ladilike
Language: English
Part of speech: adj
Forms: form: more ladilike
form: most ladilike
Senses: examples: text: Mea amica eſt potens, procax, magnifica, ſumptuoſa, nobilis, My beſtbeloue oꝛ paramour is a woman of good habilitee, ⁊ ſhe is euer crauyng magnificent, oꝛ ladilike, a chargeable, oꝛ coſtly piece, and a gentill woman.
ref: 1560, Nicholas Vdall, “Ex Heautontimorumeno”, in Floures for Latine Speakyng Selected and Gathered oute of Terence, […], London: […] [Thomas Powell], in the house late Thomas Berthelettes, →OCLC, folio 125, verso:
text: Coniux imperioſa. Ouidius. A ladylike^([sic]) wife that will be obeyed. / Conſul imperioſus. Cic[ero]. / Dura domina, imperioſa. Cic. A rigorous and ladilike dame that will be obeyed.
ref: 1565 March 26 (Gregorian calendar), Thomas Cooper, Thesaurus Linguæ Romanæ & Britannicæ, […], London: la: […] [Q]uondam Bertheleti, […] per Henricum Wykes, →OCLC, signature Ooo, recto, column 1:
text: O Memory (quoth Inquiſition) this is not Diana: no Diana, no Gouzaga, no Emila, no Cariclia, no Pallas, no Iuno, no, not knowing Minerua, may compare with her, foꝛ the flouriſhing feature of her incompꝛehenſible complexion, foꝛ the comly compoſition of her Ladilike limmes, being the perfecteſt peece of wooꝛke that euer Nature created, that euer earth nouryſhed, oꝛ that euer death deſtroyed, […]
ref: 1578, Thomas Blener Hasset, “[The Lyfe of Queene Hellina.] The Induction.”, in The Seconde Part of the Mirrour for Magistrates, Conteining the Falles of the Infortunate Princes of This Lande. […], [London]: […] Richard Webster, →OCLC, folio 16, verso:
text: Lordlie, imperious, ſtately, that hath great rule, done ladilike, that will be obeyed ſtreightly, that commandeth by authoritie and maſterſhippe, rough, that may not be ſtriuen againſt.
ref: 1587, Thomas Thomasius, “Impĕrĭōsus”, in Dictionarium Linguæ Latinæ et Anglicanæ, […], 2nd edition (1589), Cambridge, Cambridgeshire: Ex officina Iohannis Legatt, celeberrimæ Academiæ Typographi. […], →OCLC, signature [Cc8], recto, column 2:
text: Looke to thy Exchequo[u]ʳ where Subiects be all cheaked by Osborne and Fanshaw, thy Tellers & Audito[u]ʳˢ. Also whose Dames are not contented w[i]ᵗʰ M[ast]ʳᵉˢ but Ladilike do goe, wee dare not speake their treaso[u]ʳ is so greate, but weale & lament, and vnder the burthen of Milles & Roper Offices do daylie groane.
ref: 1603 May 7, The Poor Man’s Petition (British Library, Additional MS 22601, ff. 10v-11v), via Manuscript Pamphleteering in Early Stuart England, [folio 11, verso], paragraph 13:
text: But in reſpect of the marvellous efficacie, which fine v and pure hony hath in preſerving health, v. that groſſe and earthie ſtuffe is no white comparable to this celeſtial nectar. Although ſome queint & ladilike palats (whom nothing but that which is far ſaught and deere bought can pleaſe) vnhappily neglect it.
ref: 1609, Char[les] Butler, “Of the Fruit and Profit of Bees”, in The Feminine Monarchie. Or A Treatise Concerning Bees, and the Due Ordering of Them: […], Oxford, Oxfordshire: […] Ioseph Barnes, →OCLC, signature M3, verso:
text: Al[icia]. I have diſpos’d of the money, the odd hundred pound for apparrell, friend, and other accommodations for my ſelfe. / Sal[eware]. Never the ſooner for a haſty word I hope friend. / Al. I have done it friend, whereby to appeare more Courtly, and Ladilike as you loay, to gaine you more cuſtome to your Shop.
ref: 1630s (date written), Richard Brome, “A Mad Couple Well Match’d”, in A[lexander] Brome, editor, Five New Playes, […], London: […] Humphrey Moseley, Richard Marriot, and Thomas Dring, […], published 1653, →OCLC, Act II, scene i, signature [C7], verso:
text: Of course it is eminently proper that the artists’ ball of San Francisco should be a ladilike affair, but I think that no serious harm would be done if the carnival spirit were a little more in evidence.
ref: 1900 March 3, “Where Folly Did Not Reign”, in Theo[dore] F. Bonnet, editor, Town Talk: The Leading Weekly of San Francsico, volume 8, number 392, San Francisco, Calif.: Town Talk Publishing Co., →OCLC, page 10, column 2:
text: That ladilike gentleman, Mr. Richard Le Galliene,^([sic]) who writes so much like Ella Wheeler Wilcox, says “that Stevenson could tell certain stories and create certain characters is undeniable.” Isn’t that real sweet of Dickey Le Gallienne?
ref: 1901 March 9, Theo[dore] F. Bonnet, editor, Town Talk: The Leading Weekly, volume 9, number 445, San Francisco, Calif.: Town Talk Publishing Co., →OCLC, page 9, column 1:
text: A correspondent writes me from Broadway that Clyde Fitch’s “Her Great Match,” written for Maxine Elliott, and Augustus Thomas’s “De Lancey,” written for John Drew, are nice ladilike plays that afford a pleasing view of the smart set. Fitch has become more sloppy than ever. His play is a timid appeal to gushy sentiment. Both playwrights depend largely on dialogue, and have turned the stage into a rostrum.
ref: 1905 September 23, The Playgoer [pseudonym], “The Stage”, in Theodore F. Bonnet, editor, Town Talk, volume XIV, number 682, San Francisco, Calif.: Town Talk Publishing Co., →OCLC, page 28, columns 1–2:
text: Woodrow Wilson swears like a man to whom swearing is an affectation cultivated late in life. Even his “damn” has a somewhat ladilike swagger.
ref: 1913 February 22, “Perspective Impressions”, in Theodore F. Bonnet, editor, Town Talk: The Pacific Weekly, volume XXI, number 1070, San Francisco, Calif.: Pacific Publication Company, →OCLC, page 6, column 2:
text: A fine ladilike rebuke has been administered to George Creel for writing mean things about Governor [Hiram] Johnson. The artist by whom it was administered is none other than Chester Rowell of Fresno, journalistic bird-dog of the Administration. Mr. Rowell has given Mr. Creel as fine a slap on the wrist as one Progressive ever received from another. He says that what Mr. Creel wrote about Governor Johnson is awfully mean, and also untrue. To prove that it is untrue Mr. Rowell takes the witness stand, and gives testimony in rebuttal.
ref: 1914 October 10, “A Rebuke from Fresno”, in Theodore F. Bonnet, editor, Town Talk: The Pacific Weekly, volume XXIV, number 1155, San Francisco, Calif.: Pacific Publication Company, →OCLC, page 3, column 2:
text: After a protracted and thorough soaking in soft-soap sentimentality preached by ladilike philosophers who had been reading [Maurice] Maeterlinck and misunderstanding him, we were in a receptive mood for the transcendentalism of a schoolmaster from Bryn Mawr by way of Princeton.
ref: 1916 August 12, “From Strenuosity to Sentimentality”, in Theodore F. Bonnet, editor, Town Talk: The Pacific Weekly, volume XXVIII, number 1251, San Francisco, Calif.: Pacific Publication Company, →OCLC, page 5, column 1:
text: Women are claiming that they can do most everything. Right. Quite right. I notice, however, that the Ladies’ Home Journal, acknowledged to be the greatest publication of the kind in the entire world, has been brought to its present stage of greatness and worth entirely through the editorial influence and business ability of Mister (get that? M-i-s-t-e-r?) Eddie Bok, a most ladilike individual. Steady now, steady; don’t throw nothin’ inside the house!
ref: 1919 October 19, Thorn, “Some Last Night Thoughts”, in The Palm Beach Post, volume XI, West Palm Beach, Fla., →OCLC, page 8, column 3:
text: THIS BURGLAR WAS LADILIKE / Nettie Gawler, who had the unenviable reputation of being the only woman burgler^([sic]) in Kansas City, made burglaring quite a profitable business—until she was caught.
ref: 1925 July 3, St. Croix Avis, 81st year, number 150, Christiansted, V.I., →ISSN, →OCLC, page [3], column 3:
text: I will admit freely that the spectacle of Pipi was perfectly ripping, not only facial liniments, bust, torso, arrangements of hairs (technically called “Coiffeur”) graceful deportment and ladilike mannerisms, say nothing of sumptuous togs and accessories.
ref: 1934, Babu Piche Lal [pseudonym; Charles Geoffrey Lloyd], “Our Aquatic Gala”, in Higgledey-Piggledey, Bombay: The Times of India Press, →OCLC, page 178:
text: If it seems that I have trouble separating fact from fantasy (which is often true) that is not full explanation of my befuddlement. In art it is because with all those words, even those the epitome of ladilike expression (few as they are!), I have no idea what has been laid on you other than a hunk of the national debt for bail.
ref: 1974 February 15, Harold Weisberg, letter:
text: Now, Patricia -- do you think it's nice or ladilike for you and Desiree to both gang up on this guy in a battle of wits for which he is clearly only half-armed?
ref: 1993 February 12, Charles R. Martin, “Female Wanted.”, in soc.singles (Usenet), archived from the original on 03 Jun 2025:
text: Girls, unfortunately, are more often misdiagnosed as "borderline personality disorder" when they're hyperactive...and then given anti-psychotics instead of psychostimulants, which make them more "demure" and "ladilike" (how about "vacuous" and "vacant"???).
ref: 1996 September 8, Cheryl Mathison, “ADVICE, please.”, in alt.support.attn-deficit (Usenet), archived from the original on 03 Jun 2025:
text: i^([sic]) feel very sory^([sic]) for the young woman but she had no business to be argueing^([sic]) loudly in a public plase,^([sic]) like a Pharmecy.^([sic]) This is not a ladilike thing for a Godly Women^([sic]) to do.
ref: 2000 January 9, Ivy Black, “Tampons - CJ Watson's Little Cotton Fingers!”, in alt.politics.homosexuality (Usenet), archived from the original on 03 Jun 2025:
text: Psylocke was introduced as a very feminine and ladilike character, so that's where I think the locke(as in Goldilocke^([sic])) came in.
ref: 2000 November 3, ivan200...@yahoo.com, “Psylocke's Codename”, in rec.arts.comics.marvel.xbooks (Usenet), archived from the original on 03 Jun 2025:
glosses: Rare spelling of ladylike.
Derived terms: unladilike