demure
From Wiktionary, the free dictionary
English
Etymology
Inherited from Middle English demure, demwre, an abbreviation of Anglo-Norman de mure port (“with a mature demeanor”) (compare Old French meur from Latin mātūrus):
- si il seyt coy e de mure port (Amur curteiz) (“he sits quietly and with a mature appearance”)
- Documents illustrating the history of Scotland, CLV, 1306, Orders for the custody of Scottish prisoners, CLV: …et que eles soient de bon et meur port (“…with a good and mature demeanor”)
- mss. Arundel, 220: ke cely qe vus amerez soyt de gentil manere, coy, de meure porture (“with a mature demeanor”)
- (Monastic rule): de aunciene dame de meure porture ke pusse les plus ieuenes rieueler e endoctriner (“an old lady with a mature demeanor able to rule and educate the young girls”).
Pronunciation
- (Received Pronunciation) IPA(key): /dɪˈmjʊə(ɹ)/
- (Standard Southern British) IPA(key): /dəˈmjɔː(ɹ)/, /dɪˈmjɵː(ɹ)/, /dɪˈmjʊə(ɹ)/
- (US, General American) IPA(key): /dɪˈmjʊɹ/, /dɪˈmjɔɹ/
- (General Australian) IPA(key): /dəˈmjʊə(ɹ)/
- (New Zealand) IPA(key): /dəˈmjʉə(ɹ)/
Audio (US): (file) Audio (General Australian): (file) - Rhymes: -ʊə(ɹ)
- Hyphenation: de‧mure
Adjective
demure (comparative demurer, superlative demurest)
- (chiefly of a woman) Modest, quiet, reserved, or serious.
- Synonyms: retiring, shy, sober; see also Thesaurus:serious
- She is a demure young lady.
- 1881, William Black, The Beautiful Wretch:
- Nan was very much delighted in her demure way, and that delight showed itself in her face and in her clear bright eyes.
- 2005, Maureen Dowd, Are Men Necessary?, →ISBN, page 311:
- I was coming back from the ladies' room when I saw her. She looked demure. Oval wire-rimmed glasses. A sky blue jacket buttoned over a long black-and-white flowered shirt.
- 2014 January 21, Hermione Hoby, “Julia Roberts interview for August: Osage County – 'I might actually go to hell for this …'”, in The Daily Telegraph:
- [H]owever hard she pushed the tough-talkin' shtick, she remained doe-eyed, glowing and somehow unassailably demure.
- 2021 June 30, Motoko Rich, Hikari Hida, “Expected to Be Demure, Japan’s Girls Face Steep Hurdles to Athletic Dreams”, in The New York Times, →ISSN:
- And in their daily lives, girls and women are pushed to conform to fairly narrow templates of behavior as demure or delicate.
- Affectedly modest, decorous, or serious; making a show of gravity.
- Synonym: coy
- c. 1824, Mary Russell Mitford, Walks in the Country:
- Miss Lizzy, I have no doubt, would be as demure and coquettish, as if ten winters more had gone over her head.
Usage notes
Derived terms
Translations
modest, quiet, reserved
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Verb
demure (third-person singular simple present demures, present participle demuring, simple past and past participle demured)
- (obsolete) To look demurely.
- c. 1606–1607 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Anthonie and Cleopatra”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act IV, scene xvi], page 363, column 2, line 30:
- Your Wife Octavia, with her modeſt eyes, / […] ſhall acquire no Honour / Demuring vpon me:
References
- “Very Demure, Very Mindful”, in Know Your Meme, website first launched 2007
Further reading
- “demure”, in Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster, 1996–present.
- “demure, adj.”, in OED Online
, Oxford: Oxford University Press, launched 2000.
Middle English
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