Johnsonianadj.n.

1775 Caledoniad I. 133 One says the Johnsonian Edition nothing means.

1838 Hesperian May 19/2 What would have become of one of your prosers in the Johnsonian circle?

1886 J. Ruskin Præterita I. xii. 415 Johnsonian symmetry and balance in sentences.

1959 I. Gershwin Lyrics on Several Occasions 83 I do believe that a few recording artists and other well-intentioned persons are nice-nellying it a bit when they at times insist on elevating dialect grammar to Johnsonian heights.

2012 Sewanee Rev. 120 159 Martin has labored hard in the vineyard of Johnsonian scholarship.

1778 Morning Post & Daily Advertiser 8 Dec. Perhaps some of your critical or poetical correspondents, may think it worth while to solve the meaning of the latter line... A Johnsonian. December 5.

1835 Essex Standard 25 Dec. The concentration of all the sayings of the Johnsonians, in the two concluding volumes, is an admirable idea.

1887 Athenæum 25 June 825/1 Many of its most distinguished members have been as enthusiastic Johnsonians as Dr. Birkbeck Hill.

1948 E. Gowers Plain Words 48 The present inclination of the official is in the opposite direction. He is a Johnsonian rather than a Micawberite.

2012 New Eng. Q. 85 354 Even most Johnsonians concede that Webster was a better definer than his predecessor.

1854 E. M. Whitty Governing Classes Great Brit. 191 This spirited and Johnsonianly-reported protest of the celebrated cornet against the conceit of Fogydom is worthy of prefacing a sketch upon a statesman.

1943 Manch. Guardian 21 June 4/5 In this play we see him dealing Johnsonianly with a couple of Republican spies.

2004 Stud. Eng. Lit. 1500–1900 44 592 This does not explain why so many male dilettantes tend to write as surprisingly, Johnsonianly well as they do.