Definition of "decorous"

The narrovv path of truth and virtue inclines neither to the right nor left—it is a ſtraightforvvard buſineſs, and they vvho are earneſtly purſuing their road, may bound over many decorous prejudices, vvithout leaving modeſty behind.

1791 (date written), Mary Wollstonecraft, “Animadversions on Some of the Writers who have Rendered Women Objects of Pity, Bordering on Contempt”, in A Vindication of the Rights of Woman: With Strictures on Political and Moral Subjects, 1st American edition, Boston, Mass.: […] Peter Edes for Thomas and Andrews, […], published 1792, section III, page 174

There came a day when the round of decorous pleasures and solemn gaieties in which Mr. Jos Sedley’s family indulged was interrupted by an event which happens in most houses.

1847 January – 1848 July, William Makepeace Thackeray, chapter LXI, in Vanity Fair […], London: Bradbury and Evans […], published 1848

But who can fathom the subtleties of the human heart? Certainly not those who expect from it only decorous sentiments and normal emotions.

1919, W[illiam] Somerset Maugham, chapter XLIII, in The Moon and Sixpence, [New York, N.Y.]: Grosset & Dunlap Publishers […]

The green eyes in the carefully sweet face were turbulent, willful, lusty with life, distinctly at variance with her decorous demeanor.

1936 June 30, Margaret Mitchell, chapter I, in Gone with the Wind, New York, N.Y.: The Macmillan Company; republished New York, N.Y.: The Macmillan Company, 1944,