The story
Coined by the American poet Walt Whitman (1819–1892) in his poem “Song of Myself” published in Leaves of Grass (1855): see the quotation.
First known use, by meaning
- from 1855 To have a complex and apparently paradoxical nature; to be inconsistent, especially in a way that is ultimately admirable or noble.
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.