purty

Adjective

pretty (comparative prettier, superlative prettiest)

1. Pleasant to the sight or other senses; attractive, especially of women or children.
   • Having brought it to a close, he took his way to the Kursaal. The great German watering-place is one of the prettiest nooks in Europe, and of a summer evening in the gaming days, five-and-twenty years ago, it was one of the most brilliant scenes.1879, Henry James, chapter III, in Confidence, London: Chatto & Windus

   Synonyms:

   dainty

2. Of objects or things: nice-looking, appealing.
   • Some fans may have mistaken the album’s floatiness for aimlessness, but Mr. Mercer’s songs have never been sneakier, or prettier.2007 October 25, Kelefa Sanneh, “Songs With a Sneaky Streak”, in The New York Times
3. (derogatory, often) Fine-looking; only superficially attractive; initially appealing but having little substance; see petty.
   • Damned by the Socialists as "traitors to the working class," its leaders were decried by Tories as "faceless peddlers of politics with a pretty little trinket for every taste."1962 September 28, “New Life for the Liberals”, in Time
4. (UK, derogatory, sometimes) Effeminate.
5. Cunning; clever, skilful.
   • In the end, however, it was a very pretty shot, right across the chasm; killed first fire, and the brute fell headlong into the brook […].1877, George Hesekiel, Bayard Taylor, Bismarck his Authentic Biography, page 380
6. (dated) Moderately large; considerable.
   • they flung all the goods in the house out at the windows into the street, or into the sea, as they supposed; thus they continued mad a pretty season […].1624, Democritus Junior [pseudonym; Robert Burton], The Anatomy of Melancholy: […], 2nd edition, Oxford, Oxfordshire: […] John Lichfield and James Short, for Henry Cripps, →OCLC, partition I, section...

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