Italian, a. and n.
(ɪˈtælɪən)
Forms: 5 Ytalian, Itallian, -aillian, -aylion, 5–6 Ytalyen, 6 Italyan(e, -ion, -yon, -ien, 6– Italian.
[ad. L. Italiān-us, f. Italia Italy: cf. F. Italien.]
A. adj.
1. a. Of or pertaining to Italy or its people; native to or produced in Italy.
| 1547 Boorde Introd. Knowl. xxi. (1870) 176 Calabre is a prouince ioyned to Italy; and they do vse the Italion fashion. 1576 A. Hall Acc. Quarrel (1815) 11 M. Mallerie hadde affirmed, that he would shew him an Italian tricke, intending therby to do him some secret and unlooked-for mischiefe. 1595 Shakes. John iii. i. 153 Adde thus much more, that no Italian Priest Shall tythe or toll in our dominions. 1655 Fuller Ch. Hist. vii. i. §21 Soon after the Lord Gray of Wilton..came with a company of Horsmen, and 300 Italian Shot, under Baptist Spinola their Leader, to recruit the Lord Russell. 1753 Hanway Trav. (1762) II. i. x. 53 note, Italian operas are countenanced and even promoted by some of the burgomasters. 1834 Medwin Angler in Wales II. 166 The sky was of a deep, almost an Italian blue. |
b. Of or pertaining to ancient Italy;
= Italic a. 1, 1 b.
| 1513 Douglas æneis vi. xiii. 16 Commixit with the blude Italiane. 1783 H. Swinburne Trav. Two Sicilies I. 323 Hannibal..assembled all his Italian allies in this temple. 1841 Penny Cycl. XIX. 172/2 The philosophic school of which Pythagoras was the founder, is sometimes called the Italian or the Doric school. 1863 W. Y. Sellar Rom. Poets Rep. ii. (1881) 45 It was from men of the Italian provinces, and not from her own sons, that Rome received her poetry. |
† c. Arch. = Italic a. 1 c.
Obs.| 1624 Wotton Archit. in Reliq. (1651) 225 The Compound Order, or as some call it, the Roman; others more generally the Italian. |
† d. Printing.
= roman (type).
Obs.| 1711 Strype Life Parker iv. ch. xvi. 382 (an. 1572) The Archbishop had..spoken to Day the Printer, to cast a new Italian Letter. Ibid. iv. sect. iv. 541 To cast a new Sett of Italian Letters..For our black English Letter was not proper for the Printing of a Latin Book. |
† e. = Italic a. 3.
Obs.| 1700 Tyrrell Hist. Eng. II. 809 Whatsoever is printed in an Italian Character. 1723 True Briton I. 66 Every Word..that I lay any Stress upon, is printed in an Italian Character. |
2. As the designation of the modern language of Italy (see B. 2). Hence of words, etc.: Belonging to this language. Of books, etc.: Composed or written in this language.
| 1530 Palsgr. 3, e shall be sounded lyke an italian a and some thynge in the noose. 1598 Florio Ital. Dict. Ep. Ded., So manie and so strange bookes..as be written in the Italian toong. a 1639 Wotton Let. to Dr. C. in Reliq. (1651) 476, I cannot (according to the Italian Phrase..) accuse the receipt of any Letter from you. 1750 Chesterfield Lett. (1774) II. 351 What Italian books have you read? 1820 Shelley Lett. M. Gisborne 298 We will have books, Spanish, Italian, Greek. |
3. Applied to the form of handwriting developed in Italy, and now used in Great Britain, America, the Latin countries, and other countries of Western Europe, which approaches in form to italic printing: opposed to the Gothic hand, formerly used in England and still in Germany, etc.
| 1571 Beauchesne & Baildon (title) A Booke Containing Divers Sortes of hands, with the Italian, Roman, Chancelry & court hands. 1643 Wood in Life (O.H.S.) I. 98 There was a paper found pasted, in a fayre Italian hand, thus inscribed: Quaestiones [etc.]. 1789 Mrs. Piozzi France & Italy I. 195 Italian hand was the first to become elegant. 1870 J. A. H. Murray in Leisure Hour 60 A specimen of the closing period of that Old English or Gothic hand⁓writing, which was so rapidly disappearing before the Italian or current hand of the present day. |
4. In specific names of things produced in or originally from Italy, as
Italian ferret,
Italian greyhound,
Italian lettuce,
Italian melilot,
Italian millet,
Italian oak, etc.: see the
ns. Also
Italian clover,
Italian paper,
Italian vermouth.
Italian cloth, a kind of linen jean with satin face, largely employed for linings (in F.
satin de Chine,
It. zanella);
Italian cypress,
Cupressus sempervirens var. stricta;
Italian earth, the colour sienna;
Italian garden, a formal garden, characterized by clipped trees, box-edged beds of flowers, paved paths, statues, fountains, etc.; often arranged in terraces linked by steps and balustrades;
Italian Gothic, the Gothic or pointed architecture of Italy in the 13th and 14th c.;
Italian juice, the extract of liquorice;
Italian May, the Dropwort,
Spiræa Filipendula;
Italian paste, the paste from which macaroni and vermicelli are made;
Italian pink = Dutch pink;
Italian plaster: see
quot. 1887;
Italian quilting (see
quots.);
Italian roof, a hip-roof;
Italian sixth (
Mus.), a chord consisting of a note with its major third and augmented sixth;
Italian stitch, a form of
cross-stitch n.;
Italian string, a superior kind of violin-string of Italian manufacture;
Italian warehouse, a shop where Italian groceries, fruits, olive oil, etc. are sold; hence
Italian warehouseman.
| 1840 C. Dewey in Dewey & Emerson Rep. Herbaceous Plants & Quadrupeds Mass. 66 Trifolium incarnatum, Italian clover. 1908 Animal Managem. 109 ‘Valerian’, ‘Italian’ or ‘Crimson clover’, commonly called ‘Trifolium’. |
| 1838 J. C. Loudon Arboretum IV. 2464 The common, or evergreen, Cypress... Synonymes{ddd}the Italian Cypress. 1923 L. H. Bailey Cultivated Evergreens ii. 208 Italian Cypress... Much planted since ancient times in southern Europe particularly in its columnar form. Ibid., Columnar Italian C[ypress]... With erect branches, forming a narrow, columnar head. The classical cypress of the Greek and Roman writers. 1969 T. H. Everett Living Trees of World 35/1 The Italian cypress is really a horticultural form of venerable ancestry, its exact origin unknown. |
| 1854 F. W. Fairholt Dict. Terms Art 260/1 Italian earth, a pigment known as burnt Italian earth. 1897 Sears, Roebuck Catal. 361/2 Pastel Crayons..Burnt Sienna..Italian Earth..Purple Brown. 1969 R. Mayer Dict. Art Terms & Techniques 200 Italian earth, an old name for sienna. |
| [1822 J. C. Loudon Encycl. Gardening i. 16 He [sc. Volkman] considers the Italian gardens as inferior to those of France in point of superb alleys, lofty clipt hedges, and cabinets of verdure.] 1883 W. Robinson Eng. Flower Garden p. vi/2 It has been affirmed that none but an Italian garden would have suited South Kensington. 1928 L. Archer-Hind tr. Gothein's Hist. Garden Art II. xvi. 329 We feel the resemblance to the parterre of the Doria Pamfili when we walk through an ‘Italian garden’ at an English country seat. 1942 A. E. W. Mason Musk & Amber i. 10 The Italian garden.., an oblong of grass paths and glowing flower beds, of box trees and hedges, of stone seats..and..a ridiculous charming little temple with open pillars. 1961 G. Masson Italian Gardens 274 Within the space of two hundred and fifty years, Italian gardens had been introduced into France, developed and expanded until they represented a national style that became the model for Europe, and then via Spain returned to their point of departure, the Neapolitan Realm, as a foreign innovation. |
| 1866 Treas. Bot. 726/1 Italian May, Spiræa Filipendula. |
| 1924 A. Huxley Let. 25 Feb. (1969) 228 The best form, I think, would be something small, cheap and pretty. Covers of Italian paper or something of the kind. 1930 Times Lit. Suppl. 6 Feb. 108/4 A large variety of Italian papers. |
| 1845 E. Acton Mod. Cookery i. 4 All the ingredients used for soups should be fresh,..particularly Italian pastes of every kind (maccaroni, vermicelli, &c.). 1907 Army & Navy Stores Catal. 1246/2 Italian paste, for soups. 1957 Encycl. Brit. XIV. 544/2 Macaroni... The same substance in different forms is also known as vermicelli, pasta or Italian pastes, spaghetti, taglioni, fanti, etc. |
| 1835 Italian pink [see English pink]. 1934 H. Hiler Notes Technique Painting ii. 111 Italian pink, quercitron lake, etc., organic pigments prepared from Turkish or Avignon berries, quercitron bark, etc. 1971 Country Life 10 June 1428/3 This leads into the north-facing hall, which has been painted an Italian pink as a background to full-length portraits. |
| 1887 Syd. Soc. Lex., Italian plaster, an old name for a plaster used for purging sordid ulcers and promoting granulation. |
| 1937 E. Hake Eng. Quilting iii. 16 Italian quilting..was as prevalent in England as in any other European country during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. 1955 Oxf. Jun. Encycl. XI. 323/1 Italian quilting consists of two layers of cloth sewn together in a design built up entirely of parallel lines. A padding of soft wool or piping cord is then threaded between the narrow channels. 1967 E. Short Embroidery & Fabric Collage ii. 47 In Italian quilting the design is worked entirely in parallel lines of running or back stitch, which are then padded by inserting a thick wool from the back. |
| 1875 Ouseley Harmony xi. 126 A discord which has been called an ‘Italian Sixth’. |
| 1882 Italian stitch [see Holbein]. 1913 M. K. Gifford Needlework xvii. 262 Italian stitch can be worked either open or close. The latter makes a very solid filling. 1957 M. B. Picken Fashion Dict. 185/2 Italian-stitch, running stitch done twice on the same line. |
| 1896 T. W. Stapleton & Co. Wine List Dec., Vermouth, Italian—36/–. 1925 Toye & Adair Drinks Long & Short 12 Three and a half glasses of gin, one and a half of Italian Vermouth. 1967 A. Lichine Encycl. Wines 541/1 Vermouth was certainly being made in Italy in the seventeenth century, and now it is produced all over the world, and the two main types are ‘French’ and ‘Italian’. |
| 1837 Whittock, etc. Bk. Trades, Table, Italian Warehouse. 1863 Good Words 870/1 You are mistaken as to the Italian warehouse. |
B. n. 1. A native of Italy.
| 1422 tr. Secreta Secret., Priv. Priv. 130 The ytaliance sayth, that in a kynge hit is noght reproue yf he be scarse to hym-Selfe. 1439 Rolls Parlt. V. 32/1 Lumbardes, Itaylions, and..other Merchauntes Aliens. 1573 Nottingham Rec. IV. 149 Geven to the Italyans for serteyne pastymes that they shewed before Master Meare. 1611 Florio Ital. Dict. 618 The Italians haue two very different sounds for the two vowels E and O. 1783 H. Swinburne Trav. Two Sicilies I. 398 Another monument..commemorating a victory gained..by thirteen Italians over an equal number of French. 1818 A. Ranken Hist. France V. v. 401 The great merchants of Europe were the Italians. |
2. The Italian language.
| 1485 Caxton Pref. Malory's Arthur, Moo bookes [are] made of his noble actes..as wel in duche ytalyen spaynysshe and grekysshe as in frensshe. 1547 Boorde Introd. Knowl. xxiii. (1870) 179 Who that wyl learne some Italien. 1602 Shakes. Ham. iii. ii. 274 The Story is extant and writ in choyce Italian. 1756–7 tr. Keysler's Trav. (1760) II. 312 This distich was ingeniously translated into Italian by Bellori. |
† 3. One versed in the Italian language; an Italian scholar.
Obs.| 1598 Florio Ital. Dict. Ep. Ded., What and whosoeuer he be that thinkes himselfe a very good Italian. |
4. pl. (
ellipt.) Articles (defined by context) imported from Italy.
| 1883 Daily News 12 Sept. 2/5 Tows and hemps... Italians have advanced {pstlg}1 per ton. 1891 Ibid. 20 Oct. 2/7 Eggs..There has been a rise of 6d. on second Italians. |
5. Ellipt. for
Italian cloth. Also
attrib.| 1897 Sears, Roebuck Catal. 177/1 Fine Italian lining in fancy figured effects. 1900 T. Eaton & Co. Catal. Midwinter Sale 13/2 Ladies' black boucle curl cloth jackets.., lined throughout with mercerized Italian. 1907 Yesterday's Shopping (1969) 743/1 Jackets..in serges and cloths, lined Italian. 1960 Textile Terms & Definitions (Textile Inst.) (ed. 4) 82 Italian,..a cloth of 5-end sateen weave with a lustrous finish, used chiefly as a lining material. |
6. = Italian vermouth. Chiefly in
phr. gin and Italian.
Cf. gin n.2 2 b.
| 1929 J. B. Priestley Good Companions ii. i. 264 Couldn't you take some cocktails—gin and Italian or sherry and bitters or something—upstairs to those people. 1957 G. Bellairs Death in High Provence vii. 80 Two long Italians with some ice and perrier, please. |
C. Comb., as
Italian-like adj. and
adv.,
Italian-minded adj.; also prefixed to other
adjs., as
Italian-English, etc.
| 1598 Florio Ital. Dict. Ep. Ded., I may consecrate this lesser-volume..to all Italian-English, or English-Italian students. 1651 Walton Life Wotton in Reliq. Wott. b x, His long Rapier, which Italian-like he then wore. 1658 W. Sanderson Graphice 27 Lest..an Italian minded Guest gaze too long on them, and commend the worke for your wive's sake. |
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Italian dressing n. a salad dressing consisting of oil and vinegar typically seasoned with garlic, oregano, basil, dill, fennel, and sometimes minced red pepper.
| 1901 Boston Daily Globe 13 May 10/6 Lettuce and radish salad, *Italian dressing. 2003 M. J. Hyland How Light gets In 2004 i. 3 For his last meal he requested a banana, a peach and a salad with either ranch or Italian dressing. |