Baconian theory

American  

noun

1. the theory attributing the authorship of Shakespeare's plays to Francis Bacon.

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Etymology

Origin of Baconian theory

First recorded in 1870–75

Example Sentences

Summarized were all the scholarly comments on every disputed passage, and the Baconian theory was exhaustively surveyed.

From Time Magazine Archive

Once, I was told, Professor Kittredge advised the members of his English class at Radcliffe not to read any books on the Baconian theory.

From Time Magazine Archive

His best-known aide was Ignatius Donnelly, of Minnesota, a devotee of the Baconian theory and of the "Lost Atlantis," who was now devoting his active mind to the support of free silver.

From The New Nation by Dodd, William E.

Certainly, a new thing is not necessarily wrong; but neither is a new thing necessarily right; and we are heartless enough to pronounce the "Baconian theory" rather weak than otherwise for a hero.

From The Atlantic Monthly, Volume 07, No. 41, March, 1861 by Various

I know the disparagers of Shakspere and the advocates of the Baconian theory make much of the traditional wildness of Shakspere's youth.

From Stories of Authors, British and American by Chubb, Edwin Watts