un-auntly

English

Alternative forms

• unauntly

Etymology

From un- +‎ auntly.

Adjective

un-auntly (comparative more un-auntly, superlative most un-auntly)

1. Not auntly.
   • 1900, Muriel Lester, “Odd Jobs”, in It Occurred to Me, London: Student Christian Movement Press, page 180:

     I vowed I’d take no responsibility for either of them, and as they didn’t seem to mind such un-auntly callousness, we got on well together and laughed our way across the Atlantic.

   • 1911, Grace Livingston Hill, Aunt Crete’s Emancipation, Thorndike, Maine: Center Point Large Print, published 2012, →ISBN, page 73:

     Her petulant sister and the logy Luella never dreamed that Aunt Crete desired such un-auntly indulgences.

   • 1921 November 22, “Today in the Municipal Court: Girl Can’t Pay Her Bills; Clothes Held”, in Little Rock Daily News, volume V, number 66, Little Rock, Ark., page six:

     Pronouncing Mrs. L. B. Parker’s conduct as “un-auntly,” Municipal Judge Hale this morning held her to the Grand Jury on $500 bond on a charge of embezzlement, preferred by her niece, Miss May Lindsley, a clerk in the Kress Department store, to whom Mrs. Parker refused to return clothing belonging to the young woman, on the contention that she had not paid her board bill. […] His Honor and counsel for the defense of the “un-auntly” engaged in an argument over the proper disposal of the case and the rendition of the verdict, Judge Hale holding that the proper thing to do was to return the clothing and forget the whole affair.

   • 1952, Emil L. Telfel, A Day on the Copydesk: A Manual of Copyreading Exercises, New York, N.Y.: Rinehart & Company, page 161:

     Humor is intended in the scenes where men make love to "her", and where "she" conducts herself in such an un-auntly way as to embarrass any respectable young man.

   • 1961, Charity Blackstock [pseudonym; Ursula Torday], A House Possessed, Larchmont, N.Y.: Queens House, published 1983, →ISBN, page 106:

     Barbara thought, Oh Dick, Dick—then burst into helpless, uncontrollable laughter, laughed as she had not laughed for an eternity of time, laughed uproariously with an entirely unladylike and un-auntly abandon, laughed so that she had to hold on to the sides of her chair.

   • 2001, William Lawson, The Praetorean Condition (Traits of the Species; volume one), Writer’s Showcase, →ISBN, page 169:

     Her muskily-scented, un-auntly kiss-kiss was lingering and pressingly close, edging off his cheeks and onto the corners of his lips.

   • 2004, Roxanne St. Claire, Like a Hurricane, Silhouette Books, →ISBN, page 73:

     Something happened to Quinn’s heart when he imagined Nicole, orphaned and sent off to live with a relative who had the un-auntly name of Freddie.