Adjective

(er)

Cunning; clever, skilful.

* 1877 , George Hesekiel and Bayard Taylor, Bismarck his Authentic Biography , page 380:

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 [...].

Pleasant in sight or other senses; attractive, especially of women or children.

* {{quote-book, year=1963, author=(Margery Allingham), title=(The China Governess)

, chapter=17 citation , passage=The face which emerged was not reassuring. […]. He was not a mongol but there was a deficiency of a sort there, and it was not made more pretty by a latter-day hair cut which involved eccentrically long elf-locks and oiled black curls.}}

* 2010 , Peter Bradshaw, The Guardian , 4 Feb 2010:

To escape a violent beating from sailors to whom he has sold a non-functioning car, Jerry takes his stepfamily for a holiday in a trailer park miles away, where, miraculously, young Nick meets a very pretty young woman called Sheeni, played by Portia Doubleday.

Of objects or things: nice-looking, appealing.

* 2010 , Lia Leendertz, The Guardian , 13 Feb 2010:

'Petit Posy' brassicas [...] are a cross between kale and brussels sprouts, and are really very pretty with a mild, sweet taste.

* 1962 , "New Life for the Liberals", Time , 28 Sep 1962:

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."

(dated) Moderately large; considerable.

*, I.2.4.vii:

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 […].

*

, title= Mr. Pratt's Patients, chapter=1 , passage=A chap named Eleazir Kendrick and I had chummed in together the summer afore and built a fish-weir and shanty at Setuckit Point, down Orham way. For a spell we done pretty well. Then there came a reg'lar terror of a sou'wester same as you don't get one summer in a thousand, and blowed the shanty flat and ripped about half of the weir poles out of the sand.}}

* 2004 , "Because They're Worth it", Time , 26 Jan 04:

"What did you do to your hair?" The answer could be worth a pretty penny for L'Oreal.

(dated) Excellent, commendable, pleasing; fitting or proper (of actions, thoughts etc.).

* 1815 , (Jane Austen), Emma , Boston 1867, page 75:

Some people are surprised, I believe, that that the eldest was not [named after his father], but Isabella would have him named Henry, which I thought very pretty of her.

* 1919 , (Saki), ‘The Oversight’, The Toys of Peace :

‘This new fashion of introducing the candidate's children into an election contest is a pretty one,’ said Mrs. Panstreppon; ‘it takes away something from the acerbity of party warfare, and it makes an interesting experience for the children to look back on in after years.’

* 1926 , (Ernest Hemingway), , page 251:

"Oh, Jake." Brett said, "we could have had such a damned good time together." Ahead was a mounted policeman in khaki directing traffic. He raised his baton. The car slowed suddenly pressing Brett against me. "Yes", I said. "Isn't it pretty to think so?"

(ironic) Awkward, unpleasant.

* 1931 , "Done to a Turn", Time , 26 Jan 1931:

His sadistic self-torturings finally landed him in a pretty mess: still completely married, practically sure he was in love with Tillie, he made dishonorable proposals of marriage to two other women.

Adjective

(en-adj)

Having a colour/color that is a dark blend of red and blue.

*

*:So this was my future home, I thought!Backed by towering hills, the but faintly discernible purple line of the French boundary off to the southwest, a sky of palest Gobelin flecked with fat, fleecy little clouds, it in truth looked a dear little city; the city of one's dreams.

Not predominantly red or blue, but having a mixture of Democrat and Republican support, as in purple state'', ''purple city .

*2010 , Hal K. Rothman, The Making of Modern Nevada , University of Nevada Press, ISBN 978-0-87417-826-5, page 162:

*:In the end, Nevada remained the quintessential purple' state. On the maps that television used to illustrate political trends, Republican states were red and Democratic blue. Nevada blended the colors. It had a bright blue core in the heart of Las Vegas, surrounded by a ' purple suburban belt. Most of the rest of the state was bright red, especially in the rural counties.

(label) Mixed between social democrats and liberals.

Imperial; regal.

*(Percy Bysshe Shelley) (1792–1882)

*:Hide in the dust thy purple pride.

Blood-red; bloody.

*(William Shakespeare) (c.1564–1616)

*:May such purple tears be alway shed.

*(John Dryden) (1631-1700)

*:I view a field of blood, / And Tiber rolling with a purple blood.

Extravagantly ornate, like purple prose.