[F. fierté, f. fier: see FEER a.] Haughtiness, pride; high spirit.
1673. Dryden, Marriage à la Mode, II. i. You think, my Dear, that I assume’d something of fierté into my Countenance, to rebute him.
1784. Han. More, in W. Roberts Mem. (1835), I. 353. I could not but smile at the absurd notions people entertain of right and wrong; for this preposterous pride Mrs. Palmer seemed to think a noble fierté.
1841. Lady Blessington, Idler in France, I. 171. Those of the less elevated in rank among the spectators assumed, or seemed to assume, a certain fierté, if not ferocity, of aspect, at beholding this vivid representation of the triumph achieved by their order over the noblesse.
