Jacobean, a. (n.)
(dʒækəˈbiːən)
Also -æan.
[f. late and mod.L. Jacōbæus (f. Jacōbus: see Jacob).]
A. adj.
1. a. Of or pertaining to the reign or times of James I of England; spec. in Arch., a term for the style which prevailed in England in the early part of the 17th cent., consisting of very late Gothic with a large admixture of Palladian features; also transf. in other arts, as Engraving, etc.
| 1844 F. A. Paley Church Restorers 171, I have seen Jacobean doors added to ancient churches. 1867 F. G. Lee 1636 & 1866 in Ess. Reunion 128 Most of the Jacobean divines, apparently, could not look beyond the confines of the English nation. 1874 Parker Goth. Archit. i. ii. 20 What are called Jacobean Gothic buildings of the time of James I. are often very good examples of the Perpendicular style. 1880 Warren Book-plates iii. 22 The Jacobean style was most prevalent on our book-plates about 1730. |
b. In the furniture trade, designating wood of the colour of dark oak, or the colour itself; also denoting furniture made in mock-Jacobean style.
| 1918 Heal & Son Catal. 28 Jacobean refectory table in dark oak. 1928 Daily Mail 31 July 1/2 It can be obtained in Light Brown or Jacobean coloured solid oak. 1930 Daily Express 8 Sept. 2 This fine Chest is..finished Jacobean colour. 1974 Times 8 Apr. 13/3 Philips can provide you with a colour television set in a Jacobean chest. Ibid. 18 May 5/5 (Advt.), Reproduction styling in Jacobean oak, walnut, white or ivory and gilt finishes. |
2. a. Of or pertaining to the apostle St. James the Less or the Epistle written by him.
| 1883 Pulpit Treas. June 108 The Jacobean definition of religion must be recovered [Jas. i. 27]. 1898 W. S. Lilly in 19th Cent. Sept. 516 A doctrine in which the Pauline and Jacobean pronouncements are unobtrusively blended. |
b. Jacobean lily, a bulbous plant (Sprekelia formosissima, family Amaryllidaceæ), a native of Mexico, named after St. James.
| 1770–74 A. Hunter Georg. Ess. (1803) III. 125, I have no where seen it more manifest than in the Jacobean Lily. 1846 J. Baxter Libr. Pract. Agric. (ed. 4) I. 119 In the Jacobæan lily, Linnæus noticed a drop of transparent liquid protruding every morning from the stigma. |
3. Of or pertaining to Henry James (1843–1916), American novelist and critic.
| 1906 Beerbohm Around Theatres (1953) II. 442, I cannot imagine two minds..more divergent than the Shavian and the Jacobean. Mr. James must excuse my invention of this adjective. 1932 Q. D. Leavis Fiction & Reading Public iii. iii. 264 Those interested will even find a telegram in Jacobean English in The Great Good Place. 1958 Times 6 Mar. 13/5 The masterly Jacobean answer to this insult is laid up in the Lubbock volumes of James's letters. |
B. n. A statesman or writer of the time of James I.
| 1885 Athenæum 21 Nov. 661/2 Milton's chance of leadership would have been slight if..the age needed a prosaic reaction from the extravagances of the Jacobeans. |