douceur

American  

[doo-sur, doo-sœr] / duˈsɜr, duˈsœr /

noun

• douceurs
  plural

1. a gratuity; tip.

2. a conciliatory gift or bribe.

3. Archaic. sweetness or agreeableness.

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douceur British  

/ duːˈsɜː, dusœr /

noun

1. a gratuity, tip, or bribe

2. sweetness

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Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

• douceurs
  plural

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Etymology

Origin of douceur

1350–1400; Middle English < Middle French: sweetness < Late Latin dulcor, with initial syllable reshaped under influence of French doux, douce; see douce, -eur

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Explanation

When dining out at a restaurant, one might offer a douceur — a small gratuity, or tip — to help ensure fast seating or good service. More broadly, the term can also serve as a polite euphemism for a bribe. Douceur comes from a Middle French word meaning "sweetness," and you can think of a douceur as something that sweetens a deal. It often refers to an extra payment or gift intended to gain favor or get a better deal. It's a bit of an old-fashioned word that is rarely heard in modern conversation, but you'll find it in classic literature to describe a tactful bribe.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

douceur douceurs

Nonetheless, an otherwise rollicking chapter on the Frankfurt Book Fair gradually saddens into an elegy for the douceur de vivre before the Revolution.

From Washington Post ● Jun. 3, 2015

The collections ranged from 18th-century douceur de vivre to 20th-century avant-garde, prompting the childless Doucet to observe, "I was successively my grandfather, my father, my son, and my grandson."

From Architectural Digest ● Aug. 27, 2014

Thus buttressed by a professional support-group, the bereaved writer projects his or her mask of mourning into the public domain and can expect to be treated with a kind of 19th-century douceur.

From The Guardian ● Aug. 19, 2011

Munster came down and was reconciled, condescending moyennant a douceur of 2,500ℓ. to accept the Constableship of the Round Tower.

From The Greville Memoirs A Journal of the Reigns of King George IV and King William IV, Vol. II by Henry Reeve

The service they are going upon, is disagreeable to the northern regiments, but I make no doubt, that a douceur of a little hard money would put them in proper temper.

From The Diplomatic Correspondence of the American Revolution, Vol. XI by Jared Sparks

His douceurs were nought but such as an artillery marshal might declaim.

From "The Astonishing Life of Octavian Nothing, Traitor to the Nation, Volume II: The Kingdom on the Waves" by M.T. Anderson

The son of this nobleman, however, pursued far different maxims, and pertinaciously clung to the douceurs and infamy of office; for infamous it most certainly was, to practice measures his own sentiments condemned.

From Secret History of the Court of England, from the Accession of George the Third to the Death of George the Fourth, Volume I (of 2) Including, Among Other Important Matters, Full Particulars of the Mysterious Death of the Princess Charlotte by Lady Anne Hamilton

Allowing for an additional three thousand francs for railway travelling and sundry expenses, I fail to see how the remainder of the sum was disbursed, unless it was in douceurs to the performers.

From An Englishman in Paris Notes and Recollections by Albert D.

However, the difficulty was overcome, though not quite as easily as if douceurs had happened to be in fashion; and we were permitted to land with all our necessary effects.

From The Monikins by James Fenimore Cooper

Without such douceurs, it is popularly said and believed, no stone walls could enable a Turk to hold Al-Hijaz against the hill-men.

From Personal Narrative of a Pilgrimage to Al-Madinah & Meccah — Volume 1 by Sir Richard Francis Burton

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