Syn. -- Dainty, Delicacy. These words are here compared as denoting articles of food. The term delicacy as applied to a nice article of any kind, and hence to articles of food which are particularly attractive. Dainty is stronger, and denotes some exquisite article of cookery. A hotel may be provided with all the delicacies of the season, and its table richly covered with dainties.
These delicacies
I mean of taste, sight, smell, herbs, fruits, and flowers,
Walks and the melody of birds.
Milton.
[A table] furnished plenteously with bread,
And dainties, remnants of the last regale.
Cowper.
Dain"ty, a. [Compar. Daintier (?); superl. Daintiest.] 1. Rare; valuable; costly. [Obs.]
Full many a deynté horse had he in stable.
Chaucer.
Hence the proverb "dainty maketh dearth," i. e., rarity makes a thing dear or precious.