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apropos, adv., a., n.
(æprəˈpəʊ, ‖ aprɔpo)
Also ‖ à propos.
[F. à propos (used in Fr. as adv., adj., and n.), f. à to + propos purpose, plan, f. L. prōpositum, pa. pple. of prōpōnĕre to set forth, propose.]
Const. to, of.
A. adv.
1. To the propose; fitly, opportunely.
1668Dryden Ess. Dram. Poesy, The French..use them with better judgment, and more àpropos. 1708Addison in Dk. Manch. Crt. Eliz. to Anne II. 315 Stanhope and Earl arrived very àpropos. 1714Mandeville Fab. Bees (1733) II. 187 Men of prodigious reading..who judge ill, and seldom say any thing à propos.
2. With regard to, in respect of, as suggested by. (Fr. à propos de.) absol. (as introductory to an incidental observation or question): By the way.
1761Smollett Gil Blas ix. i. (1802) III. 44 But a-propos! Hast thou seen the girl? 1840Hood Up Rhine 166 Apropos to which last, you will find enclosed, etc. 1883Black Shand. Bells xxxiii, Suddenly, and à propos of nothing, asking him how it was possible for a man to have three godmothers.
B. adj. To the point or purpose; having direct reference to the matter in hand; pertinent, opportune, ‘happy.’
1691T. H[ale] New Invent. 44 It is certainly..a propos what he had said before in that Page. 1730Southall Bugs 20 The thought was à propos. c1735Pope Hor. Epist. ii. ii. 154 A tale extremely apropos. 1826Disraeli Viv. Grey iii. vii. 117 Is there not a passage in Spix apropos to this?
C. n. An opportune or pertinent occurence (obs.); pertinency.
1783Europ. Mag. III. 246 A greater apropos than this happened from mere accident. 1860Edinb. Rev. No. 225. 96 Few men..have described what they have seen with more apropos.
D. Phr. à propos de bottes [Fr., lit. = ‘with regard to boots’], without serious motive, without rhyme or reason.
1757Chesterfield Let. 23 Sept. (1774) II. 378 A propos de bottes, for I am told he always wears his; was his Royal Highness very gracious to you, or not? 1845Q. Rev. LXXVI. 533 The first introduces that prince—very much àpropos de bottes—for the purpose of denying that he had any party. 1925A. Huxley Those Barren Leaves i. i. 9 She would remember an ancient floater—just like that, à propos de bottes. 1934‘G. Orwell’ Burm. Days (1935) xviii. 225 This was àpropos de bottes, but the subject needed no introduction. |