allusiveadj.

1593 T. Nashe Christs Teares f. 90 Who is there entertayning these diuine allusiue cogitations, that hath not God vnremoueable in his memory.

1605 F. Bacon Of Aduancem. Learning ii. sig. Ee2^v The diuision of Poesie..is into poesie narrative; representative, and allusive . View more context for this quotation

1635 R. Brathwait tr. M. Silesio Arcadian Princesse ii. 149 The allusive meaning of these emblemes.

1672 T. Jacombe Several Serm. Rom. viii. 331 No better than an..allusive, Metaphorical Son of God.

1737 J. Foster Serm. Following Subj. (new ed.) xiv. 317 Though there is a great force and elegance in these descriptions, they are plainly figurative; and this phrase, the kingdom of God, can have here an allusive meaning only.

1793 J. Boswell Principal Corrections Life Johnson 25/1 [Quoting Johnson, an. 1780] Johnson..professed that he could bring him out into conversation, and used this allusive expression, ‘Sir, I can make him rear.’

1850 J. Leitch tr. K. O. Müller Ancient Art (new ed.) §128. 102 It represents [it]..in the allusive manner of antiquity.

1607 E. Topsell Hist. Foure-footed Beastes 437 According to the allusiue saying of Mantuan.

1634 T. Jackson Knowledg of Christ Jesus 126 No concludent proofe but allusive only.

1662 J. Evelyn Sculptura i. 5 More allusive yet to our plate.

1765 C. Smart tr. Psalms David cxlii. 145 I..compos'd my words allusive To the troubles which I felt.

1774 T. Pennant Tour Scotl. 1772 209 Not a passenger went by without adding a stone to the heap..To this moment there is a proverbial expression among the highlanders allusive to the old practice.

1812 Ld. Byron Let. 30 Sept. (1973) II. 219 There is a new couplet for Sheridan allusive to his monody.

1864 Spectator No. 1875. 6 Modern ephemeral writing, being essentially allusive from the necessity of condensation, is crowded with allusions to historical facts.

1875 C. D. E. Fortnum Maiolica xv. 172 The inscription..allusive, in all probability, to the reconciliation of the rival houses.

1945 C. S. Lewis That Hideous Strength xiv. 384 The man was so very allusive and used gesture so extensively that Mark's less sophisticated modes of communication were almost useless.

1981 J. Hollander Figure of Echo iv. 103 The vast allusive apparatus of The Waste Land..contains..entire figures broken off, or away from, their bases and backgrounds.

2010 N.Y. Rev. Bks. 11 Nov. 20/2 Seamus Heaney was born in 1939 on a small farm, Mossbawn—a wonderfully Heaneyesque name, soft and allusive.

1655 T. Fuller Hist. Univ. Cambr. vii. 122 in Church-hist. Brit. Doctour Thomas Nevyle..practising his own allusive Motto Ne vile velis.

1772 Gentleman's & London Mag. July 548/1 The noble families of Hay are descended from this rustic hero, and..bear for their arms the instrument of their victory, with the allusive motto of Sub jugo.

1820 Pamphleteer 17 208 Tacquet..prided himself..on demonstrating that the same proportion extends also to the cone, by inscribing the three as a monument, in the manner of Archimedes, in the title page of his work, with the allusive motto ‘Una tribus ratio est’.

1866 C. W. King Handbk. Engraved Gems 368 The Genius of Death..significantly resting his left hand on the open mouth of a huge sepulchral urn, orca, allusive to the word orcus.

1724 Guillim's Display of Heraldry (ed. 6) Introd. 9 In allusive Arms we must not expect all imaginable Exactness.

1741 A. Collins Eng. Baronetage III. 167 A lordship heretofore appertaining to the Umfraviles, barons of Prudhou, of whom they held it, and bore allusive arms, as now used.

a1823 A. Radcliffe St. Alban's Abbey vii, in Posthumous Wks. (1826) III. 284 Above, the trefoil-traced pane Displayed, in bright and varied stain, Th' allusive arms, or cognizance, Of Abbots, long departed thence.

1870 F. B. Palliser Hist. Devices 300 From the time of King Edward III. they have borne a fret argent, called the ‘Harrington knot’—allusive arms, intended to represent a fishing-net.

1953 W. H. St. John Hope Gram. Eng. Heraldry (ed. 2) vi. 59 At least fifty of the shields..belong to the punning class called canting or allusive arms. The majority are evident enough, such as..the falcons of John le Fauconer.

2003 G. J. Brault in B. K. Altmann & C. W. Carroll Court Reconvenes 19 There are some instances of canting, symbolic, and allusive arms, but, more often than not, coats are attributed..haphazardly.