[f. as prec. + -NESS.] The quality of being apish; silly or ridiculous imitation, silliness of behavior.
1533. More, Confut. Barnes, VIII. Wks. 1557, 736/1. Thys felowes folishe apishenesse, and al hys asseheded exclamacions.
1609. Man in Moone (1857), 81. The fantasticallity of each man’s apparell, and apishnesse of gesture.
a. 1779. Warburton, Serm. xvi. Wks. (1811), IX. 328 (T.). It [Deism] was … treated with that contempt by the rest, as suited, and was due, to the apishness of foreign manners.
1868. Geo. Eliot, Sp. Gypsy, I. 17. To please my lord, who gives the larger fee For that hard industry in apishness.
