Donnish

He sat in a vast arm-chair, crossed his knees, joined his hands, and with what Troy called his donnish manner, prepared to tackle Cedric. ❋ Marsh, Ngaio, 1895-1982 (1935)

It was only to those who had but few personal dealings with him that he seemed stiff and "donnish"; to his more intimate acquaintances, who really understood him, each little eccentricity of manner or of habits was a delightful addition to his charming and interesting personality. ❋ Stuart Dodgson Collingwood (1903)

I have before me a letter to one of the evening papers, written in a tone of academic sarcasm which proves that even the supercilious and "donnish" element is not lacking in Chicago culture. ❋ William Archer (1890)

[222] He was never a professor, but was an inspector; and, though I may be biassed, I think the inspector is usually the more "donnish" animal of the two. ❋ George Saintsbury (1889)

Unawareness of this is common among our donnish types, however — even ones so appealing asSomin. ❋ Unknown (2010)

And to do this, one has to speak to its winemaker: the thoughtful, donnish 71-year-old Aubert de Villaine, who, along with his co-director Henry-Fr é d é ric Roch, has, for more than a quarter of a century, has been at the forefront of not only restoring the reputation of the wines of Domaine de la Roman é e-Conti but also of the wines of Burgundy itself. ❋ Will Lyons (2010)

Ian Richards and Charles Ogden were not indulging in some donnish jeu d'esprit when they wrote their book The Meaning of Meaning, published in 1923 and never out of print since. ❋ Unknown (2011)

Gilbert Ryle, with donnish absurdity, called God “a category mistake”. ❋ Unknown (2009)

It was late in the afternoon of March 21, 1943, a Sunday, and Noël Joseph Terence Montgomery Needham, a daring young scientist who was known both in his homelandEnglandand in America as combining a donnish brilliance and great accomplishments as a biologist with a studied eccentricity, had arrived in this most perilous of outposts on a vital wartime mission. ❋ Unknown (2008)

Regarded by some as Britain's foremost critics, Kermode was instrumental in the creation of the London Review of Books, and his accessibility made him a kind of bridge between the donnish world of academic literature and novels as they were read by everyday people. ❋ Unknown (2010)

At a little after the last minute, he havered and made himself look foolish, even donnish, itself a defeat for someone who had always soared above such stereotypes. ❋ Stefan Collini (2010)

But Kundera has never forgotten the lessons of his beloved Cervantes; Raine, on the other hand, taking literature as a running commentary on life, makes for a very donnish Quixote. ❋ Unknown (2010)

The scholarship is impeccable, but there is a donnish drollery in many of the articles. ❋ Eric Ormsby (2010)

For someone who professes to understand the fine machinations of characterization, Wood seems oblivious to the eminently resistible prose style of his donnish, finicky persona. ❋ Unknown (2008)

He could have been a doubting donnish rabbi, full of ecumenical diplomacy, instead of a fatally bold troublemaker. ❋ Unknown (2009)

Contemporaries rightly saw him as a donnish prelate-in-waiting. ❋ Unknown (2009)

"That is [donnish]!!" "You are f@*^!g donnish [mate]!!" "[I love you], you're donnish!!' ❋ Corpse (2004)