unladylikely
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English[edit]
Alternative forms[edit]
Etymology[edit]
From unladylike + -ly.
Adverb[edit]
unladylikely (comparative more unladylikely, superlative most unladylikely)
- In an unladylike manner.
- 1917 August 17, “Mother Has New Idea: And Then Another Which Involve Family Eating; But It All Comes Out Right After a Troublesome Time of Tribulation”, in The Salina Daily Union, volume XX, number 58, Salina, Kan., page five:
- Mother looked as if she onged to be a man for just one minute while she expressed herself strongly and unladylikely.
- 1919 September 2, Lebanon Daily News, 46th year, number 355, Lebanon, Pa., page five:
- In the first place the headgear did not fuly[sic] conceal the stubbly chins of the women, and they had a general tread that was not stately enough to bespeak them as “nice girls,” so there was no acceptance of the challenge, but my, O me, they did have a lot of fun out of it before it was over, for a nine of men was made up, and they went after the skirts quite unladylikely.
- 1925 June 28, Antoinette Donnelly, “Spending Hundreds for Hosiery: Grandma Owned One Best Pair of Stockings; the Modern Woman Buys Them by the Dozen”, in Sunday News, volume 5, number 10, page 15:
- “Omigosh,” I gasped, unladylikely.
- 1926 April 1, The Youth’s Companion, volume 100, number 13, page 259:
- Why, when I got your letter, I just danced, very unladylikely, all over the room!
- 1928 April 26, “To-Day’s Youngest Tragedy”, in The Watchtower[1], volume V, number 26, Wesleyan College, Macon, Ga.:
- “I can’t be a sponsor anymore.” she wept unladylikely.
- 1931, Bulletin, American Women’s Club of Paris, page 605:
- The only time that she forgets she went to the Spence school is when Mr. Gilhooley affectionately chokes her (and a good thing too) and then she dies so gorgeously and so unladylikely that the audience cheers right up and thinks maybe she got what she wanted.
- 1940, Los Angeles School Journal, page 25:
- The two of them began to laugh; they did this uproariously, unladylikely;
- 1942 February 12, “Shopping With Anne: Do Justice to Those St. Valentine’s-Flowers-for-Your-Hair by Having Your Curls Arranged at Edmonton’s Smart New Beauty Salon”, in Edmonton Journal, Edmonton, Alta., page thirteen:
- AND what is Saturday? Why, Valentine’s Day, of course. The day when you wear your heart on your sleeve boldly and unladylikely (almost, that is).
- 1947 March, Miss America, volume 5, number 5, Chicago, Ill.: Miss America Publishing Corporation, page 31:
- Vickie's version of what happened when a certain vampire tried to openly, wantonly, unladylike-ly snare Rusty—Vickie's most exclusive property…
- 1950 September, Dorothy Mallory, “The Open Door”, in Catholic Digest, volume 14, number 11, page 95:
- We shouted very unladylikely from one end of the corridor to the other; went out with GI’s, unchaperoned; had an occasional dance in our dining room with completely strange men!
- 1952 June 12, Penny Wise, “Penny Learns Angle On New Cheesecake”, in The Vancouver Sun, volume LXVI, number 212, Vancouver, B.C., page 26:
- Up until the time I became the intrigued owner of this book I thought cheese-cake was what you got when a newspaper photographer persuaded a glamor puss to raise her skirts unladylikely high. Little did I know. Why, cheese-cake is won-der-ful! Particularly if it’s cottage cheese-cake, […].
- 1955, Walter de la Mare, “A Beginning”, in A Beginning and Other Stories, London: Faber and Faber, page 235:
- I found him peeping through the bars of the gate just as he used to peep—ten inches high. So what could I do but behave unladylike-ly, and ask him to come in.
- 1955 March 8, “Crossword Puzzle No. 1827 and Solution to 1826”, in The Sydney Morning Herald, number 36,570, Sydney, N.S.W., page 14:
- Middle Harbour feature shingles mine to make a French authoress behave unladylikely.
- 1976, Margaret Dunnett, “High Jinks”, in Ladies and Gentlemen, André Deutsch, →ISBN, page 135:
- ‘[…] Children who attend my school must behave like ladies; otherwise I cannot have them here.’ Kate spoke up, excitedly and clumsily, because she was frightened: ‘Sue didn’t behave unladylikely. She didn’t do anything and you didn’t ought to blame her. And Miss Baber’s people didn’t mind at all.’
- 2004, Ursula K. Le Guin, “Off the Page: Loud Cows: A Talk and a Poem about Reading Aloud”, in The Wave in the Mind: Talks and Essays on the Writer, the Reader, and the Imagination, Boston, Mass.: Shambhala, →ISBN, page 120:
- Well, when feminism got reborn, it urged literary women to raise their voices, to yell unladylikely, to shoot for parity.
- 2006 October 13, Kimberley McGee, “Hopefully she’s a good actress”, in Southern Utah’s Entertainment Guide, section “Diva Antics”, page 34:
- Barbra Streisand kicked off her first tour in 12 years with a bang. On the third night of her 20-city cross-country jaunt, the liberal crooner stopped the show to banter with a George Bush impersonator onstage. The skit garnered some kvetching from the crowd. Mrs. S. stopped the show when one heckler wouldn’t play along with the meant-for-entertainment action onstage. Turning to the unknown loudmouth, Streisand unceremoniously, and certainly unladylike-ly, said “Shut the (expletive) up! Shut up if you can’t take a joke!” The celebrity-dotted audience delighted in her unladylike action and the show moved on without a hitch.
- 2012, William Codpiece Thwackery [psueudonym], Fifty Shades of Mr Darcy: A Parody, Michael O’Mara Books Limited, →ISBN, pages 47 and 159:
- ‘Bitch troll!’ snarled her Inner Slapper, most unladylikely. […] ‘Pompous twat,’ muttered Elizabeth, most unladylikely.
- 2013, Helen Fielding, Bridget Jones: Mad about The Boy, London: Jonathan Cape, →ISBN, page 206:
- I tried to turn myself round unladylikely, with my bum in the air, and Roxster started giggling as he hoisted me back up onto the bed, whispering, ‘Please don’t fart.’