Middle English Dictionary Entry
pulcritūde n.
Entry Info
| Forms | pulcritūde n. |
| Etymology | L pulchritūdo |
Definitions (Senses and Subsenses)
1.
(a) Beauty, fairness; (b) literary elegance or ornament.
Associated quotations
a
- (a1460) Vegetius(2) (Pmb-C 243)148 : Themanuel..Hath ostis angelik..That noon of hem, nor persone erthly, woote Their numbir or vertue or pulcritude.
- c1460(?c1400) Beryn (Nthld 55)1109 : Fawnus..must be I-curid with passing gentilnes Of som lusty lady, þat of pulcritude Were excellent al othir.
- ?a1475(?a1425) Higd.(2) (Hrl 2261)1.77 : Paradise is the pantre or place of alle pulcritude [Trev.: fairenesse; L pulcritudinis].
- ?a1475(?a1425) Higd.(2) (Hrl 2261)2.367 : There were iij sustyrs as of oon pulcritude, whiche meruaylede theire beholders.
- ?a1475(?a1425) Higd.(2) (Hrl 2261)3.183 : These thynges visible, thauȝhe thei be of pulcritude excellente, ȝitte thei be caduke and transitory.
- a1500 I haue nowe sett (Trin-C R.4.20)21 : O pierles princes, thy pulcritude Was so indewed wyth dalyaunce.
b
- ?a1475(?a1425) Higd.(2) (Hrl 2261)4.407 : The office of a poete is to transmute those thynges whiche be doen truly in to other similitudes in oblike figuraciones with pulcritude [Trev.: with florischynge of faire manere of spekynge; L cum decore].