visionaryadj.n.

1651 T. Hobbes Leviathan iii. xxxvi. 231 Such quarrells amongst the Visionary Prophets.

1697 J. Dryden tr. Virgil Æneis iii, in tr. Virgil Wks. 284 Thus, many not succeeding, most upbraid The Madness of the visionary Maid.

a1721 J. Sheffield Wks. (1753) I. 79 So visionary brains ascend the sky, While on the ground entranc'd the wretches lie.

1771 J. Beattie Minstrel: Bk. 1st xxxii. 17 See, in the rear of the warm sunny shower, The visionary boy from shelter fly!

1792 S. Rogers Pleasures Mem. i. 161 What spells entrance my visionary mind.

1817 W. Scott Harold v. xvi. 161 O, think upon the words of fear Spoke by that visionary Seer.

1850 A. Jameson Legends Monastic Orders 400 And as she grew up, she became a strange, solitary, visionary child, to whom an unseen world had revealed itself.

1883 F. Galton Inquiries into Human Faculty (1910) 125 A large natural gift of the visionary faculty might become characteristic..of certain families.

1712 J. Swift Proposal for Eng. Tongue 7 Supplying our Wants, faster than the most visionary Projector can adjust his Schemes.

1770 E. Burke Thoughts Present Discontents 3 If a man happens not to succeed in such an enquiry, he will be thought weak and visionary.

1786 J. Bonnycastle Introd. Astron. 17 We laugh at the absurdities of a visionary pretender.

1817 W. Brougham in Parl. Deb. 1st Ser. 298 Mr. Spence, the visionary author of the new system, lived 20 years ago.

1827 E. Bulwer-Lytton Falkland i. 13 I grew by degrees of a more thoughtful and visionary nature.

1902 W. L. Mathieson Polit. & Relig. Scotl. I. iii. 100 Knox was no visionary enthusiast.

1648 R. Boyle Seraphic Love (1700) xvi. 103 The sole Hymn (except a Visionary one) I find recorded of the Celestial Quire, was sung for a Blessing to Mankind.

1681 J. Dryden Absalom & Achitophel 21 Some things like Visionary flights appear; The Spirit caught him up, the Lord knows where: And [etc.].

a1701 H. Maundrell Journey Aleppo to Jerusalem (1703) 79 Which, they say, is the Mountain into which the Devil took our Blessed Saviour, when he tempted him with that visionary scene of all the Kingdomes, and glorys of the World.

1720 R. Welton tr. T. Alvares de Andrade Sufferings Son of God I. viii. 161 These Divine Illapses of Revelation, which become Visionary in our Sleep.

1785 W. Cowper Task v. 400 There, like the visionary emblem seen By him of Babylon, life stands a stump.

1838 E. B. Barrett Seraphim & Other Poems i. 205 One of those Whom the loving Father chose, In visionary pomp to sweep O'er Judæa's grassy places.

1697 J. Dryden tr. Virgil Æneis ii, in tr. Virgil Wks. 245 I wept to see the visionary Man: And while my Trance continu'd, thus began.

1700 J. Dryden tr. G. Boccaccio Theodore & Honoria 280 The hounds at nearer distance hoarsely bayed; The Hunter close pursu'd the visionary Maid.

1725 A. Pope tr. Homer Odyssey III. x. 633 Sudden shall skim along the dusky glades Thin airy shoals, and visionary shades.

1781 E. Gibbon Decline & Fall (1787) III. xxxviii. 619 The visionary fabric melted into air.

1820 C. Lamb in London Mag. Aug. 143/1 The shade of some dead accountant, with visionary pen in ear, would flit by me, stiff as in life.

1852 H. B. Stowe Uncle Tom's Cabin I. xiv. 212 There was not a corner or nook..where those fairy footsteps had not glided, and that visionary golden head..fleeted along.

1865 C. Dickens Our Mutual Friend II. iii. viii. 71 By what visionary hands she was led along upon that journey of escape from the Samaritan.

1744 J. Thomson Summer in Seasons (new ed.) 78 Here frequent, at the Visionary Hour, When musing Midnight reigns or silent Noon, Angelic Harps are in full Concert heard.

1775 J. Adair Hist. Amer. Indians 313 Having intimidated themselves apart from the rest, with visionary notions.

1819 W. Scott Bride of Lammermoor iv, in Tales of my Landlord 3rd Ser. III. 51 Meanwhile this mysterious visionary traffic had its usual effect, in unsettling Miss Ashton's mind.

1807 J. Barlow Columbiad i. 23 When from a visionary short repose, That nursed new cares and temper'd keener woes, Columbus woke.

1725 E. Fenton in A. Pope et al. tr. Homer Odyssey I. iv. 246 Vanish'd are all the visionary joys.

1745 J. Mason Treat. Self-knowl. i. xiv. 117 Suffer not your Thoughts..to give you a visionary Pleasure in the Prospect of what you have not the least Reason to hope.

1798 S. Lee Young Lady's Tale in H. Lee Canterbury Tales II. 308 So deep a hold had this..visionary delight taken on Emily, that the days hung heavily with her.

1848 H. H. Wilson Hist. Brit. India 1805–35 III. viii. 364 With the consolidation of the supremacy, the apprehension of its visionary evils recurred.

a1859 T. B. Macaulay Hist. Eng. (1861) V. xxiii. 11 The danger which seemed so terrible to many honest friends of liberty he did not venture to pronounce altogether visionary.

1876 W. Besant & J. Rice Golden Butterfly I. i. 52 The power of the penniless twins was a shadowy and visionary thing.

1729 J. Swift Modest Proposal 15 Vain, idle, visionary thoughts.

1751 Earl of Orrery Remarks Swift (1752) 75 A miserable example of an ill-spent life, fantastic wit, visionary schemes, and female weakness.

1777 W. Robertson Hist. Amer. (1778) II. v. 130 The crews of three of his ships..insisted on relinquishing the visionary project of a desperate adventurer.

1815 J. F. Stephens Shaw's Gen. Zool. IX. i. 77 Those [opinions] of the ancients appear to be either visionary or erroneous.

1834 F. Marryat Peter Simple III. ix. 111 These were wild and visionary notions, and with little chance of ever arriving at any successful issue.

1855 D. Brewster Mem. Life I. Newton (new ed.) I. xi. 265 Kepler abandoned for a while his visionary speculations.

1883 Manch. Examiner 30 Oct. 5/5 The quiet of the land is being disturbed to suit the visionary theories of well-meaning but unpractical men.

1777 J. Richardson Diss. Eastern Nations 3 On this visionary field, learned and pious men have disputed with much want of temper.

1794 A. Radcliffe Myst. of Udolpho III. v. 116 Emily sought to lose the sense of her own cares, in the visionary scenes of the poet.

1840 C. Thirlwall Hist. Greece VII. lvi. 141 Lycurgus..had not learnt..to withdraw from active life into a visionary world.

1863 A. W. Kinglake Invasion of Crimea I. 228 If Louis Napoleon was going to be content with a visionary life [etc.].

1874 L. Stephen Hours in Libr. 1st Ser. 292 [He] sought refuge from the hard facts of commonplace life by retiring into a visionary world.