owlism

English

Etymology

From owl +‎ -ism.

Noun

owlism (uncountable)

Affected or pretentious wisdom; pompous dullness; bombast.
- 1895, Thomas Carlyle, Past and Present, and: Heroes and Hero-worship, page 114:
  Their Owlisms, Vulturisms, to an incredible extent, will disappear by and by, their Heroisms only remaining, and the helmet be reduced to something like the size of the head, we hope!
- 1915, Benedict Elder, A Study in Socialism, page 274:
  But when questioned as to the How? of this splendid proposal, they either belittle the questioner or resort to some vague owlism about the "womb of time."
- 2013, Jules Paul Siegel, Thomas Carlyle: The Critical Heritage, page 325:
  It is rather hard to be told at this time of day that ballot-boxes and extension of the suffrage are included in Mr. Carlyle's catalogue of Shams, and that Messrs. Thompson, Fox, and Co. must even submit to the charge of talking unveractities and owlism.
Owlishness; pompous pseudo-intellectual nature or behavior.
- 1870, Kansas State Agricultural College, Kansas State College of Agriculture and Applied Science, Catalogue, page 15:
  If the happiness of men depended as much upon the efficiency of agencies for the "mental discipline" and "culture" of women as it does upon their housewifely ability, the owlism would have been punched out of a score of very respectable studies long ago.
- 1966, Mountain-plains Library Quarterly - Volumes 11-12, page 6:
  Rather than be found guilty of Owlism, let me venture on a bit and expand on my broad thesis of information management .
- 1967, Frederick T. McGill, Jr, Channing of Concord, page 23:
  Verily, Paul, thy prime minister deserved the patent for owlism, but thou were alone, gigantic, a Cleopatran owl-obelisk, needing no support, no philosophy, no schooling at primary institutes, or primeval colleges, -hooting was thy self.
The identification with and/or worship of owls.
- 2006, Михаил Епштейн, Великая совь, page 267:
  The book discusses the habits and rituals of these people-owls and explores the nature of <<owlism>>, which exposes the archaic and occult roots of the 20th century totalitarian systems .
- 2021, Mikhail Epstein, Ideas Against Ideocracy:
  The book describes a Northern people who believe the Great Owl to be their totemic ancestor, and explores the customs and rituals of these nocturnal owl-people, and the very nature of "owlism,” an archaic and occult source of twentieth-century ideocratic systems.
Night-owlism.
- 1994, Shape - Volume 13, Issues 9-12, page 109:
  Her owlism and his larkism are mild forms of circadian-rhythm glitches known as delayed- and advanced- sleep phase syndromes.