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Rowleian

From Wiktionary, the free dictionary

English

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Alternative forms

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Etymology

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From Rowley +‎ -ian.

Adjective

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Rowleian (comparative more Rowleian, superlative most Rowleian)

  1. (literature) Of or pertaining to the literary style and characters of plays by William Rowley (ca1585-1626), English playright.
    • 1988, Ann Thompson, The Modern Language Review[1], volume 83, number 4, page 945n:
      The style of which is neither Rowleian nor Shakespearean but a particular blending of both.
    • 1991, Mark Dominik, “William Rowley”, in William Shakespeare and the Birth of Merlin[2], page 33:
      Tim [Bloodhound] shows many signs of being a typical Rowleian clown; he is a fat clown, judging from his joke about breaking his girdle.
  2. (literature) Of or pertaining to the work of (fictional) poet Thomas Rowley, a pseudonym of Thomas Chatterton (1752-1770), English poet.
    • 1782, Horace Walpole, The Letters of Horace Walpole: Earl of Orford[3], page 319:
      Mr. Tyrwhitt's book on the Rowleian controversy, which is reckoned completely victorious, are all the novelties I have seen since I left town.
    • 1898, Henry A. Beers, A History of English Romanticism in the Eighteenth Century[4]:
      Chatterton... also imparted to Barrett two Rowleian poems, "The Parliament of Sprites," and "The Battle of Hastings" (in two quite different versions).
    • 1898, Henry A. Beers, A History of English Romanticism in the Eighteenth Century[5]:
      Tyrwhitt pointed out that the Rowleian dialect was not English of the fifteenth century, nor of any century, but a grotesque jumble of archaic words of very different periods and dialects.