primness

He could trust her on that score, and so the dastardly coward affected to sneer at what he called her primness, charging 'Lina to be careful what she did, if she did not want a lecture, and asking if there were any ragged children in Kentucky, as she would not be happy unless she was running a Sunday school!

Bad Hugh Mary Jane Holmes 1866

Neat beds in the front of the house were covered with the richest flowers, and well trimmed lawns sloping away at either side of the spacious building, thrust the idea of primness on the intruder.

Honor Edgeworth Ottawa's Present Tense [pseud.] Vera

She had never even kissed a boy properly before that night, never mind done anything else, and, if it hadn't been that for the previous few months a small group of girls in her class at school had been making her life a misery by taunting her about her 'primness' and her

Yesterday's Echoes Jordan, Penny 1993

This is also a handy way of showing some leg: Stella McCartney's double splits sexed up her calf-length dresses a treat, while YSL's asymmetric gash subverted the nursey primness of a white skirt.

Paris fashion week: wardrobe updates Jess Cartner-Morley 2010

Reputedly, when making John Huston's woefully underrated Heaven Knows, Mr. Allison (1957), leading man Robert Mitchum was initially concerned about his co-star's supposed primness, until he heard her hurling some well-chosen epithets after a bungled take.

John Farr: They Sure Don't Make 'Em Like They Used to: A Tribute to Deborah Kerr John Farr 2010

But in a country where, as George Balanchine once quipped, "if you are awake it is already vulgar," his preoccupation with the primness of the English middle classes struck an equally resonant chord in the shuttered hearts of countless straight playgoers.

Terence Rattigan, Forgotten Centenarian Terry Teachout 2011

Reputedly, when making John Huston's woefully underrated "Heaven Knows, Mr. Allison" (1957), leading man Robert Mitchum was initially concerned about his co-star's supposed primness, until he heard her hurling some well-chosen epithets after a bungled take.

John Farr: They Sure Don't Make 'Em Like They Used To: A Tribute To Deborah Kerr John Farr 2010

Reputedly, when making John Huston's woefully underrated "Heaven Knows, Mr. Allison" (1957), leading man Robert Mitchum was initially concerned about his co-star's supposed primness, until he heard her hurling some well-chosen epithets after a bungled take.

John Farr: They Sure Don't Make 'Em Like They Used To: A Tribute To Deborah Kerr John Farr 2010

At the time, I didn't think so, but my dear mother has been dead for 12 years and instead of excoriating her and her primness, I miss her like hell.

Dr. Susan Corso: Mamma Mia!: Remembering My Mother 2010

At the time, I didn't think so, but my dear mother has been dead for 12 years and instead of excoriating her and her primness, I miss her like hell.

Dr. Susan Corso: Mamma Mia!: Remembering My Mother Dr. Susan Corso 2010