statuesqueadj.
/ˌstatʃʊˈɛsk/, /ˌstatjʊˈɛsk/, U.S. /ˌstætʃᵿˈwɛsk/ 1. Having the qualities of a statue; reminiscent of a statue in size, posture, or stillness.
ΘΚΠ
society > leisure > the arts > visual arts > plastic art > statuary > [adjective] > having quality of a statue
statuary1609
statuesque1799
1799 S. T. Coleridge Let. 19 May (1956) I. 511 Never did I behold aught so impressively picturesque, or rather statue-esque, as these Groups of Women in all their various attitudes.
1849 W. M. Thackeray Pendennis (1850) I. xvii. 168 An image of statuesque piety and rigid devotion.
1891 Notes & Queries 7th Ser. 12 99 The more reserved and statuesque formulæ of the Western Churches.
1905 F. Treves Other Side of Lantern (1906) ii. xxx. 190 The statuesque native soldiers who stand as sentries.
1941 W. Lewis Vulgar Streak ii. xiii. 112 The statuesque serenity of the face before him began to show signs of emotional collapse.
1987 T. Horton Bay Country (1989) ii. 23 Pull up a stalk sometime and the first thing that will strike you is..how scanty are the underpinnings of so statuesque a plant.
2011 J. Liebert & W. J. Birnes Suicidal Mass Murderers vii. 191 He lifted the patient's arm in the air where it remained in statuesque form.
2. spec. Of a woman: attractively tall, graceful, and shapely; (of beauty, etc.) characterized by such qualities.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > attention and judgement > beauty > pleasing appearance > [adjective] > statuesque
statuary1759
statuesque1838
1838 Blackwood's Edinb. Mag. Jan. 5/1 Never yet did my eye light upon creature..possessing a figure more matchless in its proportions, more statuesque.
1877 Spirit of Times 24 Nov. 453/3 Anderson will make her greatest impression here in those coldly dignified roles which require statuesque beauty and high, chaste motives.
1918 Everybody's Mag. May 26/3 She was..still the statuesque Gibson girl, though advanced two decades in attire.
1953 R. Chandler Long Good-bye xiii. 77 The small cute blonde who..twitters, and the big statuesque blonde who straight–arms you with an ice–blue glare.
2009 S. Shepard in New Yorker 21 Sept. 88/2 A man with a goatee..enters the dining room with two statuesque models.
Derivatives
statuˈesquely adv.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > attention and judgement > beauty > pleasing appearance > [adverb] > statuesquely
statuesquely1829
1829 Morning Chron. 7 Oct. After twining about very picturesquely (or rather statuesquely, sit venia verbo) he fixed himself at once in the form he wished to assume, as if he had been in an instant petrified, and turned to stone.
1931 Wonder Stories Nov. 756/2 We saw on some of the roofs the dark, Atlantean people of the city, moving slowly and statuesquely.
2007 R. Loverance Christian Art vii. 132 Adam stands statuesquely beneath a tree.
statuˈesqueness n.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > attention and judgement > beauty > pleasing appearance > [noun] > statuesqueness
statuesquenessa1834
society > leisure > the arts > visual arts > plastic art > statuary > [noun] > quality of
statuesquenessa1834
a1834 S. T. Coleridge Specimens of Table Talk (1835) II. 207 Euripides..embraces within the scope of the tragic poet many passions..which Sophocles seems to have considered as incongruous with the ideal statuesqueness of the tragic drama.
1924 Rotarian Sept. 18/3 Their women were..of patrician statuesqueness and even austere.
2004 USA Today (Nexis) 17 Sept. 6 d Masai men, their statuesqueness accentuated by the giant spears they carry..sauntered off to herd cattle.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, December 2012; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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adj.1799