(ppl.) a. and sb. Also finnicking, finnikin, (9 finican). [Of somewhat doubtful etymology; most likely f. FINICK v. + -ING2; the chief difficulty is that the adj. is recorded from the middle of 17th c., while the vb. is known only from a very recent period.
It has been suggested that finikin is the original form, and is of Du. origin; cf. MDu. fijnkens adv. accurately neatly, prettily (Kilian). On this hypothesis the words finical and finick sb. and vb. must in some way have been evolved from finikin. The conjecture however is unsupported by evidence, and finical appears 70 years earlier than the earliest known instance of finikin.)
A. adj. Affecting extreme refinement; dainty, fastidious, mincing; excessively precise in trifles. Also of things: Over-delicately wrought or finished; also, insignificant, paltry, trifling.
1661. A. Brome, Leveller, i. Poems, 72.
| Your Madams and Lords, | |
| And such finikin words. |
c. 1680. Roxb. Ball. (1891), VII. 467.
| I’ll sing a song, and a dainty brave song, it’s neither of Seaman nor Saylor; | |
| But to tell you the truth, it’s a bonny brave youth, he’s a finikin’ vapouring Taylor. |
1741. E. Poston, Pratler (1747), I. 230.
| Thou finicking Stuff, | |
| Put thy Hands in a Muff. |
1822. Blackw. Mag., XI. April, 444/1. Nor would it be to much advantage to divert from their employment the adorners of an edifice, or the workers in stucco, and compel them to apply their finican hands and utensils to the laborious task of rearing a foundation.
1831. Fraser’s Mag., II. Jan., 745. Quiet and finikin as his [Horace’s] satire is.
1837. Dickens, Pickw., xix. Many a young partridge who strutted complacently among the stubble, with all the finicking coxcombry or youth.
1865. G. Meredith, R. Fleming, x. (1890), 73. Out, at last, came the old, broad, bent figure, with little finicking steps, and hurried past them head foremost, his arms narrowed across a bulgy breast.
1886. T. Hardy, Mayor Casterbridge, xii. It was not without a dash of pity for the tastes of any one who could care to give his mind to such finnikin details.
† b. In eulogistic sense: Dainty, pretty. Obs.
c. 1749. Robin Hood & Allen a Dale, xviii., in Child, Ballads, V. cxxxviii. 174/1.
| With that came in a wealthy knight, | |
| Which was both grave and old, | |
| And after him a finikin lass, | |
| Did shine like glistering gold. |
B. sb. (in form finikin, finnikin).
† 1. A finicking person. Obs.
1744. E. Haywood, The Female Spectator (1748), I. 82. She imagined it was owning to our long peace, that every public place so abounded with coxcombs and finikins.
† 2. A variety of pigeon. Obs.
1725. Bradley, Fam. Dict., s.v. Pigeon, Many sorts of pigeons, such as Carriers … Finikins.
1765. Treat. Dom. Pigeons, 136. The Finnikin. These Pigeons are possessed of certain whimsical gestures when salacious.
1867. Tegetmeier, Pigeons, 175. The Finnikin.
Hence Finickingly adv.
1880. Vern. Lee, Italy, IV. ii. 153. They are at once unnatural and lumbering like a decorative stucco, and finickingly finished like a fan-painting.
