Pickwickian

American  

[pik-wik-ee-uhn] / pɪkˈwɪk i ən /

adjective

1. of, relating to, or characteristic of Mr. Pickwick, central character of The Pickwick Papers.

2. (of the use or interpretation of an expression) intentionally or unintentionally odd or unusual.

3. (of words or ideas) meant or understood in a sense different from the apparent or usual one.

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Pickwickian British  

/ pɪkˈwɪkɪən /

adjective

1. of, relating to, or resembling Mr Pickwick in Charles Dickens' The Pickwick Papers , esp in being naive or benevolent

2. (of the use or meaning of a word, etc) odd or unusual

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Other Word Forms

• Pickwickianly adverb

Etymology

Origin of Pickwickian

1830–40; Pickwick + -ian

Example Sentences

She also gave them two famous New Yorker profiles by Joseph Mitchell: “the delightful, Pickwickian 1942 story ‘Professor Sea Gull,’ and the much longer and much darker, Poe-like 1964 tale ‘Joe Gould’s Secret.’

From Los Angeles Times • May 27, 2016

His framing device seems initially an excuse for stringing together a parade of entertaining anecdotes: A mysterious Mr. Inbelicate hires someone dubbed Inscriptino to produce a manuscript based on decades of Pickwickian research.

From Washington Post • Jun. 22, 2015

With a literary flourish, they named the condition Pickwickian syndrome after a character who falls asleep standing up in Charles Dickens’s first novel, The Pickwick Papers.

From Slate • Aug. 13, 2012

But he had that funny Pickwickian name, and he knew it.

From BBC • Jul. 6, 2012

Sir Walter, with real Pickwickian sagacity, points to a true explanation which may be applied in other cases. 

From Pickwickian Studies by Fitzgerald, Percy Hethrington