Delicious, a.
Etymology: [OF. delicieus, F. délicieux, L. deliciosus, fr. deliciae delight, fr. delicere to allure. See Delight.]
Which fruit on the table would taste best?
Still Life with Cantaloupe, William Mason Brown (American, 1828–1898), c. 1880. Cleveland Museum of Art.1. Affording exquisite pleasure; delightful; most sweet or grateful to the senses, especially to the taste; charming. Some delicious landscape. Coleridge. One draught of spring's delicious air. Keble. Were not his words delicious Tennyson.
2. Addicted to pleasure; seeking enjoyment; luxurious; effeminate. [Obs.] Others, lastly, of a more delicious and airy spirit, retire themselves to the enjoyments of ease and luxury. Milton.
Syn. -- Delicious, Delightful. Delicious refers to the pleasure derived from certain of the senses, particularly the taste and smell; as, delicious food; a delicious fragrance. Delightful may also refer to most of the senses (as, delightful music; a delightful prospect; delightful sensations), but has a higher application to matters of taste, feeling, and sentiment; as, a delightful abode, conversation, employment; delightful scenes, etc. Like the rich fruit he sings, delicious in decay. Smith. No spring, nor summer, on the mountain seen, Smiles with gay fruits or with delightful green. Addison.
Shades of meaning
That is delicious which affords a gratification at once vivid and delicate to the senses, especially to those of taste and smell; as, delicious fruit; a delicious odor; luscious has a kindred but more fulsome meaning, inclining toward a cloying excess of sweetness or richness. Savory is applied chiefly to cooked food made palatable by spices and condiments. Delightful may be applied to the higher gratifications of sense, as delightful music, but is chiefly used for that which is mental and spiritual. Delicious has a limited use in this way; as, a delicious bit of poetry; the word is sometimes used ironically for some pleasing absurdity; as, this is delicious! Compare delightful.