[developed from the attrib. use of the sb.] Trifling; frivolous; contemptible; trumpery.
a. 1625. Fletcher, The Chances, II. ii.
| My master’s bo-peeps with me, | |
| With his sly popping in and out again, | |
| Argued a cause, a frippery cause. |
1739. Gray, Lett., Wks. 1884, II. 49. That city [Piacenza] (though the capital of a Duchy) made so frippery an appearance, that instead of spending some days there, as had been intended, we only dined, and went on to Parma.
1768. Foote, Devil on 2 Sticks, I. In spite of the frippery French Salick laws, a woman is a free agent.
1795. Jemima, I. 161. His dress … is so frippery.
1844. Blackw. Mag., LV. 200. Neither will they be persuaded by the frippery tomes which load the counters.
1859. Jephson, Brittany, v. 55. There would, it is true, be numbers of frippery and vulgar ornaments on the table and chimneypiece of the show-parlour, gaudy albums on the table, and perhaps a pianoforte might be lying open, for show, not use; but no magnificent massive tables, no elegant, and at the same time, useful presses and wardrobes.
18[?]. M. Pattison, Mem., ii. (1885), 89. Betake themselves … to the frippery work of attending boards.
