ppl. a. Carefully or happily selected.
a. 1586. Sidney, Arcadia, III. (1922), 12. The girle thy well chosen mistresse, perchaunce shall defend thee.
1593. Shaks., 3 Hen. VI., IV. i. 7. Heere comes the King. Rich. And his well-chosen Bride.
1635–56. Cowley, Davideis, IV. last line. But, Lo! they ’arriv’ed now at th’ appointed place; Well-chosen and well furnisht for the Chase.
1697. Walsh, Dryden’s Virgil, Life *4. A well-chosen Library, which stood open to all comers of Learning and Merit.
1711. Addison, Spect., No. 93, ¶ 10. The Mind never unbends itself so agreeably as in the Conversation of a well chosen Friend.
1755. Young, Centaur, i. 5. Well-chosen Pleasure is a branch of happiness.
1784. Cowper, Task, III. 393. Then to his book, Well chosen, and not sullenly perus’d In selfish silence.
b. esp. of words or language.
a. 1704. Locke, Cond. Underst., § 31. Well-chosen Similies, Metaphors, and Allegories.
1733. Trav. J. Massey, 21. The Terms in which he express’d himself were strong, and well-chosen.
1828. Whately, Rhet., III. ii. § 9. 243. A well-chosen epithet may often suggest … an entire Argument.
1845. Longf., Poems & P. Europe (1871), 600. His language is simple, well-chosen, and beautiful.
