1.
[syn: coy, demure, overmodest]
The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:
Demure \De*mure"\, v. i.
To look demurely. [Obs.] --Shak.
[1913 Webster]
The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:
Demure \De*mure"\ (d[-e]*m[=u]r"), a. [Perh. from OF. de murs
(i. e., de bonnes murs of good manners); de of + murs, mours,
meurs, mors, F. m[oe]urs, fr. L. mores (sing. mos) manners,
morals (see Moral); or more prob. fr. OF. me["u]r, F.
m[^u]r mature, ripe (see Mature) in a phrase preceded by
de, as de m[^u]re conduite of mature conduct.]
1. Of sober or serious mien; composed and decorous in
bearing; of modest look; staid; grave.
[1913 Webster]
Sober, steadfast, and demure. --Milton.
[1913 Webster]
Nan was very much delighted in her demure way, and
that delight showed itself in her face and in her
clear bright eyes. --W. Black.
[1913 Webster]
2. Affectedly modest, decorous, or serious; making a show of
gravity.
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A cat lay, and looked so demure, as if there had
been neither life nor soul in her. --L'Estrange.
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Miss Lizzy, I have no doubt, would be as demure and
coquettish, as if ten winters more had gone over her
head. --Miss
Mitford.
[1913 Webster]
WordNet (r) 3.0 (2006):
demure
adj 1: affectedly modest or shy especially in a playful or
provocative way [syn: coy, demure, overmodest]
Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0:
67 Moby Thesaurus words for "demure":
Quakerish, Victorian, backward, bashful, censorious, close,
confused, conscious, coy, decent, decorous, diffident, earnest,
formal, frowning, grave, grim, grim-faced, grim-visaged, hidebound,
inarticulate, long-faced, mid-Victorian, modest, mousy, narrow,
nice, old-maidish, overmodest, priggish, prim, proper, prudish,
puritanical, reserved, reticent, retiring, sanctimonious, sedate,
seemly, self-conscious, serious, shamefaced, shamefast, shy,
silent, skittish, smug, sober, sober-minded, sobersided, solemn,
somber, staid, stammering, stiff-necked, stone-faced,
straight-faced, straitlaced, stuffy, thoughtful, timid, timorous,
unassertive, unassured, unsmiling, weighty