old-wifish

• old wivish, old-wivish

From old wife +‎ -ish.

old-wifish (comparative more old-wifish, superlative most old-wifish)

1. Resembling or characteristic of an old wife.
   • 1535 October 14 (Gregorian calendar), Myles Coverdale, transl., Biblia: The Byble,  (Coverdale Bible), : , →OCLC, I. Timothy iiij:[7], folio xcij, recto:

     As for vngooſtly and olde wyueſh fables, caſt them awaye, but exercyſe thy ſelfe vnto godlynes.

   • , Alexãder Alane, Of the Auctorite of the Word of God Agaynst the Bisshop of London , : :

     But I wil ceaſe my cõplayning ſeing I know that now is the latter tyme wherof the prophetes / chriſt / and the apoſtles did prophecy that there ſhuld come falſe prophetes which ſhuld face out the goſpel and imagyne a newe goſpel euen ſtynking / hethenyſſh / old wiuyſſh and capcyos fables inuented by the ſuttyl wit of man as peter and paul calle them / and of theſe falſe prophetes (that is to ſay Antichriſt) did daniel chriſt and paul admoniſſh us that he ſhuld extolle him ſelf a boue god and ſhuld robbe god of his name / pour / wiſdom / and mercy and ſhuld accuſe him of right wiſnes / cruelnes and weakenes & vnabylyte / which thing we do manifeſtly ſee in maner in all their doctrynes / as in their pardons / in the popes your / in purgatory / in pryuate maſſes / in the prayng vnto ſaintes / in worſhipyng of Images / in the vowes of monkes and priſtes / and in all mans tradicyons.

   • 1811, Charles Kirkpatrick Sharpe, “C. Kirkpatrick Sharpe to Walter Scott, Esq.”, in Alexander Allardyce, editor, Letters from and to Charles Kirkpatrick Sharpe, Esq., volume I, Edinburgh, London: William Blackwood and Sons, published 1888, pages 511–512:

     The Somerville History I have seen, and must seriously beseech you to publish it, as it is replete with entertainment,—full of lies, certes,—but the gossip of an old-wifish lord, which is excellent.

   • 1831, Joseph Ritson, “Dissertation II. On Fairies.”, in Fairy Tales, Now First Collected: To Which Are Prefixed Two Dissertations: 1. On Pygmies. 2. On Fairies., London: or Payne and Foss, ; and William Pickering, ; y Thomas Davison, , pages 60–61:

     Sheringham, having mentioned the gods of the Germans, adds, “Among us, truly, this superstition, and foolish credulity, among the vulgar, is not yet left off; for I know not what fables old women suggest to boys and girls about elves (with us by another word called fairies), by which their tender minds they so imbue, that they never depose these old-wifish ravings, but deliver them to others, and vulgarly affirm that groups of elves sometimes dance in bed-chambers, sometimes (that they may benefit the maids) scour and cleanse the pavement, and sometimes are wont to grind with a hand-mill.”

   • 1848, A. B., “The Invisible World”, in Macphail’s Edinburgh Ecclesiastical Journal and Literary Review, volume V, Edinburgh: Myles Macphail, ; London: Simpkin, Marshall & Co., page 336:

     “The Night Side of Nature” has not merely been denounced as a superstitious and old-wifish production, as it was certain to be reckoned by every superstitious and old-wifish person in the kingdom, whose superstition and old-wifishness happened to be of his own age—the beliefs of one period of time becoming superstitious as soon as they are superseded by new beliefs, destined in their turn to be degraded to the condition and name of superstitions—but “The Night Side of Nature” has not merely been condemned as superstitious, anile, silly, and so forth, but has been anathematised with much zeal, as “detestable,” “abominable,” and “dangerous.”

   • 1857, John William Donaldson, Christian Orthodoxy Reconciled with the Conclusions of Modern Biblical Learning; a Theological Essay, with Critical and Controversial Supplements, London, Edinburgh: Williams and Norgate, , page 7:

     “Deprecate the irreligious and oldwifish mythologies, and practise yourself in piety,” […]

   • 1885 February, M. G. Watkins, “Folk-lore for Sweethearts”, in Belgravia: An Illustrated London Magazine, volume LV, number CCXX, London: Chatto and Windus, , page 447:

     Before the nation assumes the sober hues of pure reason and unpitying logic, in lieu of the picturesque scraps of folk-lore and old-wifish beliefs in which imagination was wont to clothe it, no office can be more grateful to posterity than for enthusiastic inquirers to search out and put on record these notes of fairy music which our villagers used to listen to with such content.

   • 1906, David Smith, “Education”, in edited by James Hastings, John A Selbie, and John C Lambert, A Dictionary of Christ and the Gospels, volumes I (Aaron–Knowledge), New York, N.Y.: Charles Scribner’s Sons; Edinburgh: T. & T. Clark, page 507, column 2:

     Among the Apocryphal Gospels’ fables of what befell during the Silent Years, there are some that are concerned with the school-days of Jesus—mostly silly and sometimes blasphemous stories of the sort which St. Paul brands as ‘profane and old-wifish myths’ (1 Ti 4⁷).

• James A. H. Murray et al., editors (1884–1928), “Old-wi·fish”, in A New English Dictionary on Historical Principles (Oxford English Dictionary), volume VII (O–P), London: Clarendon Press, →OCLC, page 101, column 1.