Definition:
A detailed personal description; a head-to-toe inventory of a person's physical attributes or charms. See also:
.Etymology:
From the Latin, "to fashion"Examples:
- "My mistress’ eyes are nothing like the sun
Coral is far more red than her lips’ red:
If snow be white, why then her breasts are dun;
If hairs be wires, black wires grow on her head.
I have seen roses damask’d, red and white,
But no such roses see I in her cheeks;
And in some perfumes is there more delight
Than in the breath that from my mistress reeks.
I love to hear her speak, yet well I know
That music hath a far more pleasing sound:
I grant I never saw a goddess go--
My mistress, when she walks, treads on the ground:
And yet, by heaven, I think my love as rare
As any she belied with false compare."
(William Shakespeare, Sonnet 130) - "[According to] the medieval and Renaissance rhetorical convention known as effictio, or 'the descending catalogue' of physical attributes in descriptions of feminine beauty . . . the ideal woman has long golden hair, a smooth, white, medium-sized forehead, eyebrows not joined above the nose, bright blue eyes, a rosy or lily-white complexion, a straight nose, a small mouth, fiery red lips, white, well-spaced teeth, a long white neck, long arms and fingers, a white bosom with hard little breasts, slender hips, slender legs, and petite feet."
(E. Anderson, A Grammar of Iconism, Fairleigh Dickinson, 1998) - "Pretty women wonder where my secret lies. . . .
It's in the reach of my arms
The span of my hips,
The stride of my step,
The curl of my lips . . .
It's the fire in my eyes,
And the flash of my teeth,
The swing in my waist,
The joy in my feet . . .
It's the arch of my back,
The sun of my smile,
The ride of my breast,
The grace of my style.
I'm a woman
Phenomenally."
(Maya Angelou, "Phenomenal Woman")
Pronunciation: ee-FEK-tee-oh
Alternate Spellings: effectio
