Other forms: simpering
To simper is to smile in a silly self-conscious way. Simpering at him, a simpering smile, she simpered.
It is always contemptuous, and it has been aimed at women far more than at men, which is part of why it appears so often in nineteenth-century novels. The origin is uncertain, possibly from a Scandinavian word meaning coy.
1verbsimperTo smile in a silly self-conscious way.
“He simpered at the boss and laughed far too hard at all his jokes.”
simper is a way of smiling.
The origin is uncertain; compare Danish simper, coy, and a German dialect word meaning dainty.
unknown; compare (probably from) Danish simper / semper (“coy”), German zimper (“elegant, dainty”).
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA