Pride, n. [AS. prȳte; akin
to Icel. prȳði honor, ornament, pr??a to
adorn, Dan. pryde, Sw. pryda; cf. W. prydus
comely. See Proud.] 1. The quality or
state of being proud; inordinate self-esteem; an unreasonable conceit
of one's own superiority in talents, beauty, wealth, rank, etc., which
manifests itself in lofty airs, distance, reserve, and often in
contempt of others.
Those that walk in pride he is able to
abase.
Dan. iv. 37.
Pride that dines on vanity sups on
contempt.
Franklin.
2. A sense of one's own worth, and abhorrence
of what is beneath or unworthy of one; lofty self-respect; noble self-
esteem; elevation of character; dignified bearing; proud delight; --
in a good sense.
Thus to relieve the wretched was his
pride.
Goldsmith.
A people which takes no pride in the noble
achievements of remote ancestors will never achieve anything worthy to
be remembered with pride by remote descendants.
Macaulay.
3. Proud or disdainful behavior or treatment;
insolence or arrogance of demeanor; haughty bearing and conduct;
insolent exultation; disdain.
Let not the foot of pride come against
me.
Ps. xxxvi. 11.
That hardly we escaped the pride of
France.
Shak.
4. That of which one is proud; that which
excites boasting or self-gratulation; the occasion or ground of self-
esteem, or of arrogant and presumptuous confidence, as beauty,
ornament, noble character, children, etc.
Lofty trees yclad with summer's
pride.
Spenser.
I will cut off the pride of the
Philistines.
Zech. ix. 6.
A bold peasantry, their country's
pride.
Goldsmith.
5. Show; ostentation; glory.
Pride, pomp, and circumstance of glorious
war.
Shak.
6. Highest pitch; elevation reached;
loftiness; prime; glory; as, to be in the pride of one's
life.
A falcon, towering in her pride of
place.
Shak.
7. Consciousness of power; fullness of animal
spirits; mettle; wantonness; hence, lust; sexual desire; esp., an
excitement of sexual appetite in a female beast. [Obs.]
Pride of India, or Pride of
China. (Bot.) See Margosa. --
Pride of the desert (Zoöl.), the
camel.
Syn. -- Self-exaltation; conceit; hauteur; haughtiness;
lordliness; loftiness. -- Pride, Vanity. Pride
is a high or an excessive esteem of one's self for some real or
imagined superiority, as rank, wealth, talents, character, etc.
Vanity is the love of being admired, praised, exalted, etc., by
others. Vanity is an ostentation of pride; but one may
have great pride without displaying it. Vanity, which is
etymologically "emptiness," is applied especially to the exhibition of
pride in superficialities, as beauty, dress, wealth, etc.
Pride, v. t. [imp. & p.
p. Prided; p. pr. & vb. n.
Priding.] To indulge in pride, or self-esteem; to rate
highly; to plume; -- used reflexively. Bp. Hall.
Pluming and priding himself in all his
services.
South.Pride, v. i. To be proud; to
glory. [R.]
Pride (?), n. [Cf. AS. lamprede,
LL. lampreda, E. lamprey.] (Zoöl.) A
small European lamprey (Petromyzon branchialis); -- called also
prid, and sandpiper.