Pre*tor"ture (?; 135), v. t. To torture beforehand. Fuller.
Pret"ti*ly (?), adv. In a pretty manner.
Pret"ti*ness, n. The quality or state of being pretty; -- used
sometimes in a disparaging sense.
A style . . . without sententious pretension or antithetical
prettiness.
Jeffrey.
Pret"ty (?), a. [Compar. Prettier (?); superl. Prettiest.] [OE. prati,
AS. prÊttig, prÊtig, crafty, sly, akin to prÊt, prÊtt, deceit,
trickery, Icel. prettugr tricky, prettr a trick; probably fr. Latin,
perhaps through Celtic; cf. W. praith act, deed, practice, LL. practica
execution, practice, plot. See Practice.] 1. Pleasing by delicacy or
grace; attracting, but not striking or impressing; of a pleasing and
attractive form a color; having slight or diminutive beauty; neat or
elegant without elevation or grandeur; pleasingly, but not grandly,
conceived or expressed; as, a pretty face; a pretty flower; a pretty
poem.
This is the prettiest lowborn lass that ever Ran on the greensward.
Shak.
2. Moderately large; considerable; as, he had saved a pretty fortune.
"Wavering a pretty while." Evelyn.