)
image'u (singular vocative)
image'e (plural vocative)

Originally, an unadapted borrowing from French image; later reinforced by an unadapted borrowing from English image, resulting in three possible pronunciations, with the English pronunciations considered pretentious by some. Doublet of imago.

image, reputation (way in which a person, an organization, an institution, etc., is perceived and evaluated, resulting from its characteristics or behavior)


stud

From Middle English stood, stod, from Old English stōd, from Proto-West Germanic *stōd, from Proto-Germanic *stōdą. Cognate with Middle Low German stōt, German Stute, Dutch stoet and Old Norse stóð.

siitoseläin

animal registered and retained for breeding

Well, I'll tell you the truth now. I ain't a for-real cowboy, but I am one hell of a stud!

1969, Waldo Salt, Midnight Cowboy, spoken by Joe Buck (Jon Voight):

Maverick, you big stud… Take me to bed or lose me forever.

1986, Jim Cash, Jack Epps Jr., Top Gun (motion picture), spoken by Charlie (Kelly McGillis):

Wow, Julia! Sounds like to me like you got your pick of any man in this room to dance with so I want you to take your time and find amongst all these young studs here tonight the coolest, most un-losery guy in the bunch

1998, Tim Herlihy, The Wedding Singer, spoken by Robbie Hart (Adam Sandler):

Those soap-opera studs and studettes sliding between satin sheets in the afternoon?

1999 December 16, Mark Wolf, “The V-chip has arrived with little fanfare”, in The Coshocton Tribune:

(colloquial) A sexually attractive male.


醜

/ʈ͡ʂʰoʊ̯²¹⁴/

/ʈ͡ʂʰoʊ̯²¹⁴/

Phono-semantic compound (形聲／形声, OC *l̥ʰjuʔ): phonetic 酉 (OC *luʔ) + semantic 鬼 (“ghost, demon”) - demons are ugly in Chinese culture.

Han compound

這狗長得真醜。

这狗长得真丑。


simulacrum

la-noun

simulācrum n (genitive simulācrī); second declension

simulācrum (canonical neuter)
simulācrī (genitive)
simulācrum (nominative singular)
simulācra (nominative plural)
simulācrī (genitive singular)
simulācrōrum (genitive plural)
simulācrō (dative singular)
simulācrīs (dative plural)
simulācrum (accusative singular)
simulācra (accusative plural)
simulācrō (ablative singular)
simulācrīs (ablative plural)
simulācrum (singular vocative)
simulācra (plural vocative)

→ English: simulacrum

→ French: simulacre

→ Spanish: simulacro

[s̠ɪmʊˈɫ̪äːkrʊ̃ˑ]

From simulā(re) + -crum (a variant of -culum, ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *-tlom, a suffix forming instrument nouns).

Dūcendum ad sēdēs simulācrum ōrandaque dīvae / nūmina conclāmant.

29 BCE – 19 BCE, Virgil, Aeneid 2.232–233

“[The Trojans] cried out: ‘The effigy [of the horse] must be taken to the temple of the goddess, and [we] must entreat her divine favor.’”

Aliī dīcunt Orestem, cum Diānae Facelītidis simulācrum raptum ex Scythiā adveheret et ad Siciliam esset tempestāte dēlātus, complētō annō Diānae fēstum celebrāsse hymnīs, collēctīs nautīs suīs et aliquibus pāstōribus convocātīs, et exinde permānsisse apud rūsticōs cōnsuētūdinem.

Maurus Servius Honoratus, In Vergilii Bucolica commentarii

Others say that Orestes, when he was taking the figure of Taurian Diana from Scythia and was carried off to Sicily by a storm, he venerated her an entire year with hymns, with his sailors collected and some shepherds summoned, and that from there did the custom remain among the country-dwellers.

image, likeness, statue, effigy, portrait


affect

en-verb

affect (third-person singular simple present affects, present participle affecting, simple past and past participle affected)

affects (present singular third-person)
affecting (participle present)
affected (participle past)
affected (past)

From Middle English affecten, from Anglo-Norman affecter (“strive after”), Middle French affecter (“feign”), and their source, Latin affectāre (“to strive after, aim to do, pursue, imitate with dissimulation, feign”), frequentative of afficere (“to act upon, influence”) (see Etymology 1, above).

der

to affect ignorance

to affect a British accent

He managed to affect a smile despite feeling quite miserable.

Thou dost affect my manners.

c. 1605–1608, William Shakespeare, “The Life of Tymon of Athens”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act IV, scene iii]:

Careless she is with artful care, / Affecting to seem unaffected.

a. 1729, William Congreve, A Hue and Cry After Fair Amoret:

He affected prescription lenses, framed in spidery gold, ground from thin slabs of pink synthetic quartz and beveled like the mirrors in a Victorian dollhouse.

1984, William Gibson, Neuromancer (Sprawl; book 1), New York, N.Y.: Ace Books, →ISBN, page 12:

(transitive) To make a show of; to put on a pretense of; to feign; to assume. To make a false display of.


knockout

→ Belarusian: нака́ўт (nakáŭt)

→ Portuguese: nocaute, knockout

→ Russian: нока́ут (nokáut)

→ Spanish: nocaut

→ Ukrainian: нока́ут (nokáut)

1995, Rhonda K. Reinholtz et al., "Sexual Discourse and Sexual Intercourse," in P. J. Kalbfleisch and M. J. Cody, eds., Gender, Power, and Communications in Human Relationships, p. 150,
Phrases such as "she bowled me over," "she's striking," and "she's a knockout" suggest that the woman affects the man in ways he cannot mediate or control.

(informal) A very attractive person, especially a beautiful woman.


knockout

You should have seen her knockout eyes.

If the same model has beautiful hair, white teeth, glowing skin, a fit body, good hands and legs, a great wardrobe, and a knockout comp, her value on the "bookability meter" goes sky high.

2010, Ro Martinez, Modeling at Any Age, page 81:


horny

en-adj

horny (comparative hornier, superlative horniest)

hornier (comparative)
horniest (superlative)

(sexually aroused): → Irish: adharcach (semantic loan)

(sexually aroused): → Russian: хорни (xorni)

(sexually aroused): → Saterland Frisian: honig

From the phrase "having the horn", and similar phrases which were used to refer to male sexual arousal in the 18th century, later abbreviated to horn (a hard projection) + -y (having the quality of); initially this referred to physical sexual response in males (the male erection being analogized as a "horn"), yet later was semantically generalized to refer not only to sexual arousal but also to sexual desire in both males and females.

suffix

Mark Corrigan: She [the dentist] should have to wear a mask for this kind of thing. Reagan or Batman or... actually she'd look pretty horny as Batman... Jesus, no, don't!

2003, Peep Show (TV series), Funeral (episode)


schön

de-adj

schön (strong nominative masculine singular schöner, comparative schöner, superlative am schönsten)

schöner (masculine nominative singular strong)
schöner (comparative)
am schönsten (superlative)
schön (masculine predicative singular)
schön (feminine predicative singular)
schön (neuter predicative singular)
schön (plural predicative)
schöner (masculine nominative singular strong without-article)
schöne (feminine nominative singular strong without-article)
schönes (neuter nominative singular strong without-article)
schöne (nominative plural strong without-article)
schönen (genitive masculine singular strong without-article)
schöner (feminine genitive singular strong without-article)
schönen (genitive neuter singular strong without-article)
schöner (genitive plural strong without-article)
schönem (dative masculine singular strong without-article)
schöner (dative feminine singular strong without-article)
schönem (dative neuter singular strong without-article)
schönen (dative plural strong without-article)
schönen (accusative masculine singular strong without-article)
schöne (accusative feminine singular strong without-article)
schönes (accusative neuter singular strong without-article)
schöne (accusative plural strong without-article)
der schöne (definite includes-article masculine nominative singular weak)
die schöne (definite feminine includes-article nominative singular weak)
das schöne (definite includes-article neuter nominative singular weak)
die schönen (definite includes-article nominative plural weak)
des schönen (definite genitive includes-article masculine singular weak)
der schönen (definite feminine genitive includes-article singular weak)
des schönen (definite genitive includes-article neuter singular weak)
der schönen (definite genitive includes-article plural weak)
dem schönen (dative definite includes-article masculine singular weak)
der schönen (dative definite feminine includes-article singular weak)
dem schönen (dative definite includes-article neuter singular weak)
den schönen (dative definite includes-article plural weak)
den schönen (accusative definite includes-article masculine singular weak)
die schöne (accusative definite feminine includes-article singular weak)
das schöne (accusative definite includes-article neuter singular weak)
die schönen (accusative definite includes-article plural weak)
ein schöner (includes-article indefinite masculine mixed nominative singular)
eine schöne (feminine includes-article indefinite mixed nominative singular)
ein schönes (includes-article indefinite mixed neuter nominative singular)
schönen (indefinite mixed nominative plural)
keine schönen (includes-article indefinite mixed negative nominative plural)
eines schönen (genitive includes-article indefinite masculine mixed singular)
einer schönen (feminine genitive includes-article indefinite mixed singular)
eines schönen (genitive includes-article indefinite mixed neuter singular)
schönen (genitive indefinite mixed plural)
keiner schönen (genitive includes-article indefinite mixed negative plural)
einem schönen (dative includes-article indefinite masculine mixed singular)
einer schönen (dative feminine includes-article indefinite mixed singular)
einem schönen (dative includes-article indefinite mixed neuter singular)
schönen (dative indefinite mixed plural)
keinen schönen (dative includes-article indefinite mixed negative plural)
einen schönen (accusative includes-article indefinite masculine mixed singular)
eine schöne (accusative feminine includes-article indefinite mixed singular)
ein schönes (accusative includes-article indefinite mixed neuter singular)
schönen (accusative indefinite mixed plural)
keine schönen (accusative includes-article indefinite mixed negative plural)
schöner (comparative masculine predicative singular)
schöner (comparative feminine predicative singular)
schöner (comparative neuter predicative singular)
schöner (comparative plural predicative)
schönerer (comparative masculine nominative singular strong without-article)
schönere (comparative feminine nominative singular strong without-article)
schöneres (comparative neuter nominative singular strong without-article)
schönere (comparative nominative plural strong without-article)
schöneren (comparative genitive masculine singular strong without-article)
schönerer (comparative feminine genitive singular strong without-article)
schöneren (comparative genitive neuter singular strong without-article)
schönerer (comparative genitive plural strong without-article)
schönerem (comparative dative masculine singular strong without-article)
schönerer (comparative dative feminine singular strong without-article)
schönerem (comparative dative neuter singular strong without-article)
schöneren (comparative dative plural strong without-article)
schöneren (accusative comparative masculine singular strong without-article)
schönere (accusative comparative feminine singular strong without-article)
schöneres (accusative comparative neuter singular strong without-article)
schönere (accusative comparative plural strong without-article)
der schönere (comparative definite includes-article masculine nominative singular weak)
die schönere (comparative definite feminine includes-article nominative singular weak)
das schönere (comparative definite includes-article neuter nominative singular weak)
die schöneren (comparative definite includes-article nominative plural weak)
des schöneren (comparative definite genitive includes-article masculine singular weak)
der schöneren (comparative definite feminine genitive includes-article singular weak)
des schöneren (comparative definite genitive includes-article neuter singular weak)
der schöneren (comparative definite genitive includes-article plural weak)
dem schöneren (comparative dative definite includes-article masculine singular weak)
der schöneren (comparative dative definite feminine includes-article singular weak)
dem schöneren (comparative dative definite includes-article neuter singular weak)
den schöneren (comparative dative definite includes-article plural weak)
den schöneren (accusative comparative definite includes-article masculine singular weak)
die schönere (accusative comparative definite feminine includes-article singular weak)
das schönere (accusative comparative definite includes-article neuter singular weak)
die schöneren (accusative comparative definite includes-article plural weak)
ein schönerer (comparative includes-article indefinite masculine mixed nominative singular)
eine schönere (comparative feminine includes-article indefinite mixed nominative singular)
ein schöneres (comparative includes-article indefinite mixed neuter nominative singular)
schöneren (comparative indefinite mixed nominative plural)
keine schöneren (comparative includes-article indefinite mixed negative nominative plural)
eines schöneren (comparative genitive includes-article indefinite masculine mixed singular)
einer schöneren (comparative feminine genitive includes-article indefinite mixed singular)
eines schöneren (comparative genitive includes-article indefinite mixed neuter singular)
schöneren (comparative genitive indefinite mixed plural)
keiner schöneren (comparative genitive includes-article indefinite mixed negative plural)
einem schöneren (comparative dative includes-article indefinite masculine mixed singular)
einer schöneren (comparative dative feminine includes-article indefinite mixed singular)
einem schöneren (comparative dative includes-article indefinite mixed neuter singular)
schöneren (comparative dative indefinite mixed plural)
keinen schöneren (comparative dative includes-article indefinite mixed negative plural)
einen schöneren (accusative comparative includes-article indefinite masculine mixed singular)
eine schönere (accusative comparative feminine includes-article indefinite mixed singular)
ein schöneres (accusative comparative includes-article indefinite mixed neuter singular)
schöneren (accusative comparative indefinite mixed plural)
keine schöneren (accusative comparative includes-article indefinite mixed negative plural)
am schönsten (masculine predicative singular superlative)
am schönsten (feminine predicative singular superlative)
am schönsten (neuter predicative singular superlative)
am schönsten (plural predicative superlative)
schönster (masculine nominative singular strong superlative without-article)
schönste (feminine nominative singular strong superlative without-article)
schönstes (neuter nominative singular strong superlative without-article)
schönste (nominative plural strong superlative without-article)
schönsten (genitive masculine singular strong superlative without-article)
schönster (feminine genitive singular strong superlative without-article)
schönsten (genitive neuter singular strong superlative without-article)
schönster (genitive plural strong superlative without-article)
schönstem (dative masculine singular strong superlative without-article)
schönster (dative feminine singular strong superlative without-article)
schönstem (dative neuter singular strong superlative without-article)
schönsten (dative plural strong superlative without-article)
schönsten (accusative masculine singular strong superlative without-article)
schönste (accusative feminine singular strong superlative without-article)
schönstes (accusative neuter singular strong superlative without-article)
schönste (accusative plural strong superlative without-article)
der schönste (definite includes-article masculine nominative singular superlative weak)
die schönste (definite feminine includes-article nominative singular superlative weak)
das schönste (definite includes-article neuter nominative singular superlative weak)
die schönsten (definite includes-article nominative plural superlative weak)
des schönsten (definite genitive includes-article masculine singular superlative weak)
der schönsten (definite feminine genitive includes-article singular superlative weak)
des schönsten (definite genitive includes-article neuter singular superlative weak)
der schönsten (definite genitive includes-article plural superlative weak)
dem schönsten (dative definite includes-article masculine singular superlative weak)
der schönsten (dative definite feminine includes-article singular superlative weak)
dem schönsten (dative definite includes-article neuter singular superlative weak)
den schönsten (dative definite includes-article plural superlative weak)
den schönsten (accusative definite includes-article masculine singular superlative weak)
die schönste (accusative definite feminine includes-article singular superlative weak)
das schönste (accusative definite includes-article neuter singular superlative weak)
die schönsten (accusative definite includes-article plural superlative weak)
ein schönster (includes-article indefinite masculine mixed nominative singular superlative)
eine schönste (feminine includes-article indefinite mixed nominative singular superlative)
ein schönstes (includes-article indefinite mixed neuter nominative singular superlative)
schönsten (indefinite mixed nominative plural superlative)
keine schönsten (includes-article indefinite mixed negative nominative plural superlative)
eines schönsten (genitive includes-article indefinite masculine mixed singular superlative)
einer schönsten (feminine genitive includes-article indefinite mixed singular superlative)
eines schönsten (genitive includes-article indefinite mixed neuter singular superlative)
schönsten (genitive indefinite mixed plural superlative)
keiner schönsten (genitive includes-article indefinite mixed negative plural superlative)
einem schönsten (dative includes-article indefinite masculine mixed singular superlative)
einer schönsten (dative feminine includes-article indefinite mixed singular superlative)
einem schönsten (dative includes-article indefinite mixed neuter singular superlative)
schönsten (dative indefinite mixed plural superlative)
keinen schönsten (dative includes-article indefinite mixed negative plural superlative)
einen schönsten (accusative includes-article indefinite masculine mixed singular superlative)
eine schönste (accusative feminine includes-article indefinite mixed singular superlative)
ein schönstes (accusative includes-article indefinite mixed neuter singular superlative)
schönsten (accusative indefinite mixed plural superlative)
keine schönsten (accusative includes-article indefinite mixed negative plural superlative)

→ Central Franconian: schön, schien

→ Japanese: シャン (shan)

Inherited from Middle High German schœne, from Old High German scōni, from Proto-West Germanic *skaunī, from Proto-Germanic *skauniz.

inh+

(please add an English translation of this quotation)

1840, Wilhelm von Zuccalmaglio, Abendlied or Kein schöner Land Kein schöner Land in dieser Zeit, als hier das unsre weit und breit [...]


horrid

en-adj

horrid (comparative horrider or more horrid, superlative horridest or most horrid)

horrider (comparative)
more horrid (comparative)
horridest (superlative)
most horrid (superlative)

Borrowed from Latin horridus (“rough, bristly, savage, shaggy, rude”), from horrere (“to bristle”). See horrent, horror, ordure.

bor

Not in the legions / Of horrid hell, can come a devil more damned / In evils, to top Macbeth.

c. 1606 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Macbeth”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act IV, scene iii]:

Give colour to my pale cheek with thy blood, / that we the horrider may seem to those / Which chance to find us;

1611 April (first recorded performance), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Cymbeline”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act IV, scene ii]:

Set out the altar! I myself will be / The priest, and boldly do those horrid rites / You shake to think on.

c. 1622, John Fletcher, Philip Massinger, “The Sea-Voyage. A Comedy.”, in Comedies and Tragedies […], London: […] Humphrey Robinson, […], and for Humphrey Moseley […], published 1647, →OCLC, Act V, scene iv:

What say ye then to fair Sir Percivale, / And of the horrid foulness that he wrought,

1859, Alfred Tennyson, “Vivien”, in Idylls of the King, London: Edward Moxon & Co., […], →OCLC, page 132:


fare

English: fare

Scots: fare

Yola: gudeváre

Originally two distinct nouns:
* Old English faru, from Proto-West Germanic *faru, from Proto-Germanic *farō.
* Old English fær, from Proto-West Germanic *far, from Proto-Germanic *farą.

A proceeding or occurrence:
Behaviour or appearance.


beau

fr-adj

beau (masculine singular before vowel bel, feminine belle, masculine plural beaux, feminine plural belles)

bel (before-vowel masculine singular)
belle (feminine)
beaux (masculine plural)
belles (feminine plural)

→ English: beau, Beau, belle, Belle

Inherited from Middle French beau, from Old French biau, bel, from Latin bellus.


pale

From Middle English pale, pal, borrowed from Old French pal, from Latin pālus (“stake, prop”). English inherited the word pole (or, rather Old English pāl) from a much older Proto-Germanic borrowing of the same Latin word.
Doublet of peel and pole.

(archaic) A territory or defensive area within a specific boundary or under a given jurisdiction.

(historical) A portion of Russia in which Jews were permitted to live (the Pale of Settlement).

Pale of Settlement
Pale of Settlement#English


fair

en-adj

fair (comparative fairer, superlative fairest)

fairer (comparative)
fairest (superlative)

→ German: fair

→ Hebrew: פייר

→ Macedonian: фер (fer)

→ Serbo-Croatian:

Cyrillic script: фер

Latin script: fer

From Middle English fayr, feir, fager, from Old English fæġer (“beautiful”), from Proto-West Germanic *fagr, from Proto-Germanic *fagraz (“suitable, fitting, nice”), from Proto-Indo-European *peh₂ḱ- (“to fasten, place”).
Cognate with Scots fayr, fare (“fair”), Danish feir, faver, fager (“fair, pretty”), Norwegian fager (“fair, pretty”), Swedish fager (“fair, pretty”), Icelandic fagur (“beautiful, fair”), Umbrian pacer (“gracious, merciful, kind”), Slovak pekný (“good-looking, handsome, nice”). See also peace.

cog

Monday's child is fair of face.

There was once a knight who wooed a fair young maid.

He is so fayre, withoutten les, / he semys full well to sytt on des.

15th c., “[The Creation]”, in Wakefield Mystery Plays; Re-edited in George England, Alfred W. Pollard, editors, The Towneley Plays (Early English Text Society Extra Series; LXXI), London: […] Oxford University Press, 1897, →OCLC, page 5, lines 120–121:

He is so fair, without any limit; his appearance shows well when he sits on the dais.

That the ſonnes of God ſaw the daughters of men, that they were faire, and they took them wiues, of all which they choſe.

1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Genesis 6:2, column 1:

"It was a purely scientific research party sent out by my father's father, the Jeddak of Helium, to rechart the air currents, and to take atmospheric density tests," replied the fair prisoner, in a low, well-modulated voice.

1912 February–July, Edgar Rice Burroughs, “Under the Moons of Mars”, in The All-Story, New York, N.Y.: Frank A. Munsey Co., →OCLC; republished as “Champion and Chief”, in A Princess of Mars, Chicago, Ill.: A[lexander] C[aldwell] McClurg & Co., 1917 October, →OCLC, page 96:

And yet he was also, though many generations separated them, distant cousin to the shining eoten-main Geard, whom the god Frea Ing had seen from afar and wedded; and to Scatha, the fair daughter of the old thurse Theasa, who had claimed a husband from among the gods as weregild for her father's slaying: often, it was said, the ugliest eotens would sire the fairest maids.

2010, Stephan Grundy, Beowulf (Fiction), iUniverse, →ISBN, page 33:

(original sense, archaic or literary) Beautiful, of a pleasing appearance, with a pure and fresh quality.


pretty

en-adj

pretty (comparative prettier, superlative prettiest)

prettier (comparative)
prettiest (superlative)

desc

→ Japanese: プリティー (puritī), プリティ (puriti), プリチー (purichī)

From Middle English prety, preti, praty, prati, from Old English prættiġ (“tricky, crafty, sly, cunning, wily, astute”), from Proto-West Germanic *prattug, from Proto-Germanic *prattugaz (“boastful, sly, slick, deceitful, tricky, cunning”), corresponding to prat (“trick”) + -y. Doublet of pratty.
Cognate with Dutch prettig (“nice, pleasant”), Low German prettig (“funny”), Icelandic prettugur (“deceitful, tricky”). For the semantic development, compare canny, clever, cute.

cog

The face which emerged was not reassuring.[…]. He was not a mongol but there was a deficiency of a sort there, and it was not made more pretty by a latter-day hair cut which involved eccentrically long elf-locks and oiled black curls.

1963, Margery Allingham, chapter 17, in The China Governess: A Mystery, London: Chatto & Windus, →OCLC:

To escape a violent beating from sailors to whom he has sold a non-functioning car, Jerry takes his stepfamily for a holiday in a trailer park miles away, where, miraculously, young Nick meets a very pretty young woman called Sheeni, played by Portia Doubleday.

2010 February 4, Peter Bradshaw, The Guardian:

Pleasant to the sight or other senses; attractive, especially of women or children.

i bukur

especially of women and children: pleasant, attractive

'Petit Posy' brassicas […] are a cross between kale and brussels sprouts, and are really very pretty with a mild, sweet taste.

2010 February 13, Lia Leendertz, The Guardian:

Of objects or things: nice-looking, appealing.

Damned by the Socialists as "traitors to the working class," its leaders were decried by Tories as "faceless peddlers of politics with a pretty little trinket for every taste."

1962 September 28, “New Life for the Liberals”, in Time:

(often derogatory) Fine-looking; only superficially attractive; initially appealing but having little substance; see petty.


pretty

'The boy sings pretty, don't he, Master Marner?'

1861, George Eliot, Silas Marner, London: Penguin Books, published 1967, page 139:


pretty

en-verb

pretty (third-person singular simple present pretties, present participle prettying, simple past and past participle prettied)

pretties (present singular third-person)
prettying (participle present)
prettied (participle past)
prettied (past)

He sat on the hearth rug and began prettying the dog's coat.

2007, Eric Knight, Lassie Come-Home, →ISBN, page 29:


attractive

en-adj

attractive (comparative more attractive, superlative most attractive)

more attractive (comparative)
most attractive (superlative)

repulsive

antonym(s) of “having the power of charming”

repulsive

antonym(s) of “pleasing or appealing to the senses”

From Middle French attractif, from Late Latin attractivus.

He is an attractive fellow with a trim figure.

Pleasing or appealing to the senses, especially of a potential romantic partner.


pie-faced

pie-faced (comparative more pie-faced, superlative most pie-faced)

more pie-faced (comparative)
most pie-faced (superlative)

She is already up to feeling sorry for the pie-faced wife and children in the oak frames on his filing cabinet, the small cluster of people who have Jon Folan in every one of their days.

Jolene was a pie-faced, heavy girl and I always thought she looked the type to have gone and found trouble just to show you didn't have to be a cheerleader to be fast.

1998, Barbara Kingsolver, The Bean Trees: A Novel:

He glanced across her at the jawless, pie-faced woman soon to be her mother-in-law, whose owlish eyes were fixed askance upon their hands.

2001, Roger Ladd Memott, The Gypsy Lover:


mode

English: mood

Scots: mude, muid

From Old English mōd, from Proto-Germanic *mōdaz.

One's visible nature; the appearance of someone.


canon

From the above noun (see sense 4) by conversion.

Cette nouvelle coupe de cheveux te va trop bien, t’es canon!

This new hair really suits you, you're hot!


affectation

en-noun

affectation (countable and uncountable, plural affectations)

First attested in 1548. From Latin affectātiōnem (possibly via French affectation), from affectō (“I feign”).

This poem is strongly tinctured with those pedantic affectations concerning the passion of love ...

1810, Dr. Samuel Johnson, “Life of Gower”, in The Works of the English Poets, Digitized edition, published 2009:

[T]hey were not the spoiled children of affectation and refinement, but a bold, vigorous, independent race of thinkers, with prodigious strength and energy, with none but natural grace, and heartfelt unobtrusive delicacy.

1820, William Hazlitt, “Lecture I. Introductory.”, in Lectures Chiefly on the Dramatic Literature of the Age of Elizabeth. […], London: Stodart and Steuart, […]; Edinburgh: Bell and Bradfute, →OCLC, page 2:

An attempt to assume or exhibit what is not natural or real; false display; artificial show.

преструване

an attempt to assume or exhibit what is not natural or real


adorn

en-verb

adorn (third-person singular simple present adorns, present participle adorning, simple past and past participle adorned)

adorns (present singular third-person)
adorning (participle present)
adorned (participle past)
adorned (past)

From Middle English adornen, adournen, from Latin adōrnāre, present active infinitive of adōrnō; from ad + ōrnō (“furnish, embellish”). See adore, ornate. Replaced earlier Middle English aournen (“to adorn”) borrowed from Old French aorner, from the same Latin source.

a man adorned with noble statuary and columns

a character adorned with every Christian grace

A gallery of paintings was adorned with the works of some of the great masters.

as a bride adorneth herself with her jewels

1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Isaiah 61:10:

At church, with meek and unaffected grace, / His looks adorned the venerable place; / Truth from his lips prevailed with double ſway, / And fools, who came to ſcoff, remained to pray.

1770, [Oliver] Goldsmith, The Deserted Village, a Poem, London: […] W[illiam] Griffin, […], →OCLC, page 10:

Durable, water-resistant and easy to clean, tiles have adorned Persian mosques, Moorish palaces and the parlors of Dutch burgers.

1980, Robert M. Jones, editor, Walls and Ceilings, Time-Life Books, →ISBN, page 38:

To make more beautiful and attractive; to decorate.

زَيَّنَ

to make more beautiful and attractive; to decorate


adorn

And to realities yield all her shows:
Made so adorn for thy delight the more

1667, John Milton, “(please specify the page number)”, in Paradise Lost. […], London: […] [Samuel Simmons], and are to be sold by Peter Parker […]; [a]nd by Robert Boulter […]; [a]nd Matthias Walker, […], →OCLC; republished as Paradise Lost in Ten Books: […], London: Basil Montagu Pickering […], 1873, →OCLC:


alike

en-adj

alike (comparative more alike, superlative most alike)

more alike (comparative)
most alike (superlative)

The adjective comes from a conflation of several different terms:
* Middle English alich, alych, alyke, a Late Middle English development from earlier Middle English anlich, anlyke, from Old English onlīċ, anlīċ. Compare German ähnlich.
* The borrowed Old Norse cognate of the same word, álíkr, ultimately yielding similar Late Middle English forms.
* Middle English ylich, ylych, ilich, ylik, ylike, ȝelic, from Old English ġelīċ (“like; alike; similar; equal”), from Proto-West Germanic *galīk, from Proto-Germanic *galīkaz (“alike, similar”). Cognate with Scots elyke, alyke (“like, alike”), Saterland Frisian gliek (“like, alike”), West Frisian lyk, gelyk (“like, alike”), Dutch gelijk (“like, alike”), German Low German liek, gliek (“like, alike”), German gleich (“equal, like”), Danish lig (“alike”), Swedish lik (“like, similar”), Norwegian lik (“like, alike”), Icelandic líkur (“alike, like, similar”). Equivalent to a- (Etymology 3) + like. Compare also West Frisian allyk (“all the same, alike”).
Similarly, the adverb also comes from a conflation of several different terms:
* Middle English aliche, alyche, alyke, a Late Middle English development from earlier Middle English anliche, anlyke, from Old English onlīċe, anlīċe.
* Additionally Middle English oliche, olike, ultimately from the Old Norse cognate of the same word, álíka.
* Middle English yliche, ylyche, iliche, ylike, ȝelice, from Old English ġelīċe (“alike, similarly”).

cog

The twins were alike.

The wide prospect up stream was grey and lowering, the long still-distant waterfront of Dundee, and the Fife shore were alike colourless, and there was ample evidence of rough weather not far ahead.

1947 January and February, O. S. Nock, “"The Aberdonian" in Wartime”, in Railway Magazine, page 7:

Having resemblance or similitude; similar; without difference.


alike

We are all alike concerned in religion.

As the Knight himself seemed tacitly to disclaim alike interest and controul over the immediate favourite of his lady, young Roland was, by circumstances, exempted from the strict discipline to which, as the retainer of a Scottish man of rank, he would otherwise have been subjected, according to all the rigour of the age.

1820, [Walter Scott], chapter III, in The Abbot. […], volume I, Edinburgh: […] [James Ballantyne & Co.] for Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme, and Brown, […]; and for Archibald Constable and Company, and John Ballantyne, […], →OCLC, page 73:

Carried somehow, somewhither, for some reason, on these surging floods, were these travelers, of errand not wholly obvious to their fellows, yet of such sort as to call into query alike the nature of their errand and their own relations.

1910, Emerson Hough, chapter II, in The Purchase Price: Or The Cause of Compromise, Indianapolis, Ind.: The Bobbs-Merrill Company, →OCLC:

In the same manner, form, or degree; in common; equally.

yhtä

tn the same manner, form, or degree; equally


beauty

en-noun

beauty (countable and uncountable, plural beauties)

→ Cebuano: byuti

From Middle English bewty, bewte, beaute, bealte, from Anglo-Norman and Old French beauté (early Old French spelling biauté), from Vulgar Latin *bellitātem (“beauty”), from Latin bellus (“beautiful, fair”); see beau. In this sense, mostly displaced native Old English fæġernes, whence Modern English fairness.

A thing of beauty is a joy for ever: / Its loveliness increases; it will never / Pass into nothingness; but still will keep / A bower quiet for us, and a sleep / Full of sweet dreams, and health, and quiet breathing.

1818, John Keats, “Book I”, in Endymion: A Poetic Romance, London: […] T[homas] Miller, […] for Taylor and Hessey, […], →OCLC, page 3, lines 1–5:

‘Say, hast thou seen enough!’ ‘I have looked on beauty, and I am blinded,’ I said hoarsely, lifting my hand to cover up my eyes.

1886 October – 1887 January, H[enry] Rider Haggard, She: A History of Adventure, London: Longmans, Green, and Co., published 1887, →OCLC:

Warwick's first glance had revealed the fact that the young woman was strikingly handsome, with a stately beauty seldom encountered.

1900, Charles W[addell] Chesnutt, chapter I, in The House Behind the Cedars, Boston, Mass.; New York, N.Y.: Houghton, Mifflin and Company […], →OCLC:

"The aviators didn't get him," Denham replied slowly. "What?" "It was Beauty. As always Beauty killed the Beast."

1932, Delos W. Lovelace, King Kong, published 1965, page 152:

1988, "… beauty and recollection, like danger, glamour, greed, hunger- everything but disappointment and desire- were concepts belonging to other people.” -Second Son, Robert Ferro

(uncountable) The quality of being (especially visually) attractive, pleasing, fine or good-looking; comeliness.


appealingly

en-adv

appealingly (comparative more appealingly, superlative most appealingly)

more appealingly (comparative)
most appealingly (superlative)


ornament

en-verb

ornament (third-person singular simple present ornaments, present participle ornamenting, simple past and past participle ornamented)

ornaments (present singular third-person)
ornamenting (participle present)
ornamented (participle past)
ornamented (past)

/ˈɔɹnəˌmɛnt/

From Middle English ornament, from Old French ornement, from Latin ornamentum (“equipment, apparatus, furniture, trappings, adornment, embellishment”), from ornāre, present active infinitive of ornō (“I equip, adorn”). The verb is derived from the noun.

der

We will ornament the windows with trim to make the room seem brighter.


appealing

en-adj

appealing (comparative more appealing, superlative most appealing)

more appealing (comparative)
most appealing (superlative)

Her housecoat had fallen open. She was wearing only panties and bra, which did nothing to make her scrawny, wrinkled body appealing.

1968, Carl Ruhen, The Key Club, Sydney: Scripts, page 12:

Some of the most beautiful and thus appealing physical theories, including quantum electrodynamics and quantum gravity, have been dogged for decades by infinities that erupt when theorists try to prod their calculations into new domains. Getting rid of these nagging infinities has probably occupied far more effort than was spent in originating the theories.

2012 January 20, Michael Riordan, “Tackling Infinity”, in American Scientist, volume 100, number 1, archived from the original on 2013-04-30, page 86:

Those were all landmark moments to cherish. Just as appealing was the manner in which Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain and Milner cut swathes down either flank, albeit through flustered full-backs who had looked poorly positioned and horribly jittery from the start.

2012 September 7, Dominic Fifield, “England start World Cup campaign with five-goal romp against Moldova”, in The Guardian:


appearance

en-noun

appearance (countable and uncountable, plural appearances)

Borrowed from Middle French apparence, from Latin apparentia, from appareo. Morphologically appear + -ance. Displaced native Old English hīew (the way something looks or seems) and ætīewednes (act of appearing or coming into view).

явяване

The coming into court of either of the parties

There was a strange appearance in the sky.

A thing seen; a phenomenon; an apparition.

And now am come to ſee of whom ſuch noiſe / Hath walk'd about, and each limb to ſurvey, / If thy appearance anſwer loud report.

1671, John Milton, “Samson Agonistes, […].”, in Paradise Regain’d. A Poem. In IV Books. To which is Added, Samson Agonistes, London: […] J[ohn] M[acock] for John Starkey […], →OCLC, page 66, lines 99–101:

The most rapid and most seductive transition in all human nature is that which attends the palliation of a ravenous appetite.[…]Can those harmless but refined fellow-diners be the selfish cads whose gluttony and personal appearance so raised your contemptuous wrath on your arrival?

1921, Ben Travers, chapter 5, in A Cuckoo in the Nest, Garden City, N.Y.: Doubleday, Page & Company, published 1925, →OCLC:

The way something looks; personal presence

Some people say I'm shallow because I care so much about my appearance.

KAWS’s first sculptures were limited edition toys for the Japanese brand Bounty Hunter, and the stylised figures distributed around YSP in a variety of postures – shielding their eyes from the sun, seated in apparent contemplation or leading a child-sized version of themselves over the sward – have the appearance of gigantic toys, with their instant legibility and machine-honed surfaces.

2016 February 4, Mark Hudson, “KAWS, Yorkshire Sculpture Park, review: 'hypnotically compelling'”, in The Telegraph:

And on the day that the tabernacle was reared up the cloud covered the tabernacle, namely, the tent of the testimony: and at even there was upon the tabernacle as it were the appearance of fire, until the morning.

1769, The King James Bible, Numbers ix. 15:

Judge not according to the appearance.

1769, The King James Bible, John vii. 24:

Apparent likeness; the way which something or someone appears to others.

Catholicism teaches that the Eucharist, while remaining under the physical appearance of bread and wine, becomes really and truly the body and the blood of Christ.

(philosophy, theology) That which is not substance, essence, hypostasis; the outward reality as opposed to the underlying reality


appeal

en-verb

appeal (third-person singular simple present appeals, present participle appealing, simple past and past participle appealed)

appeals (present singular third-person)
appealing (participle present)
appealed (participle past)
appealed (past)

From Middle English apelen, appelen (“to accuse; to make a formal charge before a court, etc., impeach; to challenge to trial by combat; to apply to a higher court or authority for review of a decision; to call upon for a decision, favour, help, etc.; to call by a name”) [and other forms], from Old French apeler (“to call; to call out”); see further at etymology 1.

nb...

apeal, apeale, apeele, apele, appel, appele

اِسْتَأْنَفَ

(intransitive) to apply to a superior court or judge for a decision or order by an inferior court or judge to be reviewed and overturned

apelovat

to call upon a person or an authority to corroborate a statement, to decide a controverted question, or to vindicate one’s rights — see also entreat, invoke

appeal from Philip drunk to Philip sober

That idea appeals to me.

The humor of my proposition appealed more strongly to Miss Trevor than I had looked for, and from that time forward she became her old self again; for, even after she had conquered her love for the Celebrity, the mortification of having been jilted by him remained.

1897 December (indicated as 1898), Winston Churchill, chapter VIII, in The Celebrity: An Episode, New York, N.Y.: The Macmillan Company; London: Macmillan & Co., Ltd., →OCLC, page 110:

(intransitive, figuratively) To be attractive.


Adonis

The Phœnician Adonis was identical with Tammūz.

1866, Sabine Baring-Gould, Curious Myths of the Middle Ages, S. George:

1900, James Frazer, The Golden Bough, Chapter 42: Osiris and the Sun,
A strong reason for interpreting the death of Osiris as the decay of vegetation rather than as the sunset is to be found in the general, though not unanimous, voice of antiquity, which classed together the worship and myths of Osiris, Adonis, Attis, Dionysus, and Demeter, as religions of essentially the same type. The consensus of ancient opinion on this subject seems too great to be rejected as a mere fancy. So closely did the rites of Osiris resemble those of Adonis at Byblus that some of the people of Byblus themselves maintained that it was Osiris and not Adonis whose death was mourned by them.

1921, Jessie Weston, From Ritual to Romance, Chapter X: The Secret of the Grail (1) - The Mysteries,
As Sir J. G. Frazer has before now pointed out, there are parallel and over-lapping forms of this cult, the name of the god, and certain details of the ritual, may differ in different countries, but whether he hails from Babylon, Phrygia, or Phoenicia, whether he be called Tammuz, Attis, or Adonis, the main lines of the story are fixed, and invariable. Always he is young and beautiful, always the beloved of a great goddess; always he is the victim of a tragic and untimely death, a death which entails bitter loss and misfortune upon a mourning world, and which, for the salvation of that world, is followed by a resurrection.

(Greek mythology) A beautiful young man loved by Aphrodite.

(rare) A male given name from Ancient Greek

An unincorporated community in Polk County, Missouri, United States.

An unincorporated community in Tyler County, West Virginia, United States.


ugly

en-noun

ugly (countable and uncountable, plural uglies)

Inherited from Middle English ugly, uggely, uglike, borrowed from Old Norse uggligr (“fearful, dreadful, horrible in appearance”), from uggr (“fear, apprehension, dread”) (possibly related to agg (“strife, hate”)), equivalent to ug + -ly. Cognate with Scots ugly, uglie, Icelandic ugglegur. Meaning softened to "very unpleasant to look at" around the late 14th century, and sense of "morally offensive" attested from around 1300.

der

I want your ugly / I want your disease.


grace

en-noun

grace (countable and uncountable, plural graces)

From Middle English grace, from Old French grace (modern French grâce), from Latin grātia (“kindness, favour, esteem”), from grātus (“pleasing”), from Proto-Indo-European *gʷerH- (“to praise, welcome”); compare grateful.
The word displaced the native Middle English held, hield (“grace”) (from Old English held, hyld (“grace”)), Middle English este (“grace, favour, pleasure”) (from Old English ēst (“grace, kindness, favour”)), Middle English athmede(n) (“grace”) (from Old English ēadmēdu (“grace”)), Middle English are, ore (“grace, mercy, honour”) (from Old English ār (“honour, grace, kindness, mercy”)).

cog

The dancer moved with grace and strength.

en:elegant movement, balance, poise, dexterousness

(uncountable) Elegant movement; elegance of movement; balance or poise.

When she sang in the kirk, folk have told me that they had a foretaste of the musick of the New Jerusalem, and when she came in by the village of Caulds old men stottered to their doors to look at her. Moreover, from her earliest days the bairn had some glimmerings of grace.

1902, John Buchan, The Outgoing of the Tide:

(uncountable, theology) Free and undeserved favour, especially of God; unmerited divine assistance given to humans for their regeneration or sanctification, or for resisting sin.

ողորմածություն

free and undeserved favour, especially of God

An act or decree of the governing body of an English university.


grace

en-verb

grace (third-person singular simple present graces, present participle gracing, simple past and past participle graced)

graces (present singular third-person)
gracing (participle present)
graced (participle past)
graced (past)

He graced the room with his presence.

He graced the room by simply being there.

His portrait graced a landing on the stairway.

Great Jove and Phoebus graced his noble line.

c. 1699 – 1703, Alexander Pope, “The First Book of Statius His Thebais”, in The Works of Mr. Alexander Pope, volume I, London: […] W[illiam] Bowyer, for Bernard Lintot, […], published 1717, →OCLC:

We are graced with wreaths of victory.

1591 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Second Part of Henry the Sixt, […]”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies. […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act V, scene iii]:

(transitive) To adorn; to decorate; to embellish and dignify.

украсявам

to adorn; to decorate; to embellish and dignify


sexy

en-adj

sexy (comparative sexier, superlative sexiest)

sexier (comparative)
sexiest (superlative)

→ Bulgarian: се́кси (séksi)

→ Catalan: sexi

→ Cebuano: seksi

→ Danish: sexy

→ Dutch: sexy

→ French: sexy

→ Galician: sexy

→ German: sexy

→ Greek: σέξι (séxi)

→ Hebrew: סקסי (seksi)

→ Icelandic: sexí

→ Indonesian: seksi, sèksi

→ Italian: sexy

→ Japanese: セクシー (sekushī)

→ Korean: 섹시 (seksi)

→ Maltese: seksi

→ Mongolian: секси (seksi)

→ Norwegian Bokmål: sexy

→ Norwegian Nynorsk: sexy

→ Persian: سکسی (seksi)

→ Portuguese: sexy

→ Romanian: sexy

→ Russian: се́кси (séksi)

→ Scottish Gaelic: seagsaidh

→ Serbo-Croatian: sȅksī, се̏ксӣ

→ Spanish: sexi, sexy

→ Tagalog: seksi

→ Thai: เซ็กซี่ (sék-sîi)

→ Turkish: seksi

Usually or always for masculine referent:

Usually or always for feminine referent:

The participants in the swimsuit competition are all very sexy.

She has a sexy voice!

If you want my body and you think I'm sexy / Come on sugar let me know

1978, “Da Ya Think I’m Sexy?”, in Blondes Have More Fun, performed by Rod Stewart:


toothsome

toothsome (comparative more toothsome, superlative most toothsome)

more toothsome (comparative)
most toothsome (superlative)

"It's a lot nicer than going round by the road; that is so dusty and hot," said Diana practically, peeping into her dinner basket and mentally calculating if the three juicy, toothsome, raspberry tarts reposing there were divided among ten girls, how many bites each girl would have.

1908 June, L[ucy] M[aud] Montgomery, Anne of Green Gables, Boston, Mass.: L[ouis] C[oues] Page & Company, published August 1909 (11th printing), →OCLC:

‘I had the happy notion of adding an egg,’ Williams shouted back. ‘It poaches in the soup. Not unlike an Italian stracciatella. Singularly toothsome.[…]’

1991 September, Stephen Fry, chapter 2, in The Liar, London: Heinemann, →ISBN, →OCLC, section I, page 41:

In 1919 he had been waiting at a bus stop, en route to his initiation as a Freemason: a toothsome blonde had crossed his path, and he had stalked off after her instead.

1989, David John Cawdell Irving, Göring: a biography:

(by extension of sense 1, and by analogy to slang tasty) Sexually attractive.


bello

es-adj

bello (feminine bella, masculine plural bellos, feminine plural bellas, superlative bellísimo)

bella (feminine)
bellos (masculine plural)
bellas (feminine plural)
bellísimo (superlative)

rural northern Spain, Andes Mountains, Paraguay, Philippines

Inherited from Old Spanish bello, in turn a borrowing from Old Occitan bel, bell, from Latin bellus. According to Coromines and Pascual, first attested in the early 13th century, but not in the Poem of the Cid nor pre-literary Castilian. Part of the evidence for it being a borrowing is the lack of diphthongization, cf. Old Spanish castiello, amariello. The native Old Spanish terms were bellido and fermoso.


vice

English: vice

Scots: vice

Borrowed from Old French vice, visse, from Latin vitium.

A fault or imperfection; a negative quality or attribute of something:

(rare) An imperfection or blemish in one's visage or look.


clothing

English: clothing

What one wears; clothing, outfit, garments.

(figurative, rare) One's appearance or countenance.


stunna

The stress over what went down with Gatz caused her to drop twenty pounds but the weight loss was in all the right places. She was a stunna before but now she's a downright bad chick.

2006, Kali James, Can U Get Away?, page 83:

(colloquial, chiefly British tabloid press) Alternative form of stunner (“a woman of stunning beauty”)


pert

en-adj

pert (comparative perter, superlative pertest)

perter (comparative)
pertest (superlative)

From Middle English pert, perte, aphetic form of apert.


ugly duckling

Calque of Danish grim ælling. From the fairy tale of a duckling, considered ugly, that matures into a magnificent swan.

The ugly duckling has become a very fine swan, and Rachel Sprigg and her team have worked hard to ensure that Derby is a worthy winner of that coveted National Rail Award. They can be proud of their achievements.

2019 December 4, Andy Coward, “Derby's crowning achievement”, in Rail, page 57:

(idiomatic) A young person who is ugly, but who is expected to become beautiful or handsome as they mature.

አስቀያሚ ሲንድሬላ

one who is ugly, but who is expected to become beautiful or handsome as they mature


goodly

goodly (comparative goodlier, superlative goodliest)

goodlier (comparative)
goodliest (superlative)

From Middle English goodly, goodlich, gōdlich, from Old English gōdlīċ (“good, goodly”), from Proto-West Germanic *gōdalīk, from Proto-Germanic *gōdalīkaz (“good, goodly”); equivalent to good + -ly. Cognate with Dutch goedelijk, goelijk (“harmless, benign”), German gütlich (“friendly”), Icelandic góðlegur (“benign”).

inh

Her goodly thighs, whoſe glory did appear, / Like a triumphal Arch,[…]

1596, Edmund Spenser, “Book VI, Canto IX”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC:

The diuell can cite Scripture for his purpoſe, / An euill ſoule producing holy witneſſe, / Is like a villaine with a ſmiling cheeke, / A goodly apple rotten at the heart. / O what a goodly outſide falſehood hath.

c. 1596–1598 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Merchant of Venice”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act I, scene ii], page 166:

O Sin, thou knowest that all thy shame in her
Was made a goodly thing.

1866, Algernon Charles Swinburne, “A Ballad of Death”, in Poems and Ballads, lines 26–27:

Then the prince left her and betook himself to the palace of the King his father, who rejoiced in his return and met him and welcomed him; and the Prince said to him, "Know that I have left her without the city in such a garden and come to tell thee, that thou mayst make ready the procession of estate and go forth to meet her and show her the royal dignity and troops and guards." Answered the King, "With joy and gladness"; and straightway bade decorate the town with the goodliest adornment.

1885, Richard F. Burton, The Book of the Thousand Nights and a Night:

(dated) Good; pleasing in appearance; attractive; comely; graceful; pleasant; desirable.


favour

desc

English: favor, favour (Commonwealth, Ireland)

→ Welsh: ffafr

Borrowed from Anglo-Norman favour, favur, from Latin favor.


lank

en-adj

lank (comparative lanker, superlative lankest)

lanker (comparative)
lankest (superlative)

From Middle English lank, from Old English hlanc, from Proto-West Germanic *hlank, from Proto-Germanic *hlankaz (“lank, thin”), from Proto-Indo-European *kleng- (“to bend, turn, wind, twist”); compare German lenken (“to turn”), Gelenk (“joint”), Old High German hlanca (“hip, side, flank”), and English link (of a chain).

cog

Run barefoot up and down, threat’ning the flames
With bisson rheum; a clout upon that head
Where late the diadem stood, and for a robe,
About her lank and all o’erteemed loins,
A blanket, in the alarm of fear caught up;

c. 1599–1602 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Hamlet, Prince of Denmarke”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act II, scene ii]:

1700, Isaac Barrow, Sermon XXII “Of Industry in our particular Calling, as Scholars,” in The Works of the Learned Isaac Barrow, D.D., London: John Tillotson, 2nd edition, Volume III, p. 226,
[…] who would not chuse […] to have rather a lank purse than an empty brain […] ?

1724-5, Jonathan Swift, “A Receipt. To Restore Stella’s Youth” in The Works of Jonathan Swift, London: Henry Washbourne, 1841, Volume 1, p. 687,
Meagre and lank with fasting grown,
And nothing left but skin and bone;

The cognomen of Crane was not inapplicable to his person. He was tall, but exceedingly lank, with narrow shoulders, long arms and legs, hands that dangled a mile out of his sleeves, feet that might have served for shovels, and his whole frame most loosely hung together.

1820 March 5, Geoffrey Crayon [pseudonym; Washington Irving], “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow”, in The Sketch Book of Geoffrey Crayon, Gent., number VI, New York, N.Y.: […] C[ornelius] S. Van Winkle, […], →OCLC:

[…] while I stood in the dark, a hand touched mine, lank fingers came feeling over my face, and I was sensible of a peculiar unpleasant odour.

1895 May 7, H[erbert] G[eorge] Wells, chapter 6, in The Time Machine: An Invention, New York, N.Y.: Henry Holt and Company, →OCLC:

Blacks in the fields, lank and stooped, their fingers spiderlike among the bolls of cotton.

1985, Cormac McCarthy, chapter 1, in Blood Meridian […] , →OCLC:

Slender or thin; not well filled out; not plump; shrunken; lean.