young-ladylike

comparative more young-ladylike · superlative most young-ladylike

1. alternativeAlternative form of young-lady-like.

   Hmm. . . What’ll you have? It used to be crab and banana shortcake but I s’pose you’re too young-ladylike for that now?

   1936 December 23, Hazel Livingston, “‘Love’s Litany’”, in Walter V. Hogan, editor, The Daily Reporter, volume XX, number 53, White Plains, N.Y.: White Plains Publishing Company, →OCLC, chapter IX, page 18, column 4

   4 more examples

   She took five minutes to debate as to which of her two hats she had better wear, and at last decided in favor of a wide-brimmed red felt with small black ostrich tips. This, with the addition of a white silk handkerchief at her neck, and her long paletot, gave her quite the young-ladylike appearance she most desired, and Mr. Morris could find no fault with her appearance.

   1894, Lucy C[ecil] Lillie, chapter XL, in A Family Dilemma: A Story for Girls, Philadelphia, Pa.: Porter & Coates, →OCLC, page 278

   Miss Lindon, in pathetic despair, had abandoned her notion of turning Unity into a young lady of young-ladylike accomplishments.

   1913, William J[ohn] Locke, chapter XIV, in Stella Maris, London: John Lane, The Bodley Head; […], →OCLC, page 184

   'Three o'clock if possible,' he replied brazenly. 'Six o'clock in any case.' Clifton gave a little shriek of young-ladylike dismay. 'Mercy! Today?' she exclaimed. 'Why, you dear creature, do you know—' 'I know what you can do when you like,' he got in.

   1927, Ernest Bramah [pseudonym; Ernest Brammah Smith], Max Carrados Mysteries

   Accompanied to the justice center by a pair of female guards, she was dressed in a neatly pressed light-colored suit with a high-necked blouse, a pair of handcuffs around her wrists in jarring contrast with the young-ladylike appearance she otherwise projected.

   1998 October, Clifford L. Linedecker, “Heather’s Surprise”, in The Vampire Killers: A Horrifying True Story of Bloodshed and Murder, New York, N.Y.: St. Martin’s Paperbacks, →ISBN, page 197