English Dictionary - With Multi-Lingual Search

was wotd|2007|February|9
English

Etymology
From L. puerilis|pueriliīs 'childish', from puer a child, a boy.

Pronunciation
italbrac|RP IPA|/�pj��raɪl/
italbrac|US IPA|/�pj�rɪl/ or /�pj�raɪl/
audio|en-us-puerile.ogg|Audio (US)

Adjective
en-adj

1. Characteristic of, or pertaining to, a boy or boys; confer: puellile.
2. childish|Childish; trifling; silly.

#:The French have been notorious through generations for their puerile affectation of Roman forms, models, and historic precedents. -De Quincey.
#:1927. "From the table he had received the gout; from the alcove a tendency to convulsions; from the grandeeship a pride so vast and puerile that he seldom heard anything that was said to him and talked to the ceiling in a perpetual monologue; from the exile, oceans of boredom, a boredom so persuasive that it was like pain,—he woke up with it and spent the day with it, and it sat by his bed all night watching his sleep." w:Thornton Wilder|Thornton Wilder, w:The Bridge of San Luis Rey|The Bridge of San Luis Rey, p. 79

Quotations
;characteristic of a boy or boys
1785, Vicesimus Knox, Liberal Education: Or, a Practical Treatise on the Methods of Acquiring Useful and Polite Learning, §XXXI: on the regulation of puerile diverſions, pp1 & 1�2 & 3
:Many fanciful methods have been invented by thoſe who wiſhed to render puerile ſports conducive to improvement. I never found that they were ſucceſsful.
:I muſt own myſelf an advocate for puerile liberty*, during the alloted hours of relaxation. Boys have much reſtraint and confinement in the time of ſtudy.
:Thoſe of the effeminate kind ſuperinduce effeminacy; weakneſs of mind, no leſs than imbecility of body. Something ſimilar happens in puerile diverſions. The boy who has been kept in leading-ſtrings too long, and reſtrained from hardy ſports by the fondneſs of his mother, will ſcarcely ever become a man; or poſseſs that becoming ſpirit which can enable him to a�t his part with propriety.
1931, Gaston Delayen, Cicero, p17
:In 664 Cicero, who had just completed his sixteenth year, exchanged the puerile for the manly gown. At that age the child passed from boyhood to adolescence, which lasted till the thirteenth year; after which came youth, continuing to forty-five, followed by maturity�
1934, Marjorie Coryn, The Black Prince, 1330�1376, p1
:Many a father takes his small son to circus or show, and many a father gives audible and delighted signs of his pleasure in the puerile spectacle, while his offspring sits in dignified silence beside him, too overawed by the splendour of the occassion to offer other than mute and grave-eyed homage to it.
1934, John Clarke Stobart, The Divine Spark, p171
:Did you ever hear the word �puerile�? Puer is a boy. What sort of boy was Albert if he did not love letters? Idle. Yes. Now write this down: �Albert, an idle boy, did not love letters�.
1948, Therese Benedek, Insight and Personality Adjustment: a study of the psychological effects of war, p253
:In the initial phases, during prepuberty, the girl, although she already desires attention, has a relationship with the boy purely on the basis of competition, on the level of puerile identification.
1993, Eva C. Keuls, The Reign of the Phallus: sexual politics in ancient Athens, p277
:In some cases the youth is shown with what may be termed a �puerile erection�; evidently the vase painters wanted to show that the passive partner does derive some pleasure from the contact, even without active participation.
2002, Nino A. Sylmar, The Boy from Corregidor: A True Story, p214
:For what seemed like an eternity, Sib watched the perfectly sculpted puerile form, completely unadorned except for the coquettish smile on his pouty lips�
2004, Colin Feltham, Problems Are Us: Or Is It Just Me?, p114
:The point is � we are all complex and we are all (in my ever so humble, ex-boy, puerile''' opinion) �fucked up�, boys and girls, men and women�

Synonyms
italbrac|childish: juvenile, silly, trifling,

Related terms
boyish
yobbish
youthful

Derived terms
puerility

Translations

French: puéril
Italian: puerile#Italian|puerile, infantile#Italian|infantile
Latin: puerilis|puerīlis
mid
Polish: infantylny m, infantylna f, infantylne n, dziecinny
Spanish: pueril m, f

Italian

Adjective
it-adj|pueril|e|i

1. puerile, childish, juvenile, boyish
2. rare|lang=it children's (attribute), baby (attr.)

Synonyms
infantile

Related terms
puerilmente
puerilicultura
puerilità
puerilismo

io:puerile
it:puerile
pl:puerile
te:puerile
vi:puerile
zh:puerile

• 2007-10-05 00:12 - Interwicket - iwiki +it, te

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