elegant : Dictionary / Wörterbuch (BEOLINGUS, TU Chemnitz)

English Dictionary: elegant	by the DICT Development Group
4 results for elegant
From WordNet (r) 3.0 (2006) [wn]:
elegant adj refined and tasteful in appearance or behavior or style; "elegant handwriting"; "an elegant dark suit"; "she was elegant to her fingertips"; "small churches with elegant white spires"; "an elegant mathematical solution--simple and precise and lucid" Antonym(s): inelegant suggesting taste, ease, and wealth Synonym(s): elegant, graceful, refined displaying effortless beauty and simplicity in movement or execution; "an elegant dancer"; "an elegant mathematical solution -- simple and precise"
From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) [web1913]:
Elegant \El"egant\, a. [L. elegans, -antis; akin to eligere to pick out, choose, select: cf. F. [82]l[82]gant. See {Elect}.] 1. Very choice, and hence, pleasing to good taste; characterized by grace, propriety, and refinement, and the absence of every thing offensive; exciting admiration and approbation by symmetry, completeness, freedom from blemish, and the like; graceful; tasteful and highly attractive; as, elegant* manners; elegant style of composition; an elegant speaker; an elegant structure. A more diligent cultivation of elegant literature. --Prescott. 2. Exercising a nice choice; discriminating beauty or sensitive to beauty; as, elegant taste. Syn: Tasteful; polished; graceful; refined; comely; handsome; richly ornamental.
From Jargon File (4.2.0, 31 JAN 2000) [jargon]:
elegant adj. [common; from mathematical usage] Combining simplicity, power, and a certain ineffable grace of design. Higher praise than `clever', `winning', or even {cuspy}. The French aviator, adventurer, and author Antoine de Saint-Exupe'ry, probably best known for his classic children's book "The Little Prince", was also an aircraft designer. He gave us perhaps the best definition of engineering elegance when he said "A designer knows he has achieved perfection not when there is nothing left to add, but when there is nothing left to take away."
From The Free On-line Dictionary of Computing (15Feb98) [foldoc]:
elegant (From Mathematics) Combining simplicity, power, and a certain ineffable grace of design. Higher praise than "clever", "winning" or even {cuspy}. The French aviator, adventurer, and author Antoine de Saint-Exup'ery, probably best known for his classic children's book "The Little Prince", was also an aircraft designer. He gave us perhaps the best definition of engineering elegance when he said "A designer knows he has achieved perfection not when there is nothing left to add, but when there is nothing left to take away." [{Jargon File}] (1994-11-29)