Heliogabalusn.
/ˌhiːlɪəʊˈɡabələs/ The adopted name of Varius Avitus Bassianus, Roman Emperor a.d. 218–222, famed for folly and profligacy, used allusively.
ΘΚΠ
society > morality > moral evil > wrong conduct > [noun] > one guilty of > one who acts with wicked folly
Heliogabalus1589
1589 R. Greene Menaphon sig. H3 For his dissolute life he seemed another Heliogabalus.
1618 J. Taylor Pennyles Pilgrimage sig. F3 Had I beene a Sardanapalus, or a Heliogabalus, I thinke that..the great trauell ouer the Mountaines had tamed me.
1624 R. Burton Anat. Melancholy (ed. 2) i. ii. ii. ii. 63 What Fagos, Epicures, Apitios, Heliogables our times affourd?
1928 D. H. Lawrence Lady Chatterley's Lover (1929) Introd. Perhaps the mentality of a boy of fourteen..is more wholesome than the mentality of the young cocktaily person..whose mind has nothing to do but play with the toys of life... Heliogabalus, indeed!
Derivatives
ˌHeliogaˈbalian adj. /-ɡəˈbeɪlɪən/ resembling the character or tastes of Heliogabalus.
ΘΚΠ
society > morality > moral evil > wrong conduct > [adjective] > specific
Heliogabalian1859
1859 National Mag. 5 142/1 In California..the Celestials..make a Heliogobalian [sic] kind of dish of rats' brains.
1893 W. S. Gilbert Utopia (Limited) i. 5 His Majesty is one of the most Heliogabalian profligates that ever disgraced an autocratic throne.
ˌHelioˈgabalize v. (intransitive) to act like Heliogabalus.
This entry has not yet been fully updated (first published 1933; most recently modified version published online September 2018).
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