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evasive, a.|ɪˈveɪsɪv|
[ad. Fr. évasif, -ive, f. L. ēvās- ppl. stem of ēvādĕre (see evade) + -ive.]
1. Of persons: Seeking to evade; addicted to evasion, shuffling.
1725Pope Odyss. i. 530 Thus he, though conscious of the ethereal guest, Answer'd evasive of the sly request. 1785Paley Mor. Philos. (1818) II. 404 The..honest workman will be employed, in preference to..the fraudulent, and evasive. 1794Burke Sp. agst. W. Hastings Wks. XV. 107 He had been dilatory, evasive, shuffling, and unwilling to pay that which, however unwilling, evasive, and shuffling, he did pay.
2. Of actions or utterances: Tending to evasion; containing or characterized by evasion. Const. of. Esp. in phr. (to take) evasive action: of a pilot, (to take) action designed to avoid having his aircraft attacked; hence, in general use, (to take) action to avoid any kind of trouble or unpleasantness.
1744Berkeley Siris §107 Though evasive arts will, it is feared, prevail so long as distilled spirits of any kind are allowed. 1772Ann. Reg. 20/2 Terms apparently inoffensive, and evasive of their real and essential meaning. 1777Sheridan Sch. Scand. iii. i, He has received nothing but evasive promises of future service. 1820Scott Monast. xi, Objections which the Sub-Prior treated as evasive. 1848Macaulay Hist. Eng. II. 451 The president, completely taken by surprise, stammered out a few evasive phrases. 1940War Illustr. 10 Feb. 124/1 The formation opens out and we do a bit of dodging. ‘Evasive Action’ they call it in the official reports. 1941M. W. Monks in Michie & Graebner Lights of Freedom iv. 58 Fighter pilots' combat reports include ‘I took evasive action’, and the W.A.A.F.s adopted it in describing their adventures on dates. 1961J. Heller Catch-22 (1962) v. 49 There was no established procedure for evasive action. All you needed was fear.
3. Elusive, evanescent.
1881C. De Kay Vision of Nimrod vi. 113 Above the cities of the plain the tender Evasive strains dropt gently from the sky.
4. as n. An evasive phrase or speech.
a1734North Exam. (1740) 90 The Party..followed their Game full Cry..without much Trouble about Precautions and Evasives. Ibid. 399 What may not be said and wrote, if this Author's Evasives may pass such as—it seems, many believed?
Hence eˈvasively adv., in an evasive manner, by an evasion. eˈvasiveness, the quality of being evasive.
1736Bailey (folio), Evasively, craftily, deceitfully. a1804J. Bryant (T), I answered evasively, or at least indeterminately. 1848Macaulay Hist. Eng. II. 502 Searching questions were put, and were evasively answered. 1883Rules of Supreme Crt. Order xix. i. 19 When a party..denies an allegation of fact..he must not do so evasively. 1730–6Bailey (folio), Evasiveness, evading quality. 1863Geo. Eliot Romola iii. xxvii, That self-justifying evasiveness into which he was often hurried in public. 1877Morley Crit. Misc. Ser. ii. 288 Most recent controversies are marked by obliqueness, evasiveness, a shiftiness of issue. |