a. Also 6 spycye, 8–9 spicey. [f. SPICE sb.]
1. Having the characteristic qualities of spice; of the nature of spice.
1562. Turner, Herbal, II. (1568), 50. The shel smelleth well, and is spycye, not onely in smell, but also in taste.
1626. Bacon, Sylva, § 644. So Fennell-seeds are sweet before they ripen, and after grow spicy.
1667. Milton, P. L., II. 640. Whence Merchants bring Thir spicie Drugs.
1725. De Foe, Voy. round World (1840), 112. The herbs were of a spicy kind, and had a most pleasant agreeable taste.
1789. W. Buchan, Dom. Med. (1790), 431. The diet must be … seasoned with spicy and aromatic vegetables.
1806. A. Hunter, Culina (ed. 3), 125. The French Cooks make a spicey mixture that does not discover a predominancy of any one of the spices over the others.
1833. Ht. Martineau, Cinnamon & Pearls, iii. 54. The sun could penetrate to the pure white sand from which the spicy stems sprang.
fig. 1646. J. Hall, Poems, 37. When age shall … all that Red remove That on thy spicy lip now ly’s.
1847. Emerson, Poems, Monadnoc, Wks. (Bohn), I. 438. Fountain-drop of spicier worth Than all the vintage of the earth.
b. Flavored or mixed with spice.
1632. Milton, L’Allegro, 100. The Spicy Nut-brown Ale.
1807. Crabbe, Par. Reg., I. 259. Here his poor bird th’inhuman cocker brings,… With spicy food th’impatient spirit feeds.
2. Having the fragrance of spice; sweet-scented, aromatic: a. Of flowers.
1765. Cath. Talbot, Lett. (1808), II. 21. Here [there is] a gale of spicy pinks, here the breath of lillies.
1797. Mrs. Radcliffe, Italian, xiii. The spicy myrtle sent forth all its fragrance.
1830. Tennyson, Poet’s Mind, 13. Holy water will I pour Into every spicy flower Of the laurel-shrubs.
1845–50. Mrs. Lincoln, Lect. Bot., 105/1. Gaultheria … procumbens (spicy wintergreen…).
1867. Augusta Wilson, Vashti, xxiv. An exquisitely beautiful and fragrant bouquet … fringed daintily with spicy geranium leaves.
b. Of air, breezes, etc.
1650. H. Vaughan, Silex Scint. (1885), 51. Calm streams; Joyes full, and true; Fresh, spicie mornings.
1712. Pope, Messiah, 27. See spicy clouds from lowly Saron rise. Ibid. (1713), Windsor For., 392. Led by new stars, and borne by spicy gales!
1820. Keats, Hyperion, I. 186. When he would taste the spicy wreaths Of incense.
1855. Browning, Fra Lippo, 340. Tasting the air this spicy night which turns The unaccustomed head like Chianti wine!
3. Containing or producing, abounding in, spices.
1648. Crashaw, Poems (1904), 144. A fragrant Breath suckt from the spicy nest O’th’ pretious Phœnix.
1667. Milton, P. L., IV. 162. As when … North-East windes blow Sabean Odours from the spicie shoare Of Arabie the blest.
1746. Hervey, Refl. Flower Garden, 43. All the Odours of the spicy East.
1781. Cowper, Charity, 442. The stores [which] The sun matures on India’s spicy shores.
1813. Shelley, Q. Mab, VIII. 64. Fragrant zephyrs there from spicy isles Ruffle the placid ocean-deep.
b. Consisting of spice; conveying spice.
1712. W. King, Brit. Pallad., 39. Restore the spicy traffick of the East.
1840. Hood, Up the Rhine, 31. Masts of spicy vessels From distant Surinam.
4. Of qualities: Appropriate to, or characteristic of, spices.
1652. Crashaw, Carmen Deo Nostro, Poems (1904), 197. O dissipate thy spicy Powres.
1728. Chambers, Cycl., Zeodary … for its spicy Warmth is commended in Cholics.
1732. Arbuthnot, Rules of Diet, in Aliments, etc. I. 244. Burnet, astringent, with a gentle spicy Quality.
1822. Clare, Vill. Minstr., I. 115. Spikenard’s spicy smell.
1883. Helen Hunt Jackson, in Century Mag., Oct., 814/2. From the great variety of flowers and their spicy flavor … the honey is said to have a unique and delicious taste.
† 5. Sc. (See quots.) Obs.
1768. [Sir D. Dalrymple], Bannatyne Poems, 276. Thus a spicy man is still used for one self-conceited and proud.
1808. Jamieson, Spicy, proud, testy.
6. slang. a. Full of spirit, smartness, or ‘go.’
1828. Sporting Mag. (N.S.), XXI. 324. We had a remarkably spicy team out of town. Ibid. (1829), XXIII. 291. Four little spicy devils, it would be difficult for anything I should think to catch.
1858–61. E. B. Ramsay, Remin., vi. (1870), 238. It … requires to be performed with a particular and spicy dexterity of hand.
1898. Wollocombe, From Morn till Eve, viii. 196. A well-appointed drag appeared with its spicy team stepping well together.
b. Smart-looking; neat. Also as adv.
1846. Huxley, in L. Huxley, Life (1900), I. ii. 28. The spicy oilcloth … on the floor looks most respectable.
1854. F. E. Smedley, H. Coverdale’s Courtsh., i. The fortunate possessor of a spicy dog-cart, a blood mare to run in it.
1859. G. Meredith, R. Feverel, xxix. That young Tom! He ’ve come to town dressed that spicy.
7. Of writing or discourse: Smart and pointed; pungent; having a flavor of the sensational or scandalous; somewhat improper.
1844. J. T. Hewlett, Parsons & W., li. The articles were so clever, and so very ‘spicy.’
1848. Punch, XV. 62. I wish you would say something spicy about the new regulation.
1891. Farrar, Darkn. & Dawn, xxvi. It is composed of the spiciest libels against every senator of note whom he ventures to attack.
8. Exciting, exhilarating.
1853. Kane, Grinnell Exp., xxxvii. (1854), 335. The spicy tingling of a crisis.
9. Comb., as spicy-looking, -smelling.
1819. Scott, Ivanhoe, xxxvii. A warming and spicy-smelling balsam.
1850. Smedley, Frank Fairlegh (1894), 4. A spicy-looking nag.
1901. Wide World Mag., VI. 469/2. It is planted thick with spicy-smelling pines and firs.
