Victorian

adj
/vɪkˈtɔː.ɹɪ.ən/UK/vɪkˈtɔ.ɹi.ən/US

Etymology

From Victoria (“capital of British Columbia, Canada”) + -an (suffix forming adjectives and agent nouns); incorporated as a city in 1862, the settlement which preceded the city was named Fort Victoria after Queen Victoria in 1843.

  1. derived from Victōriānus
  2. derived from Victoriano

Definitions

  1. Of or relating to the reign of Queen Victoria from 1837 to 1901, or that period.

    • 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.
    • 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.
  2. Of or relating to the culture or social conditions of that period.

    • 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.
    • I'm not proposing a return to Victorian working conditions, or anything like that, but there are two areas where things need changing.
    • 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.
  3. Of or displaying the (supposed) ideals or standards of morality of that period

    Of or displaying the (supposed) ideals or standards of morality of that period; conservative; also, old-fashioned, out-of-date.

    • “I’m asking you your intentions, damn it!” said Wimsey, “and if that’s not Victorian enough, I don’t know what is.”
    • 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, […]
    • 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.
  4. + 9 more definitions
    1. A person born in or living in the Victorian period, or exhibiting characteristics of that…

      A person born in or living in the Victorian period, or exhibiting characteristics of that period.

      • What a perfect Victorian you are, Charles. I should like to keep you in a glass case.
      • The arrival of the railway turned this isolated fishing village into a popular seaside destination for Victorians who came to breathe fresh sea air, clear their lungs or take the waters.
    2. An item of furniture from that period.

    3. A house built in the Victorian architectural style.

    4. Of, from or relating to the state of Victoria, Australia.

      • Up to 26 properties are believed lost in Victorian bushfires.
    5. A native or inhabitant of the state of Victoria, Australia.

    6. Of, from or relating to the city of Victoria, capital of British Columbia, Canada.

    7. A native or inhabitant of the city of Victoria, capital of British Columbia, Canada.

    8. A surname.

      • Jazmine Fenlator-Victorian competed for Team USA in 2014 before changing her affiliation before these Games.
      • Michelle Victorian, a property manager at Chesapeake Apartments, said the landlord relies on tenants to report problems and that repairs are made promptly.
    9. A male given name from Latin, of rare usage.

      • MEYER-KURTZ.—On Nov. 1, at the home of Mrs. G. A. Kurtz, Wauwatosa, Wis., Mr. Victorian Melville Meyer, son of Mr. and Mrs. A. B. Meyer of 11 West 81st St., to Miss Mary Louise Kurtz of Wauwatosa, Wis.
      • Japheth’s wife was sitting in his favorite chair by the gently crackling fireplace, their son Victorian asleep in her arms as his brother dozed in a tight ball on the nearby divan.

The neighborhood

Vish — recursive loop

No curated loop yet for Victorian. Loops are being traced one word at a time while the ingestion pipeline matures.

sense glosses and etymology drawn from English Wiktionary · source · CC-BY-SA