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Euphuism
Definitions
- 1 An ornate style of writing (in Elizabethan England) marked by the excessive use of alliteration, antithesis and mythological similes. historical, uncountable
"The second was a fancy, which amounts to a mania, for similes, strung together in endless lists[…]. It is impossible to open a page of Euphues without finding an example of this eccentric and tasteless trick, and in it, as far as in any single thing, must be found the recipe for euphuism, pure and simple."
- 2 Alternative letter-case form of euphuism. alt-of, countable, uncountable
"I have not the slightest faith in Carlyle. In ten years–possibly in five–he will be remembered only as a butt for sarcasm. His linguistic Euphuisms might very well have been taken as prima facie evidence of his philosophic ones; they were the froth which indicated, first, the shallowness, and secondly, the confusion of the waters."
- 3 an elegant style of prose of the Elizabethan period; characterized by balance and antithesis and alliteration and extended similes with and allusions to nature and mythology wordnet
- 4 An instance of euphuism. countable
"I have not the slightest faith in Carlyle. In ten years–possibly in five–he will be remembered only as a butt for sarcasm. His linguistic Euphuisms might very well have been taken as prima facie evidence of his philosophic ones; they were the froth which indicated, first, the shallowness, and secondly, the confusion of the waters."
- 5 any artificially elegant style of language wordnet
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- 6 Misconstruction of euphemism. alt-of, countable, misconstruction, uncountable
"Is he one who has led a wild and struggling and isolated life,—seeing few but plain and outspoken Northerns, unskilled in the euphuisms which assist the polite world to skim over the mention of vice?"
Etymology
From Euphues (Ancient Greek ευφυής (euphuḗs, “graceful, witty”)) + -ism, after the titular character in John Lyly’s didactic romance Euphues: The Anatomy of Wit (1578). Lyly adopted the name from Roger Ascham’s The Scholemaster (published 1570), which describes Euphues as a type of student who is “apte by goodness of witte, and appliable by readiness of will, to learning, hauving all other qualities of the mind and parts of the body, that must an other day serue learning, not troubled, mangled, and halfed, but sound, whole, full & able to do their office”.
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