Sherlock Holmesn.
/ˈʃəːlɒk həʊmz/ A person resembling Sherlock Holmes; = Sherlock n.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > attention and judgement > enquiry > investigation, inspection > secret observation, spying > procedures used in spying > [noun] > private detection > person engaged in
private detective1857
eye1874
Pinkerton1877
ferret1891
consultant1894
private investigator1894
Sherlock Holmes1896
operative1901
Sherlock1903
Sherlockian1903
Pink1904
peeper1908
private dick1912
op1924
shamus1925
private eye1938
PI1953
peep1974
1896 E. Turner Little Larrikin x. 108 It took her nearly five minutes to wonder sufficiently at him..and call him a Sherlock Holmes.
1903 G. B. Shaw Man & Superman iii. 140 Miss Whitefield tracked you at every stopping place: she is a regular Sherlock Holmes.
1914 T. A. Baggs Back from Front xxiv. 118 It needed no Sherlock Holmes to discover where English cavalry had bivouacked for the night.
1957 A. MacNab Bulls of Iberia xvi. 237 The press critics kept very quiet about it, and one need not be a Sherlock Holmes to guess why.
1981 Times 22 Apr. 6/5 The doctor becomes a medical Sherlock Holmes.
Derivatives
Sherlock Holmes v. transitive to make deductions about, to assess, to deduce (cf. Sherlock vb. at Sherlock n. Derivatives).
ΘΚΠ
the mind > attention and judgement > enquiry > investigation, inspection > secret observation, spying > procedures used in spying > surveillance [verb (transitive)] > investigate as private detective
Sherlock1913
Sherlock Holmes1922
1922 J. Joyce Ulysses iii. xvi. [Eumaeus] 590 He had been meantime taking stock of the individual in front of him and Sherlockholmesing him up.
1954 E. Eager Half Magic iii. 35 ‘She just as good as said so,’ said Jane, ‘and I Sherlock Holmesed the rest.’
Sherlock ˈHolmesian adj. = Sherlockian n. at Sherlock n. Derivatives.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > attention and judgement > enquiry > investigation, inspection > secret observation, spying > procedures used in spying > [adjective] > relating to private detection
Pinkerton1874
Pinkertonian1886
Holmesian1929
private eye1946
Sherlock Holmesian1958
Sherlockian1959
society > leisure > the arts > literature > prose > narrative or story > fiction > [adjective] > specific character
big-endian1726
Sleeping Beauty1729
little-endian1828
Mickey Mouse1930
Sherlock Holmesian1958
Sherlockian1959
Dalek1963
Pooterish1963
Moomin-like1965
hobbitish1966
James Bondish1966
James Bond1967
1958 Observer 16 Mar. 14/3 The stern Sherlock Holmesian K.C.
1972 Sci. Amer. Mar. 106/3 He proceeded indeed by a kind of Sherlock Holmesian logic, which presumes that in eliminating the impossible and the more implausible it has arrived at the true.
Sherlock ˈHolmesing n. = Sherlocking n. at Sherlock n. Derivatives.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > attention and judgement > enquiry > investigation, inspection > secret observation, spying > procedures used in spying > [noun] > private detection
private inquiry1856
Sherlocking1920
Sherlock Holmesing1929
private-eyeing1949
1929 C. I. Lewis Mind & World-order ix. 287 All the Sherlock Holmesing in the world would not help him a bit because he would not be able to recognize evidence when he found it.
1958 A. Wilson Middle Age of Mrs Eliot i. 89 All this woman's intuition is just a lot of Sherlock Holmesing.
This entry has not yet been fully updated (first published 1933; most recently modified version published online September 2018).
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n.1896