demure

Inherited from Middle English demure, demwre, an abbreviation of Anglo-Norman de mure port (“with a mature demeanor”) (compare Old French meur from Latin mātūrus):

• si il seyt coy e de mure port (Amur curteiz) (“he sits quietly and with a mature appearance”)
• Documents illustrating the history of Scotland, CLV, 1306, Orders for the custody of Scottish prisoners, CLV: …et que eles soient de bon et meur port (“…with a good and mature demeanor”)
• mss. Arundel, 220: ke cely qe vus amerez soyt de gentil manere, coy, de meure porture (“with a mature demeanor”)
• (Monastic rule): de aunciene dame de meure porture ke pusse les plus ieuenes rieueler e endoctriner (“an old lady with a mature demeanor able to rule and educate the young girls”).

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /dɪˈmjʊə(ɹ)/
• (Standard Southern British) IPA^(key): /dəˈmjɔː(ɹ)/, /dɪˈmjɵː(ɹ)/, /dɪˈmjʊə(ɹ)/
• (US, General American) IPA^(key): /dɪˈmjʊɹ/, /dɪˈmjɔɹ/
• (General Australian) IPA^(key): /dəˈmjʊə(ɹ)/
• (New Zealand) IPA^(key): /dəˈmjʉə(ɹ)/

• Audio (US):

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• Audio (General Australian):

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• Rhymes: -ʊə(ɹ)
• Hyphenation: de‧mure

demure (comparative demurer, superlative demurest)

1. (chiefly of a woman) Modest, quiet, reserved, or serious.

   Synonyms: retiring, shy, sober

   She is a demure young lady.

   • 1881, William Black, The Beautiful Wretch:

     Nan was very much delighted in her demure way, and that delight showed itself in her face and in her clear bright eyes.

   • 2005, Maureen Dowd, Are Men Necessary?, →ISBN, page 311:

     I was coming back from the ladies' room when I saw her. She looked demure. Oval wire-rimmed glasses. A sky blue jacket buttoned over a long black-and-white flowered shirt.

   • 2014 January 21, Hermione Hoby, “Julia Roberts interview for August: Osage County – 'I might actually go to hell for this …'”, in The Daily Telegraph‎^[1]:

     [H]owever hard she pushed the tough-talkin' shtick, she remained doe-eyed, glowing and somehow unassailably demure.

   • 2021 June 30, Motoko Rich, Hikari Hida, “Expected to Be Demure, Japan’s Girls Face Steep Hurdles to Athletic Dreams”, in The New York Times‎^[2], →ISSN:

     And in their daily lives, girls and women are pushed to conform to fairly narrow templates of behavior as demure or delicate.

2. Affectedly modest, decorous, or serious; making a show of gravity.

   Synonym: coy

   • c. 1824, Mary Russell Mitford, Walks in the Country:

     Miss Lizzy, I have no doubt, would be as demure and coquettish, as if ten winters more had gone over her head.

• Usage of the term "demure" spiked in 2024 after the catchphrase "very demure, very mindful" went viral on TikTok.^[1]

demure (third-person singular simple present demures, present participle demuring, simple past and past participle demured)

1. (obsolete) To look demurely.
   • c. 1606–1607 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Anthonie and Cleopatra”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act IV, scene xvi], page 363, column 2, line 30:

     Your Wife Octavia, with her modeſt eyes, / […] ſhall acquire no Honour / Demuring vpon me:

• “demure”, in Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster, 1996–present.
• “demure, adj.”, in OED Online  ⁠, Oxford: Oxford University Press, launched 2000.

From de- +‎ mure.

• demewre, demeur, demuer, demur, demwre, dimuir

• IPA^(key): /dɛːˈmiu̯r/

demure

1. grave, serious, modest

• demurely

• English: demure
• Scots: demure

• “dēmūr, adj.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007.

From Old French demore, demure.

• demere, demoere, demore

• IPA^(key): /dɛːˈmeːr/, /dɛːˈmiu̯r/, /dɛːˈmur/

demure

1. (rare) delay, waiting, stay

• demuren

• English: demur

• “dēmū̆re, n.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007.

demure

1. Alternative form of demuren