priggism
(ˈprɪgɪz(ə)m)
[f. prig n.3 + -ism.]
† 1. Professional thievery or roguery. Obs.
| 1743 Fielding J. Wild i. iii, An undeniable testimony of the great antiquity of Priggism. Ibid. iv. iii, While one hath a roguery (a Priggism they here call it) to commit, and another a roguery to defend. |
† 2. (Sense obscure.) Obs.
| 1754 A. Murphy Gray's-Inn Jrnl. No. 86 At a Board of Priggism held here, it was pretty warmly debated..whether a Gentleman acquires more Honour by whoring than by gaming? |
3. Priggishness.
| a 1805 A. Carlyle Autobiog. 481 The minister,..an old bachelor,..who had such a mixture of odd qualities in his composition, such as priggism and pendantry, with the affectation of being a finished gentleman. 1857 Hughes Tom Brown i. ii, That your great Mechanics' Institutes end in intellectual priggism. 1891 Times 14 Oct. 13/6 The priggism of intellectual pretension is the one unpardonable sin. |