misteriosoadv.n.adj.

1876 J. Todhunter Moonlight Sonata in Laurella 267 (heading) VII. Adagio misterioso.]

1876 J. Stainer & W. A. Barrett Dict. Musical Terms 294/2 Misteriosamente, Misterioso (It.). Mysteriously.

1941 R. Riskin Meet John Doe in Six Screenplays (1997) 605 Colonel. All those nice, sweet, lovable people become heelots. A lotta heels. (mysterioso) They begin creeping up on you—trying to sell you something.

1998 J. Kinsella Poems 92 As Nebuchadnezzar plucked the guitar, Misterioso, the night parrots..ringed Themselves on a shadow's horizon.

1953 in H. E. Vizetelly New Internat. Year Bk. 1952 619 Mysterioso, a motion-picture, radio or television program which depends upon the element of mystery for its effect.

1987 N. Spinrad Little Heroes 29 But he kept his mouth shut and contented himself with projecting silent mysterioso as he entered the elevator with Beckman.

1997 Guardian 10 May (The Week section) 6/4 Another French icon of art-chic misterioso made a more discreet comeback.

1960 Surfer i. 13 (caption) Mickey Munoz... First the ‘Mysteriouso’..then comes the el ‘telephono’.

1962 D. Muirhead Surfing in Hawaii 82 Most hot-doggers..want to do head dips, nose walking..Quasimodos, Mysteriosos, El Spontaneos and other improvisations of the fertile minds of the top exponents of hot-doggery.

1967 J. Severson Great Surfing Gloss. Mysterioso, an ‘adornment’ or surf trick popular in the late fifties... The stance is with the surfer bending over, hiding his head in his hands.

1957 S. Dance in S. Traill Concerning Jazz 44 In mysterioso numbers suitable for accompanying the more exotic dances in the night-clubs.., there was evoked what was considered a ‘jungle’ atmosphere.

1957 A. R. Manvell & J. Huntley Technique Film Music ii. 28 The theme is played twice on strings pizzicato, with suitable mysterioso embellishments.

1965 K. Amis & R. Conquest Egyptologists (1968) 102 ‘What I have in mind for him will break quite new ground,’ said the Secretary, still misterioso.

1977 Sounds 9 July 28/4 The aptly named Gandalf's Garden, a freaky, mysterioso, fey piece of whimsy.

1992 J. Stern & M. Stern Encycl. Pop Culture 551/2 Baloramas, another Bausch and Lomb design from the fifties, with the misterioso wraparound look once favored by ‘beatniks, jazzbos, potheads, and proto-punks’.

1995 Independent on Sunday 1 Jan. 16/5 Highway 61 Revisited and ‘Positively 4th Street’ followed, in all their ornate, misterioso arrogance.

2001 New Grove Dict. Music (Electronic ed.) at Variations The variations progress from vivid contrast to the ‘misterioso’ variation 5, sonorous but without rhythmic propulsion..then increase in textural and rhythmic complexity.