Victorian
Language: English
Part of speech: adj
Pronunciation: ipa: /vɪkˈtɔː.ɹɪ.ən/
ipa: /vɪkˈtɔ.ɹi.ən/
Forms: form: more Victorian
form: most Victorian
Etymology: From Victoria + -an (suffix forming adjectives and agent nouns), from the name of Queen Victoria (1819–1901), monarch of the United Kingdom.
Senses: examples: text: From the platforms at Wapping or Rotherhithe you can see the tunnel fleetingly illuminated as the trains approach; it looks so incredibly Victorian that you expect to see Jack the Ripper loitering between the arches.
ref: 2012, Andrew Martin, “Deeper”, in Underground Overground: A Passenger’s History of the Tube, London: Profile Books, →ISBN, page 93:
text: One of the hidden glories of Victorian engineering is proper drains. Isolating a city's effluent and shipping it away in underground sewers has probably saved more lives than any medical procedure except vaccination.
ref: 2014 June 14, “It’s a gas: It is possible to sniff out problems in sewer pipes before they happen”, in The Economist, volume 411, number 8891, London: Economist Group, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 28 Oct 2021:
glosses: Of or relating to the reign of Queen Victoria from 1837 to 1901, or that period.
examples: text: In some cases, teachers reported being aware of pupils living in "Victorian conditions", of youngsters coming to school with no socks or coat and of more families depending on food banks.
ref: 2015 April 5, Press Association, “Children living in Victorian conditions, say teachers”, in The Guardian, London: Guardian News & Media, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 26 May 2021:
text: I'm not proposing a return to Victorian working conditions, or anything like that, but there are two areas where things need changing.
ref: 2022 January 12, Michael Holden, “Reform of the workforce or death by a thousand cuts?”, in Rail, number 948, Peterborough, Cambridgeshire: Bauer Media, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 25:
text: While masturbation was never favored in Judeo-Christian tradition, Victorian morality, along with the Great Awakening and other religious revivals in America, created a perfect storm for people to really get obsessed with it.
ref: 2023 January 18, Matt Soniak, “When Corn Flakes Were Part of an Anti-Masturbation Crusade”, in Mental Floss:
glosses: Of or relating to the culture or social conditions of that period.
In a situation of poverty and social injustice; Dickensian.
examples: text: Unhappily, however, all that remains of Cherhill's claim to an old manor house is a rather cold ungabled building, blue-slated in hard ruled lines, and a porch which might have been transplanted from a late Victorian house.
ref: 1941, J[ames] H[erbert] Blackford, The Manor and Village of Cherhill, a Wiltshire Village from Early Times to the Present Day, Frome, Somerset; London: […] Butler & Tanner, →OCLC, page 188:
topics: architecture
glosses: Of or relating to the culture or social conditions of that period.
Of the style of architecture or furnishings of that period.
examples: text: “I’m asking you your intentions, damn it!” said Wimsey, “and if that’s not Victorian enough, I don’t know what is.”
ref: 1930, Dorothy L. Sayers, Strong Poison:
text: The Labor Church did not last; but the reaction did; and the last I heard of its founder was that he was helping the movement against Victorian prudery in a very practical way as a Nudist photographer, […]
ref: 1948, [George] Bernard Shaw, “Farfetched Fables. Preface.”, in Buoyant Billions; Farfetched Fables; Shakes versus Shav, London: Constable, published 1950, →OCLC, page 72:
text: Even the legalization and vastly increased approval of same-sex marriage has a Victorian aspect. The early same-sex marriage advocates Andrew Sullivan and Jonathan Rauch argued that marriage would domesticate homosexuals.
ref: 2015 July 28, Michael Barone, “Is America Entering a New Victorian Era?”, in National Review, New York, N.Y.: National Review, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 27 Oct 2020:
glosses: Of or displaying the (supposed) ideals or standards of morality of that period; conservative; also, old-fashioned, out-of-date.
Derived terms: word: neo-Victorian
word: retro-Victorian
word: unVictorian
word: Victoriana
word: Victorianised
word: Victorianized
word: Victorianise
word: Victorianize
word: Victorianism
word: Victorianist
word: Victorianly
word: Victorianness
word: Victorian Turkish bath