GNU Collaborative International Dictionary of English

Found one definition

  1.       
    
    Delicacy , n.; pl. Delicacies . [From Delicate, a.]
    1. The state or condition of being delicate; agreeableness to the senses; delightfulness; as, delicacy of flavor, of odor, and the like.
      1913 Webster

      What choice to choose for delicacy best.
      Milton.

      1913 Webster

    2. Nicety or fineness of form, texture, or constitution; softness; elegance; smoothness; tenderness; and hence, frailty or weakness; as, the delicacy of a fiber or a thread; delicacy of a hand or of the human form; delicacy of the skin; delicacy of frame.
      1913 Webster
    3. Nice propriety of manners or conduct; susceptibility or tenderness of feeling; refinement; fastidiousness; and hence, in an exaggerated sense, effeminacy; as, great delicacy of behavior; delicacy in doing a kindness; delicacy of character that unfits for earnest action.
      1913 Webster

      You know your mother's delicacy in this point.
      Cowper.

      1913 Webster

    4. Addiction to pleasure; luxury; daintiness; indulgence; luxurious or voluptuous treatment.
      1913 Webster

      And to those dainty limbs which Nature lent
      For gentle usage and soft delicacy?
      Milton.

      1913 Webster

    5. Nice and refined perception and discrimination; critical niceness; fastidious accuracy.
      1913 Webster

      That Augustan delicacy of taste which is the boast of the great public schools of England.
      Macaulay.

      1913 Webster

    6. The state of being affected by slight causes; sensitiveness; as, the delicacy of a chemist's balance.
      1913 Webster
    7. That which is alluring, delicate, or refined; a luxury or pleasure; something pleasant to the senses, especially to the sense of taste; a dainty; as, delicacies of the table.
      1913 Webster

      The merchants of the earth are waxed rich through the abundance of her delicacies.
      Rev. xviii. 3.

      1913 Webster

    8. Pleasure; gratification; delight. [Obs.]
      1913 Webster

      He Rome brent for his delicacie.
      Chaucer.

      Syn. -- See Dainty.

      1913 Webster