JOHNSONESE

views updated

JOHNSONESE. An often pejorative term for the elevated style of Samuel JOHNSON. His leanings towards a LATINATE vocabulary were remarked on in his own day (for example, by his biographer James Boswell). Thus, repress the instantaneous motions of merriment may be seen as a roundabout and obscure way of saying stop laughing. See -ESE.

More From encyclopedia.com