staidness
nounEtymology From staid + -ness.
1
Usually The state or characteristic of being staid.
- It is difficult to say whether Mr. John Dounce's red countenance, illuminated as it was by the flickering gas-light in the window before which he paused, excited the lady's risibility, or whether a natural exuberance of animal spirits proved too much for that staidness of demeanour which the forms of society rather dictatorially prescribe.1836, Charles Dickens, chapter 7, in Sketches of Boz:
- [T]here was a staidness and sobriety about her demeanour that kept all impertinence at a distance.1887, Charlotte M. Yonge, chapter 22, in Under the Storm: