hector, v.
(ˈhɛktə(r))
[f. prec. n. (sense 2).]
1. intr. To play the hector or bully; to brag, bluster, domineer. Also, to hector it.
| 1660 Hickeringill Jamaica (1661) 80 For which he needs not venture life nor limb, Nor Hector it, nor list under Sir Hugh. 1681 ― Def. Fullwood's Leges Angliæ 5 While I hector and rant and call names. 1723 Swift Stella at Wood-Park 6 Don Carlos made her chief director, That she might o'er the servants hector. 1764 Foote Mayor of G. i. (1783) 25 She does now and then hector a little. 1863 Mrs. C. Clarke Shaks. Char. vi. 145 John not only allows himself to be bamboozled, but..to be hectored over. 1882 M. E. Braddon Mt. Royal III. vii. 141 He blustered and hectored as of old. |
2. trans. To intimidate by bluster or threats; to domineer over; to bully; to bring or force out of or into something by threats or insolence.
| 1664 Pepys Diary 22 Feb., Our King did openly say..that he would not be hectored out of his right and pre⁓eminencys by the King of France. 1670 Dryden Conq. Granada ii. i, But [Fortune] she's a drudge, when hector'd by the Brave. 1722 De Foe Col. Jack (1840) 27 You shan't be hectored by him. 1749 Fielding Tom Jones x. viii, We are..not to be hectored, and bullied, and beat into Compliance. 1824 W. Irving T. Trav. II. 37, I was hectored and lectured in my own green-room. 1850 ― Mahomet xxiii. (1853) 131 But suffers himself to be..hectored out of his crafty policy. |
Hence ˈhectoring vbl. n. and ppl. a.; ˈhectoringly adv., in a hectoring manner; also ˈhectorer, one who hectors.
| 1664 Butler Hud. ii. i. 352 The Hect'ring Kill-Cow Hercules. 1678 Cudworth Intell. Syst. 176 Ranting and hectoring atheists. 1788 T. Jefferson Writ. (1859) II. 443 A mere piece of hectoring to frighten Russia. 1827 J. F. Cooper Prairie I. xii. 175 Ah! you are a hectorer with the boys, when need calls! 1849 C. Brontë Shirley i, He grew a little insolent, [and] said rude things in a hectoring tone. 1913 W. J. Locke Stella Maris xx. 251 He..questioned her further, almost hectoringly. 1963 Punch 27 Feb. 315/3 His adopting a hectoringly superior manner. |