a. and sb. [ad. L. Catōniān-us, f. Cato name of several celebrated Romans, esp. Cato the Censor, and his descendant Cato of Utica, both remarkable for the severity of their manners.]
A. adj. Pertaining to or resembling Cato; severe, stern, austere. B. sb. A follower of Cato.
1534. Ld. Berners, Gold. Bk. M. Aurel. (1546), B ij. Catoniens, Peripaticiens, Academiens.
1676. R. Dixon, Two Testaments, 246. Be not rigid, austere, morose, sullen, saturnine, ghostly, frightful, nor of Catonian or Cynical Spirits.
1851. S. Judd, Margaret, ii. (1871), 9. Her brother had a more catonian look.
So Catonic a., Catonically adv., Catonism; also Catoism.
1792. Burke, Corr. (1844), IV. 21. ‘I am weary of conjectures’—but I do not mean to end them Catonically [i.e., by suicide].
1837. Syd. Smith, Ballot, Wks. 1859, II. 309/2. All the penalties of austerity and Catonism.
1850. G. P. R. James, Old Oak Chest, I. 119. The age of Catoism is passed away.
1883. Austin Dobson, Fielding, v. 131. The Catonic Thwackum drinks considerably more.
