| 释义 |
‖ précieuse, n. (a.)|presjœz|
[F., fem. of précieux precious (sense 3), used as n.; popularized in this sense by Molière in Les Précieuses ridicules, 1659, a comedy in which the ladies frequenting the literary salons of Paris c 1650 were satirized.]
A. n. A woman aiming at or affecting a refined delicacy of language and taste; usually connoting ridiculous over-refinement or over-fastidiousness.
1727H. Cromwell in Pope's Lett. (1735) I. Suppl. 6 My former Indiscretion, in putting them into the Hands of this Pretieuse. 1768Sterne Sent. Journ. (1775) I. 5 (Calais) Every power..perform'd it with so little friction that 'twould have confounded the most Physical precieuse in France. 1830Scott Monast. Introd., The affected dialogue of the précieuses, as they were styled, who formed the coterie of the Hôtel de Rambouillet. 1865‘Ouida’ Strathmore I. xii. 194 There wasn't a précieuse in England that wouldn't have sold her pure soul to the devil and the Marquis, for his settlements.
B. adj. Affected after the style of les Précieuses; cf. precious a. 3.
1785H. Walpole Let. to C'tess of Ossory 23 July, Her conversation is natural and reasonable, not precieuse and affected. 1841Thackeray Misc. Ess. (1885) 203 The précieuse affectation of deference where you don't feel it. |