douce

[ doos ]

/ dus /

adjective Scot. and North England.

sedate; modest; quiet.

Nearby words

doubtful, doubtfully, doubting thomas, doubtless, douc, douce, doucely, douceperes, douceur, douche, douche bag

Origin of douce

1275–1325; Middle English < Middle French (feminine) < Latin dulcis sweet; see dulcet

Related formsdouce·ly, adverbdouce·ness, noun

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Examples from the Web for douce

At first, a love-song was the favourite sort, with a refrain of douce amie, and so on.
Medieval English Literature|William Paton Ker
In a giggling peal young goldbronze voices blended, Douce with Kennedy your other eye.
Ulysses|James Joyce
There was plenty light to see it lying there, douce and peaceable as a stone should.
English Fairy Tales|Flora Annie Steel
Douce was good-natured enough, and Grace was probably good-looking.
Toilers of the Sea|Victor Hugo

It is fully described in Douce's "Illustrations of Shakespeare," i, 492.
The plant-lore and garden-craft of Shakespeare|Henry Nicholson Ellacombe

British Dictionary definitions for douce

douce

/ (duːs) /

adjective

Scot and Northern English dialect quiet; sober; sedate

Derived Formsdoucely, adverb

Word Origin for douce

C14: from Old French, feminine of dous, from Latin dulcis sweet

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012