\Del"i*ca*cy\, n.; pl. {Delicacies}. [From {Delicate},
a.]
1. The state or condition of being delicate; agreeableness to
   the senses; delightfulness; as, delicacy of flavor, of
   odor, and the like.
         What choice to choose for delicacy best. --Milton.
2. Nicety or fineness of form, texture, or constitution;
   softness; elegance; smoothness; tenderness; and hence,
   frailty or weakness; as, the delicacy of a fiber or a
   thread; delicacy of a hand or of the human form; delicacy
   of the skin; delicacy of frame.
3. Nice propriety of manners or conduct; susceptibility or
   tenderness of feeling; refinement; fastidiousness; and
   hence, in an exaggerated sense, effeminacy; as, great
   delicacy of behavior; delicacy in doing a kindness;
   delicacy of character that unfits for earnest action.
         You know your mother's delicacy in this point.
                                               --Cowper.
4. Addiction to pleasure; luxury; daintiness; indulgence;
   luxurious or voluptuous treatment.
         And to those dainty limbs which Nature lent For
         gentle usage and soft delicacy?       --Milton.
5. Nice and refined perception and discrimination; critical
   niceness; fastidious accuracy.
         That Augustan delicacy of taste which is the boast
         of the great public schools of England. --Macaulay.
6. The state of being affected by slight causes;
   sensitiveness; as, the delicacy of a chemist's balance.
7. That which is alluring, delicate, or refined; a luxury or
   pleasure; something pleasant to the senses, especially to
   the sense of taste; a dainty; as, delicacies of the table.
         The merchants of the earth are waxed rich through
         the abundance of her delicacies.      --Rev. xviii.
                                               3.
8. Pleasure; gratification; delight. [Obs.]
         He Rome brent for his delicacie.      --Chaucer.
Syn: See {Dainty}.