Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary · 1913

Pretty

Pretty , adjective

[Old English prati, Anglo-Saxon prattig, pratig, crafty, sly, akin to prat, pratt, deceit, trickery, Icelandic prettugr tricky, prettr a trick; probably from Latin, perhaps through Celtic; compare Welsh praith act, deed, practice, Late Latin practica execution, practice, plot. See Practice.]

1.
Pleasing by delicacy or grace; attracting, but not striking or impressing; of a pleasing and attractive form a color; having slight or diminutive beauty; neat or elegant without elevation or grandeur; pleasingly, but not grandly, conceived or expressed; as, a pretty face; a pretty flower; a pretty poem.
This is the prettiest lowborn lass that ever Ran on the greensward. — Shakespeare
2.
Moderately large; considerable; as, he had saved a pretty fortune.
Wavering a pretty while. — Evelyn
3.
Affectedly nice; foppish; -- used in an ill sense.
The pretty gentleman is the most complaisant in the world. — Spectator
4.
Mean; despicable; contemptible; -- used ironically; as, a pretty trick; a pretty fellow.
5.
Stout; strong and brave; intrepid; valiant. [Scottish]
[He] observed they were pretty men, meaning not handsome. — Sir W. Scott

Pretty , adverb

In some degree; moderately; considerably; rather; almost; -- less emphatic than very; as, I am pretty sure of the fact; pretty cold weather.
Pretty plainly professes himself a sincere Christian. — Atterbury