Scribleriann.adj.
/skrɪˈblɪərɪən/, U.S. /skrɪˈblɪriən/ Now historical.
A. n.
A member of the Scriblerus Club; a writer influenced by the ideas of this group.The Scriblerus Club (active in 1714) was an informal group of authors whose aim was to satirize current trends in culture and scholarship. The principal members are usually recognized as Jonathan Swift, Alexander Pope, John Arbuthnot, John Gay, and Thomas Parnell. The Club created the persona of the scholar-critic Martinus Scriblerus as a focus for their satire, and the character was given a role in several of Pope's publications. The only completed volume of the Memoirs of Martinus Scriblerus (principally written by Arbuthnot) was published by Pope in 1741 as a part of his Works.
ΘΚΠ
society > leisure > the arts > literature > literary world > [noun] > club or society > member of
Scriblerian1731
1731 ‘A. Scriblerus’ Gorgoneicon 126 Let me tell you that the Scriblerians are gaining Ground on you apace.
1862 Notes & Queries 27 Sept. 254/1 It was published many years later than the other tracts in the volume, and just when the Scriblerians were at open war with Dr. Woodward.
1882 Q. Rev. Apr. 424 The project with which the Scriblerians sought to amuse themselves was the production of a comprehensive satire on the abuses of human learning.
1935 L. M. Beattie John Arbuthnot iv. 271 Swift's experience as a Scriblerian must have affected the turn given to numerous observations in Gulliver.
1986 J. Altieri Theatre of Praise 206 I shall remind the reader that the Scriblerians to a man detested opera.
2009 R. Robertson Censorship & Confl. 17th-cent. Eng. 27 Like his fellow Scriblerians,..Swift took aim at Grub Street and the cultural anarchy that obtained after the Licensing Act's demise.
B. adj.
Of or characteristic of the Scriblerians.
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1784 Morning Post 19 Oct. A short critique on the preceding ballad, in the Scriblerian style, will be forgiven.
1857 R. Carruthers Life A. Pope (ed. 2) vii. 273 The Scriblerian influence was predominant from the commencement.
1891 Trans. Leicester Literary & Philos. Soc. 2 338 He had in his pocket the manuscript of his own contribution to the Scriblerian satire, ‘The Travels of Lemuel Gulliver’.
1935 L. M. Beattie John Arbuthnot iv. 276 In its humor for humor's sake it is typically Scriblerian.
1977 P. Köster in R. A. Wisbey Computer in Literary & Ling. Res. iv. 133 Unfortunately.., there are no examples of Scriblerian collaboration in which the shares of Arbuthnot and Swift are already known.
2016 P. Uściński Parody, Scriblerian Wit & Rise of Novel (2017) ii. 58 Scriblerian parody (the major ingredient in Scriblerian satire) testifies to the correlation between criticism and creativity.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, June 2018; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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n.adj.1731