propriety

noun

Etymology: From late Middle English proprietee, propretee, propriete (“ownership”), borrowed from Anglo-Norman propreté, Middle French proprieté, from Latin proprietās. By surface analysis, prop(e)r + -iety. Doublet of property.

1. The particular character or essence of someone or something; individuality.
2. A characteristic; an attribute.
3. A piece of land owned by someone; someone's property.
4. More generally, something owned by someone; a possession.

   “I was fearful of giving You a very sensible Disgust, in making You seem the Propriety of one Man, when You know Yourself ordained for the Comfort and Refreshment of Multitudes.”

5. The fact of possessing something; ownership.

   “This ſweet word, I will be your God, implies, 1. Propriety, that all that is in God ſhall be ours; his love ours, his Spirit ours, his mercy ours.”

6. Correct language or pronunciation.

   “Thoſe who ought to be the guardians of propriety are often the perverters of it. Hence Accidence for Accidents, Prepoſtor for Prepoſitor and Conſtur for Conſtrue[…]”

7. Suitability, fitness; the quality of being appropriate.

   “I find such a pleasure, sir, in obeying your commands, that I take care to observe them without ever debating their propriety.”

   “Now, if we may, with propriety, refer to the people one question, why may we not, with equal propriety, refer another?”

8. Correctness in behaviour and morals; good manners, seemliness.

   ““Divine receptacle of excellence, let it not be deemed impertinent, or deviating from the rules of propriety, if I propound one queſtion which now labours in my breaſt; aſſuring me firſt, you will not let the ſceptre of true judgment depart from your right hand.””

   “Elinor then ventured to doubt the propriety of her receiving such a present from a man so little, or at least so lately known to her.”