schoolboyishadj.

1784 T. Twining Let. 3 May in Recreations & Stud. (1882) 120 Did you ever see a more school-boyish criticism than his [sc. Johnson's] upon Gray?

1784 S. Bentham Let. 22 June in J. Bentham Corr. (1970) III. 275 He is too school boyish and insignificant for me to court his friendship.

1831 Fraser's Mag. 4 278 All this being not particularly new, and rather schoolboyish withal.

1868 S. Brooks Sooner or Later xli. 217/1 Come back and sit down, and don't be school-boyish.

1888 Academy 18 Feb. 112 An eminently schoolboyish story.

1937 A. L. Rowse Sir Richard Grenville 206 A very natural, if somewhat schoolboyish exhibition of good spirits.

1973 P. Arnold & C. Davis Hamlyn Bk. World Soccer 37/1 Throughout his career as a wing and centre half, Wright retained a schoolboyish enthusiasm for the game.

2009 Racing Post (Nexis) 10 Apr. 12 [He] looks younger than his years, almost schoolboyish at times.

1848 Blackwood's Mag. May 632/1 The accomplishment [of playing the flute], of which I had grown most school-boyishly ashamed.

1855 N. Brit. Rev. 23 400 Origen, the indomitable, the brazen-bowelled (as Jerome schoolboyishly nicknamed him).

1901 W. J. Locke Usurper xviii. 247 He..was so schoolboyishly happy the next morning on starting for his holiday.

2008 Guardian (Nexis) 10 May 14 He soon eschewed the champagne and stuffed both hands schoolboyishly in his pockets.

1837 C. Lofft Self-formation I. i. 53 His schoolfellows, from whom he can learn nothing except their habits of mockery, and selfishness, and callousness, or, in one odious word, of schoolboyishness.

1904 L. Creighton Life & Lett. M. Creighton 367 He is said to have given some offence by his remarks on the schoolboyishness and idleness of the Cambridge undergraduate.

2004 Deseret Morning News (Salt Lake City) (Nexis) 24 June A big part of the fun is watching the celebrity guests react to that schoolboyishness.