Careful Words

handsome (adj.)

  A fellow that hath had losses, and one that hath two gowns and every thing handsome about him.

William Shakespeare (1564-1616): Much Ado about Nothing. Act iv. Sc. 2.

O, what a world of vile ill-favour'd faults

Looks handsome in three hundred pounds a year!

William Shakespeare (1564-1616): The Merry Wives of Windsor. Act iii. Sc. 4.

  Handsome is that handsome does.

Oliver Goldsmith (1728-1774): Vicar of Wakefield. Chap. i.

She is a winsome wee thing,

She is a handsome wee thing,

She is a bonny wee thing,

This sweet wee wife o' mine.

Robert Burns (1759-1796): My Wife's a Winsome Wee Thing.