Grecian

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See also: Graecian, Græcian, and Gracian

English

Alternative forms

Etymology

From Latin Graecia +‎ -an.[1] Compare Old French grecien and Middle English grecan, grecen, greken, grekin.

Pronunciation

Adjective

Grecian (not comparable)

  1. (obsolete or poetic) Greek (of or from Greece or the Greek people, especially those of Ancient Greece).
    Synonym: Hellenic
    • 1840, John Dunlop, The Universal Tendency to Association in Mankind. Analyzed and Illustrated, London: Houlston and Stoneman, page 103:
      Olympic Games. — Besides the ordinary confederacies that join independent states together, a singular federal bond is remarkable in the Olympic games, which for many ages cemented the Grecian commonwealths by a joint tie of recreation and religious ritual.
    • 1920, F. Scott Fitzgerald, “The Offshore Pirate”, in Flappers and Philosophers, New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, page 11:
      He was a young man with a scornful mouth and the bright blue eyes of a healthy baby set in a dark sensitive face. His hair was pitch black, damp and curly—the hair of a Grecian statue gone brunette.

Derived terms

Noun

Grecian (plural Grecians)

  1. (obsolete) A native or inhabitant of Greece.
  2. A senior pupil at Christ's Hospital School in West Sussex, England.
  3. (obsolete) A Jew who spoke Greek; a Hellenist.
  4. (obsolete) One well versed in the Greek language; a scholar of Greek.
    • 1791, James Boswell, “(please specify the year)”, in James Boswell, editor, The Life of Samuel Johnson, LL.D. , London: Henry Baldwin, for Charles Dilly, , →OCLC:
      I spoke of Mr. Harris, of Salisbury, as being a very learned man, and in particular an eminent Grecian.
    • 1847, Thomas De Quincey, “Protestantism”, in Theological Essays and Other Papers‎, volume 1:
      […] and I will so exhibit its very words as that the reader, even if no Grecian, may understand the point in litigation.
  5. (obsolete, slang) An Irish labourer newly arrived on the British mainland.

Derived terms

References

  1. ^ James A. H. Murray et al., editors (1884–1928), “Grecian (grī·ʃiăn), a. and sb.”, in A New English Dictionary on Historical Principles (Oxford English Dictionary), volume IV (F–G), London: Clarendon Press, →OCLC, page 392, column 1: “f. L. Græci-a Greece + -an. Cf. OF. grecien.”

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