douceur
Americannoun
-
a gratuity; tip.
-
a conciliatory gift or bribe.
-
Archaic. sweetness or agreeableness.
noun
-
a gratuity, tip, or bribe
-
sweetness
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
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
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
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
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
In accordance with this project it would have been necessary to secure the co-operation of all the tailors' foremen in London, and this could not be done without a douceur to the men.
From The Struggles of Brown, Jones, and Robinson By One of the Firm by Trollope, Anthony
Hastening to free our impatient horses from their thraldom, we mounted them, and—not forgetting a suitable douceur, by way of "a consideration" to our obliging cicerone—spurred for the city.
From The South-West By a Yankee. In Two Volumes. Volume 1 by Ingraham, Joseph Holt
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
When officers commanding regiments in India contracted for clothing the men, they found these douceurs under their dinner-napkins.
From The Book of the Thousand Nights and a Night — Volume 07 by Burton, Richard Francis, Sir
Miss Greta smiled as she dispensed her douceurs with the demeanor Napier could have sworn Miss Greta herself took to be suitable to the daughter of a German officer.
From The Messenger by Robins, Elizabeth
But the accomplished D'Estang was fully equal to such douceurs for he actually allowed the enemy four and twenty hours to think of surrendering!
From The Life of General Francis Marion by Weems, M. L. (Mason Locke)
Truce with your douceurs, good servant; you see I am addressing to the princess; pray do not embarrass me—Embarrass me! what a delicious French word do you make me lose upon you too!
From The works of John Dryden, now first collected in eighteen volumes. Volume 04 by Scott, Walter, Sir
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
