mannered, a.
(ˈmænəd)
[f. manner n.1 + -ed2.]
1. Having manners of a specified kind (indicated by an advb. phr., or by a prefixed adj. or adv., as evil-mannered, gentle-mannered, rough-mannered, rude-mannered, simple-mannered, ill-mannered, well-mannered).
| 1377 Langl. P. Pl. B. ii. 23 And Mede is manered after hym riȝte as kynde axeth. c 1489 Caxton Sonnes of Aymon xx. 448 He is not manered like a gentyll man. 1603 Owen Pembrokeshire v. (1891) 41, I finde..Pembrokshere to be worst manred and hardest to find personable. 1608 Shakes. Per. iii. iii. 17 Beseeching you to giue her Princely training, that she may be manere'd as she is borne. 1673 Temple Observ. Netherl. iv. 137 A people differently bred and manner'd from the Traders. 1821 Byron Juan iii. xli, He was the mildest manner'd man That ever scuttled ship or cut a throat. 1837 H. Martineau Soc. Amer. III. 103 The Americans are better mannered than others, in as far as they reverence intellect more than wealth and fashion. 1879 G. Macdonald Sir Gibbie III. ix. 145 He was well-dressed, and mannered like a gentleman. 1880 Disraeli Endym. III. iii. 25 The most sweetly mannered gentleman alive. |
† b. Of a literary production: Exhibiting ‘manners’ or character. (Cf. Horace, A. P. 319 morataque recte fabula.) Obs.
| 1755 Grainger Solitude 215 Then know thyself, the human mind survey..Hence Inspiration plans his manner'd lays. 1789 T. Twining Aristotle's Treat. Poetry (1812) II. 232 The moral, or rather mannered Tragedy (for we seem to want a word here). |
† 2. Well-behaved, well-mannered. Also transf. (of a dwelling). Obs.
| c 1450 Holland Howlat 240 Mansweit, but malice, manerit and meike. 1483 Caxton Gold. Leg. 150 b/1 Lerne of marye to be manerd and fere ful to all men. 1560 Rolland Crt. Venus ii. 121 Thair manerit Mans sa perfyit and preclair, Enuirond all aboit with hailsum air. 1568 T. Howell Newe Sonets (1879) 157 Who are more feate or trim traind vp, then manerd seruents are? |
3. Characterized by manner or mannerism, esp. in art or literature.
| 1801 Fuseli in Lect. Paint. ii. (1848) 390 The mannered and feeble etchings of Theodore van Tulden. 1861 Thornbury Turner I. 157 The colour has a slightly greenish-blue tinge, which is mannered, but not unpleasing. 1884 Haweis Musical Life II. 633 That Spohr was too doctrinaire and mannered,..most musicians will allow. 1896 Mackail Lat. Lit. (ed. 2) 101 That passages in it [the æneid] here and there are mannered, and even flat, is true. |
† 4. Moderate, within bounds. Obs. rare—1.
| 1435 Misyn Fire of Love 94 Lufe..of kynsmen, if it be vn-manerd, fleschly affeccione it is cald..; And if it be manerd, kyndely it is calde. |