ˈclever-ˈclever, a.
[Reduplicated from clever a.; cf. pretty-pretty, etc.]
Anxious to be considered clever; over-clever. Hence ˈclever-ˈcleverness.
| 1896 G. B. Shaw Let. 26 Mar. (1965) 617 A good melodrama is a more difficult thing to write than all this clever-clever comedy. 1921 C. Dane Bill of Divorcement iii. 75 Don't be clever-clever, old thing. 1946 Koestler Thieves in Night i. vi. 43 Had to show off all the time..what clever-clever fellows they were. 1957 D. J. Enright Apothecary's Shop 215 We are apt to suffer from the occupational malady of clever-cleverness. |