Don Quixoten.
/ˌdɒn ˈkwɪksət/, /ˌdɒn kɪˈ(h)əʊti/, U.S. /ˌdɑn kiˈhoʊdi/, /ˌdɑn ˈkwɪksət/ A person who attempts to do an absurdly impossible thing or to carry out an impossible ideal. Also attributive. See also quixotic adj. and n., etc.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > mental capacity > perception or cognition > faculty of imagination > faculty of conceiving ideals > tendency towards romance > romantic conduct > [noun] > quixotic sentiments > person inspired by
Quixote1644
Don Quixote1870
1734 H. Fielding Don Quixote in Eng. Introd. sig. A8 The Audience, I believe, are all acquainted with the Character of Don Quixote and Sancho. I have brought them over into England, and introduced them at an Inn in the Country.]
1870 D. G. Rossetti Let. 15 Mar. (1965) II. 817 He is a complete Don Quixote in every way.
1900 A. Conan Doyle Great Boer War x. 167 His long thin figure, his gaunt Don-Quixote face.
1902 Pall Mall Gaz. 4 Jan. 6/3 This Don Quixote of a society has made an assault upon the most solid of windmills.
Derivatives
Don 'Quixote v.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > mental capacity > perception or cognition > faculty of imagination > faculty of conceiving ideals > tendency towards romance > romantic conduct > render quixotic [verb (transitive)]
Don 'Quixote1674
quixotize1880
1674 Catholicon 18 The furious zeal of persons Don-Quixotted in Religion.
Don 'Quixotism n.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > mental capacity > perception or cognition > faculty of imagination > faculty of conceiving ideals > tendency towards romance > romantic conduct > [noun]
quixotism1620
windmill1645
errantry1654
knight-errantry1660
quixotry1703
Don 'Quixotism1719
romance1745
quixoticism1850
the mind > mental capacity > perception or cognition > faculty of imagination > faculty of conceiving ideals > tendency towards romance > romantic conduct > [noun] > quixotic sentiments
Don 'Quixotism1719
quixotic1896
1719 D. Defoe Farther Adventures Robinson Crusoe 302 The State he [sc. a Chinese man of position] rode in, was a perfect Don Quixotism, being a Mixture of Pomp and Poverty.
This entry has not yet been fully updated (first published 1897; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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n.1674