spleenful, a.
(ˈspliːnfʊl)
[f. spleen n.]
Full of spleen; passionate, irritable, peevishly angry: a. Of persons (or animals).
| 1588 Shakes. Tit. A. ii. iii. 191 Now will I..let my spleenefull Sonnes this Trull defloure. 1631 Heywood Eng. Elizab. (1641) 90 Thus she remained a sorrowful and dejected prisoner, in the hands of spleenfull and potent adversaries. 1687 Dryden Hind & P. iii. 1196 The spleenful Pigeons never could create A Prince more proper to revenge their hate. 1795 Wolcot (P. Pindar) Pindariana Wks. 1812 IV. 225 'Twas thus I spleenful cried. 1818 Keats Endym. iv. 256 About the wilds they hunt with spear and horn, On spleenful unicorn. 1859 Tennyson Marr. Geraint 293 Then rode Geraint, a little spleenful yet, Across the bridge. |
b. Of actions, feelings, etc.
| 1593 Shakes. 2 Hen. VI, iii. ii. 128 My selfe haue calm'd their spleenfull mutinie. 1616 R. C. Times Whistle (1871) 97 These, these they be, on which I doe engage My vexed Muse to wreck her spleenfull rage. a 1645 Heywood Fortune by Land & Sea i. i, You speak out of some spleenful rashness, And no deliberate malice. 1718 Pope Iliad xv. 111 Smiles on her lips a spleenful joy express'd. 1827 Hood Mids. Fairies lxxii, With more spleenful speeches and some tears. 1893 Temple Bar XCVII. 61 The spleenful emphasis with which the Squire puffed out the last word. |
Hence ˈspleenfully adv., in a spleenful manner.
| 1882 in Imperial Dict. |