archness

English

Etymology

From arch (“principal; primary; mischievous”, adj) +‎ -ness.

Noun

archness (countable and uncountable, plural archnesses)

1. The state of being arch.
   • 1811, Jane Austen, chapter 18, in Sense and Sensibility:

     Marianne was surprised and confused, yet she could not help smiling at the quiet archness of his manner

   • 2004, Alan Hollinghurst, The Line of Beauty, Bloomsbury, 2005, Chapter 3,

     There was something artless in Toby's delivery; he was working in the family tradition of teasing, but he was too relenting and couldn't yet match Gerald's heavy archness.

Anagrams

• Schaners, anchress