assish

comparative more assish · superlative most assish

1. Characteristic of an ass or donkey.

   The ape, to know whether the ass's talking Were any quicker than his assish stalking, Asked the ass, "If thou should'st choose one of both — To run as swiftly as the greyhound yonder go'th. Or turn as light as the hare — which one of twain, obtain?"

   1906, John Heywood, John Stephen Farmer, The Proverbs, Epigrams, and Miscellanies of John Heywood, page 118

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   Further, he quickly got him a beast to ride on, far, for sumptuous glory, beyond — though as to nature as assish a creature as — that on which Balaam was wont to ride; and by this exaltation he not only became more stately, but the horns of the beast would push for him.

   1850, Jeremiah Chaplin, The Riches of Bunyan

   On the 24th March, 1875, a donkey-show, which has since been continued periodically, was held in connection with Mr. Orsman's work; and on that occasion the assish celebrity COSTER, depicted in our engraving, was presented to Lord Shaftesbury by the exhibitors, amid a scene of great enthusiasm.

   1884, Godfrey Holden Pike, Shaftesbury: His Life and Work, page 91

2. Stupid or obstinate; asinine.

   c. 1795, Peter Pindar (John Wolcot), Liberty's Last Squeak an assish, mulish, packhorse clan

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   All taffy so far, except “Sigma,” whose lucubrations make me think of dear old Gurowski's phrase of objurgation— “Sir, you are an asinine assish ass!”

   1961, Horace Traubel, With Walt Whitman in Camden - Volume 1, page 314

   Yet one could easily fall into a habit of thinking Thompson a bit of an ass, amiable and solemn, but still assish.

   1985, Paul McGuire, A Funeral in Eden, page 142