Victorian

/vik tawr"ee euhn, -tohr"-/, adj.

1. of or pertaining to Queen Victoria or the period of her reign: Victorian poets.

2. having the characteristics usually attributed to the Victorians, esp. prudishness and observance of the conventionalities.

3. Archit.

a. noting or pertaining to the architecture, furnishings, and decoration of English-speaking countries between c1840 and c1900, characterized by rapid changes of style as a consequence of aesthetic and philosophical controversy, technological innovations, and changes of fashion, by the frequent presence of ostentatious ornament, and by an overall trend from classicism at the start to romanticism and eclecticism at the middle of the period and thence to classicism again, with attempts at stylistic innovation occurring from time to time.

b. noting or pertaining to the massive, elaborate work characteristic esp. of the period c1855-80, derived mainly from the Baroque and Gothic styles and characterized by the presence of heavy carved ornament, elaborate moldings, etc., by the use of strong and generally dark colors, by the frequent use of dark varnished woodwork, by the emphasis on geometrical form rather than on textural effects, and frequently by an effect of harshness.

n.

4. a person who lived during the Victorian period.

5. a house in or imitative of the Victorian style.

[1870-75; VICTORI(A) + -AN]

Syn. 2. prudish, conventional, priggish, straightlaced, smug, prim, narrow.

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