Brummellianadj.
/brʌˈmɛlɪən/, U.S. /brəˈmɛljən/, /brəˈmɛliən/ Of, relating to, or characteristic of Beau Brummell, English dandy and arbiter of British fashion for the first decade and a half of the 19th cent.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > attention and judgement > fashionableness > [adjective] > dandyish
quaintc1330
skipjack1598
satin1603
coxcombly1610
prigginga1627
coxcombical1649
skipjackly1674
jessamy1696
beauish1699
foppish1699
priggish1701
Jemmy Jessamine1786
macaronian1792
buckish1806
dandy1813
dandified1826
dandyish1826
Brummellian1829
dandyic1832
dandiacal1834
squirtish1843
macaronyish1858
fine-gentlemanish1865
foppy1878
dude1879
dudish1883
fancy1891
1829 Edinb. Lit. Jrnl. 22 Aug. 162/2 The very small number of persons who are able to tie their Cravats in any thing like a Brummellian or Petershamic style.
1832 T. Carlyle in Fraser's Mag. May 411/1 The Pharisaical Brummellian Politeness, which would suffer crucifixion rather than ask twice for soup.
1867 Boston Post 17 June 1/6 The universally clean shirt is bound to come soon after, though the fineness of its material may not always be up to the Brummellian standard.
1908 ‘L. Melville’ Beaux of Regency II. 70 The last three carried on the Brummellian traditions.
1966 Gentlemen's Q. Sept. 136/1 This Brummellian scorn is very much part of the makeup of the new young pop set.
2007 Times Lit. Suppl. 11 May 14/2 My father was not strictly in line with Brummellian orthodoxy with his ‘You should be with someone a full minute before you realize they are well dressed’.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, December 2016; most recently modified version published online December 2021).
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adj.1829