521. Pretension (See also Hypocrisy.)

1. Absolon vain, officious parish clerk. [Br. Lit.: Canterbury Tales, “Miller’s Tale”]
2. Armado, Don Adriano de his language inordinately disproportionate to his thought. [Br. Lit.: Love’s Labour’s Lost ]
3. Chrononhotonthologos king whose pomposity provoked a fatal brawl with his general. [Br. Lit.: Walsh Modern, 96]
4. Copper, Captain pretends to great wealth; jewels are counterfeit. [Br. Lit.: Rule a Wife and Have a Wife, Walsh Modern, 105]
5. Coriolanus stiff-necked Roman aristocrat; contemptuous of the common people. [Br. Lit.: Coriolanus ]
6. Dodsworth, Fran shallow industrialist’s wife ostentatiously gallivants about Europe. [Am. Lit.: Dodsworth ]
7. Dogberry ostentatiously and fastidiously examines prisoners. [Br. Lit.: Much Ado About Nothing ]
8. euphuism style overly rich with alliteration, figures, and Latinisms. [Br. Lit.: Euphues, Espy, 127]
9. Isle of Lanterns inhabited by pretenders to knowledge. [Fr. Lit.: Pantagruel ]
10. Jourdain, Monsieur parvenu grandiosely affects gentleman’s mien. [Fr. Lit.: The Bourgeois Gentilhomme ]
11. Madelon and Cathos their suitors had to be flamboyant. [Fr. Lit.: Les Precieuses Ridicules ]
12. Melody, Cornelius self-deluded tavern-keeper boasts about his upper-class past to maintain a show of importance. [Am. Drama: Eugene O’Neill A Touch of the Poet in Benét, 737]
13. morning glory symbol of affectation; flower of September. [Flower Symbolism: Flora Symbolica, 175; Kunz, 330]
14. Parolles boastful villain of affected sentiment and knowledge. [Br. Lit.: All’s Well That Ends Well ]
15. Pendennis enters university “posing as moneyed aristocrat.” [Br. Lit.: Pendennis ]
16. Verdurin, M. & Mme. nouveau-riche couple strive for social eminence. [Fr. Lit.: Proust Remembrance of Things Past ]
17. willow herb indicates affectation. [Flower Symbolism: Flora Symbolica, 178]
18. Yvetot, King of affects grandeur; kingdom is but a village. [Fr. Legend: Brewer Dictionary, 1173]

Prey (See QUARRY .)

Pride (See BOASTFULNESS, EGOTISM, VANITY .)