a. [f. Boswell, the name of Dr. Johnson’s friend and biographer, + -IAN.] Resembling Boswell as a biographer. Also Boswellism, the characteristic manner or style of Boswell as a biographer. Boswellize v., to write in Boswell’s style; Boswellizing vbl. sb.
1802. Morn. Chron., 4 Nov., 3/1. I flatter myself I have got a pretty little collection of smart things, which one of the Boswellian school would have bon mot-ed into an octavo volume.
1825. Macaulay, Ess. (1860), I. 58. That propensity which, for want of a better name, we will venture to christen Boswellism.
1838. Fraser’s Mag., XVII. 488. Boswellizing became in fashion.
1856. R. Vaughan, Mystics (1860), I. 7. But I have been Boswellizing to you about the past history of these friends of mine.
1875. F. Hall, in Lippincott’s Mag., XV. 345. A rooted aversion to anything like Boswellism.
1884. Graphic, 21 June, 607/2. Mr. Hatton … puts down everything with more than Boswellian minuteness.
