demure

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The Word of the Day for September 12 is:

demure   \dih-MYOOR\   adjective
    *1 : reserved, modest
     2 : affectedly modest, reserved, or serious : coy

Example sentence:
     Judith was such a demure girl that she found it hard to 
talk about her school accomplishments while she was being 
interviewed at colleges.

Did you know?
     "Demure" has essentially remained unchanged in meaning 
since at least the 14th century. Its first recorded use in our 
language dates from the Middle English period (1100 to 1500), a 
time when the native tongue of England was borrowing many new 
words from the French spoken by the Normans who gained control 
of the country after the Battle of Hastings. "Demure" might have 
been part of the French cultural exchange; etymologists think it 
may have derived from the Anglo-French verb "demurer," 
meaning "to linger." During Shakespeare's time, "demure" was 
briefly used in English as a verb meaning "to look demurely," 
but only the older adjective form has survived to the present 
day.