boyismn.
/ˈbɔɪɪz(ə)m/, U.S. /ˈbɔɪˌɪz(ə)m/ 1.
a. A boyish or childish characteristic or mannerism (esp. in a literary work); an instance of boyishness.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > mental capacity > lack of understanding > foolishness, folly > childish folly, childishness > [noun] > instance of > male
boyism1700
1700 J. Dryden Fables Pref. sig. *Bij A thousand such Boyisms, which Chaucer rejected.
1717 S. Garth in J. Dryden et al. tr. Ovid Metamorphoses Pref. p. xii These are some of our Poet's Boyisms.
1797 J. Martin Acct. Life & Writings viii. 52 The boyisms, and other imperfections of this little piece, are sufficiently manifest.
1824 A. Campbell in W. L. MacCalla & A. Campbell Deb. on Christian Baptism 332 Those puerilities you have heard about John's baptizing with a squirt,..and a number of other such boyisms.
1919 C. Aiken Scepticisms 158 Page after page of insipid lines, platitudinous ideas, banalities, trivialities, boyisms of rhyme and metre.
1996 P. Fussell Doing Battle 174 This time, no playful boyisms: rather, a serious search for answers to overwhelming questions.
b. The characteristic nature of a boy; boyishness, childishness.
ΘΚΠ
the world > people > person > child > boy > [noun] > quality or characteristic of
boyishness1542
boyism1785
boydom1856
1785 T. Warton in J. Milton Poems (new ed.) 195 (note) Perhaps the real boyism of the Brother..is to be taken into the account.
1826 B. Disraeli Vivian Grey I. i. i. 4 The horrible spirit of boyism began to develope itself.
1838 U.S. Mag. & Democratic Rev. Nov. 254 It is only because our sympathies with them are so strong, that we have so little patience with their boyism, and their recklessness of consequences.
1936 C. S. Lewis Allegory of Love i. vi. 98 Bernardus..can be elevated when his subject raises him, though never for many lines together before some ruinous conceit of ‘boyism’ breaks in.
2005 Salt Lake Tribune (Nexis) 16 Sept. d9 The Queers turned their nose-in-finger [sic] boyism into a successful punk outfit that is still touring more than two decades later.
ΘΚΠ
the world > people > person > child > boy > [noun] > boyhood
knighthoodc893
boyhood?1577
boyery1579
lad-age1606
manchildhooda1618
boyage1625
boyism1810
laddism1843
ladhood1883
1810 R. Polwhele Poet. Register 48 The progress of Genius in boyism and in youth.
1857 Ladies' Repository Dec. 737/2 The latter has a very pretty lyric ‘To the Tiber’, recalling the boyism of past days, and is remarkable for the unison throughout.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, December 2008; most recently modified version published online December 2021).
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n.1700