a. († adv.) Also 6 suafe, swave, Sc. suaif, swaif. [a. F. suave (16th cent.), a ‘learned’ formation which took the place of the ‘popular’ OF. soef, suef (suaif):—L. suāvis sweet, agreeable:—*swādwis, f. swād- (see SWEET a.).]
1. Pleasing or agreeable to the senses or the mind; sweet.
c. 1560. A. Scott, Poems (S. T. S.), vii. 29. Adew þe fragrant balme suaif, And lamp of ladeis lustiest!
1598. Q. Eliz., Plutarch, ix. 3. The suafes thing that Silence dothe Expres.
1694. Motteux, Rabelais, V. Epist. 251. These Times … alterate the suavest Pulchritude.
1849. C. Brontë, Shirley, xxvi. To whom the husky oat-cake was from custom suave as manna.
1859. Miss Mulock, Life for a Life, xvii. To break the suave harmony of things.
1878. H. S. Wilson, Alpine Ascents, iii. 99. The suaver white hoods of snow summits.
12. Gracious, kindly. Also advb. Sc. Obs.
1501. Douglas, Pal. Hon., III. ii. Thir musis gudelie and suaue.
c. 1550. Rolland, Crt. Venus, II. 76. The nine Musis sweit and swaue.
c. 1560. A. Scott, Poems (S. T. S.), i. 214. Resaif swaif, and haif ingraif it heir. Ibid., xxxvi. 73. Sweit Lord, to Syon be suave.
3. Of persons, their manner: Blandly polite or urbane; soothingly agreeable. (Cf. SUAVITY 4.)
1847. C. Brontë, Jane Eyre, xiv. He … showed a solid enough mass of intellectual organs, but an abrupt deficiency where the suave sign of benevolence should have risen. Ibid. (1853), Villette, xxi. The rare passion of the constitutionally suave, and serene, is not a pleasant spectacle.
1853. Lytton, My Novel, III. xxvi. A slight disturbance of his ordinary suave and well-bred equanimity.
1863. Geo. Eliot, Romola, xxxi. Doubtless the suave secretary had his own ends to serve.
1898. Jean A. Owen, Hawaii, iii. 55. Oahumi was quite captivated by the plausible, suave manners of the ingratiating southern chief.
1894. ‘Max O’Rell,’ John Bull & Co., 30. These suave-looking people, far away in the Pacific Ocean.
