† pupilloniann.
Origin: Perhaps a borrowing from Latin. Or perhaps formed within English, by compounding. Etymons: pupil n.1; Latin pūpillus , bezonian n., Paphlagonian adj.
Etymology: Perhaps < pupil n.1 or its etymon classical Latin pūpillus + -onian (in e.g. bezonian n., Paphlagonian adj., both first attested in Nashe). N.E.D. (1909) defines the word as ‘one who cries like a peacock’ and derives it from an unattested post-classical Latin form *pupillon- , *pupillo , following Grosart in the glossarial index to his edition of Nashe ( T. Nashe Works (1885) VI. 232/2); compare pupillate v.
Obsolete.
rare.
1600 T. Nashe sig. D 2 This Pupillonian in the fooles coate shall haue a cast of martins, & a whiffe.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, September 2007; most recently modified version published online June 2020).