simper

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“
There is nothing, for the conversation has been as lead, but the smile does not subside; it only passes through the endless variations that succeed each other from the inane grin to the affected simper which is meant to be tender.

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Definitions (12)

Toggle American Heritage definitions American Heritage Dictionary (3)

  1. intransitive verb To smile in a silly, self-conscious, often coy manner.
  2. transitive verb To utter or express with a silly, self-conscious, often coy smile: simpered a lame excuse.
  3. noun A silly, self-conscious, often coy smile.

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Toggle GNU Webster definitions GNU Webster's 1913 (2)

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This word has been looked up 190 times.

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Roget's II Roget's II: The New Thesaurus

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Roget's II: The New Thesaurus, Third Edition by the Editors of the American Heritage® Dictionary. Copyright © 2003, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

Etymologies (3)

Toggle American Heritage etymologies American Heritage Dictionary (1)

  1. Perhaps of Scandinavian origin.

Toggle Century etymologies Century Dictionary (2)

  1. Not found in early use; prob. ult. from Norwegian semper, fine, smart, =Danish dial. semper, simper, affected, coy, prudish, especially of one who requires pressing to eat, =Old Swedish semper, also simp, sipp, a woman who affectedly refuses to eat, Swedish sipp, finical, prim, =Danish sippe, a woman who is affectedly coy, =Low German sipp, a word expressing the gesture of a compressed mouth, and affected pronunciation (Jumfer Sipp, ‘Miss Sipp,’ a woman who acts thus affectedly); a particular use derived from the verb sip, take a little drink at a time, hence be affected over food, be prim and coy: see sip. Cf. also provincial G. zimpern, be affectedly coy; zipp, prudish, coy; prob. from Low German The verb has prob. been influenced by the now obsolete or dial. simper (to which simper in def. 2 may perhaps really belong).
  2. from simper, v.
 

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/ˈsɪmpər/
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