belletristbellettristn.
/bɛlˈlɛtrɪst/ One devoted to belles-lettres. attributive or as adj. = belletristic adj.
ΘΚΠ
society > leisure > the arts > literature > writer or author > [noun]
bookerOE
writerOE
makerc1350
authora1382
inditera1387
pena1398
poetc1400
bookmakera1425
ditera1425
compilera1500
compositor?1533
book writer1565
penner1568
authorizera1579
bookwright1583
scribe1584
epistler1592
penman1592
scriptora1600
composer1603
book-breeder1605
comprisor?1623
volumist1641
scrivenera1660
literatist1660
knight of the quill1692
belletrist1816
scriever1825
creative writer1854
penworker1876
society > leisure > the arts > literature > [adjective]
literalc1450
literate1558
bookish1567
paper1592
literary1605
literatory1652
belletristical1799
belletristic1821
belletrist1889
lit.1895
written1909
1816 J. Gilchrist Philos. Etymol. 193 The great Quintilian, or any of his worthy disciples the French Belles-lettreists.
1857 T. De Quincey Whiggism in Select. Grave & Gay VI. 130 As an orator, an essayist, or, generally, as a bellettrist.
1889 J. M. Robertson Ess. in Crit. Method 40 The belletrist essays of Mr. Lowell have had a wide public.
1894 J. Davidson Ballads & Songs 38 Heed not bellethrist [sic] jargon.
1923 J. M. Murry Pencillings 108 No amount of sedulous apery or word-mosaic will make a writer of the dilettante bellelettrist.
Derivatives
belˈletrism n. the study or composition of belles-lettres.
ΘΚΠ
society > leisure > the arts > literature > [noun] > study of literature
belletrism1938
1938 Scrutiny 7 208 Her university..could only be a breeding-ground for boudoir scholarship..and belletrism.
1961 Essays in Crit. XI. 196 Some of the assumptions he has innocently taken over from stock Victorian-romantic theory..serve only for effusions of belletrism such as this.
This entry has not yet been fully updated (first published 1887; most recently modified version published online December 2020).
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n.1816