a. [f. L. æmulāt- ppl. stem of æmulā-ri (see EMULATE v.) + -IVE.]
1. That results from or is characterized by emulation.
1593. R. Harvey, Philad., 23. Memprise slewe his manly brother Manlius by faithlesse craft, to be out of his emulatiue danger and dangerous emulation.
a. 1658. Cleveland, Poems, On Fly, 21. She … in an emulative Chafe … begg’d thy Shrine her Epitaph?
1764. Hoole, Jer. Del., V. 503 (R.).
| While all with emulative zeal, demand | |
| To fill the number of th’ elected band. |
1828. D’Israeli, Charles I., I. iv. 65. The people were invited to ruin their families in emulative costliness.
2. That tends to emulation; disposed to rival, copy, or compete with. Const. of. Also fig.
1748. Richardson, Clarissa (1811), I. xxxviii. 283. Noble minds, emulative of perfection.
1791. Huddesford, Salmagundi, 138. Dick’s breast with emulative ardour glows.
1829. Scott, Anne of G., ii. The sound was re-echoed … from precipice to precipice, with emulative thunders.
1871. Ruskin, Fors Clav., xi. 11. The peasant’s wife … emulative of Queens Penelope, Bertha, and Maud.
