Simper

Pronunciation

• RP IPA: /ˈsɪmpÉ™/
• US IPA: /ˈsɪmpÉš/Rhymes: -ɪmpÉ™(r)

Origin

Origin uncertain; compare (probably from

simper in

) Danish simper
semper ("coy"), German zimper ("elegant, dainty").

Full definition of simper

Verb

1. (intransitive) To smile in a foolish, frivolous, self-conscious, coy, or smug manner.
• 1892, Mark Twain, The American Claimant, ch. 21:Why, look at him—look at this simpering self-righteous mug!
• 1915, Harold MacGrath, The Voice In The Fog, ch. 24:How the fools kotowed and simpered while I looked over their jewels and speculated upon how much I could get for them!
2. (obsolete) To glimmer; to twinkle.
• HerbertYet can I mark how stars above
  Simper and shine.

Noun

1. A foolish, frivolous, self-conscious, or affected smile; a smirk.
• 1843, , , Book 2, Ch. 2, "St. Edmundsbury":Yes, another world it was, when these black ruins, white in their new mortar and fresh chiselling, first saw the sun as walls, long ago. Gauge not, with thy dilettante compasses, with that placid dilettante simper, the Heaven's—Watchtower of our Fathers, the fallen God's—Houses, the Golgotha of true Souls departed!
• 1972, Eric Ambler, The Levanter (2009 edition), ISBN 9780755117635, p. 158:He paused, and then a strange expression appeared on his lips. It was very like a simper.

Anagrams

• misper, primes