Adonise

See also: adonise and adonisé

English

Verb

Adonise (third-person singular simple present Adonises, present participle Adonising, simple past and past participle Adonised)

1. Alternative form of adonise
   • 1828, Charles Waterton, B. Fellows, Wanderings in South America, the North-West of the United States, and the Antilles, in the years 1812, 1816, 1820 & 1824:

     both male and female Adonise their tails in this manner, which gives them a remarkable appearance amongst all other birds.

   • 1845, The Asiatic journal and monthly miscellany - Volume 4, page 422:

     He next tootled for half an hour upon a one-keyed flute, and then proceeded to Adonise. Notwithstanding all that some writers have said about a physical aristocracy, — an air of refinement,— which is perceptible under the veriest rags, I am entirely of the opinion, with Bob Acres in the Rivals, that dress "does make a difference."

   • 75, George R. Graham, Edgar Allan Poe, Graham's Magazine - Volumes 28-29, page 1846:

     And more — in the course of your acquaintauce with the Tantrums, you must have noticed, of a cold evening, when Tantrum desired to " Adonise," that he might be intensely agreeable to all beholders, and " lovelily dreadful" to the ladies, that "that razor" would cut his chin in defiance of all he could do to the contrary;

   • 1848, John William Carleton, The Sporting review, page 1:

     You swear — you reprobate, so you do — when your bootmaker seeks to Adonise your instep, or the pine you patronized over night quarrels with your coffee in the morning.

Anagrams

• Oneidas, anodise, iodanes