Also 8 nick-kn-. [f. KNICK-KNACK after conservatory, laboratory, etc.] A repository of knick-knacks. Also loosely, a knick-knack.
a. 1704. T. Brown, Wks. (1760), II. 15. I keep a nicknackatory, or toy-shop.
1721. Amherst, Terræ Filius, No. 34 (1754), 178. I went … to the [Ashmolean] musæum, vulgarly called the nicknackatory.
a. 1734. North, Lives (1826), II. 180. He was single, and his house a sort of knick-knackatory.
1812. Scott, Lett. to Miss Baillie, 4 April, in Lockhart. You see my nicknackatory is well supplied.
1819. W. Taylor, in Monthly Rev., XC. 13. Collecting the … nicknackatories of every virtuoso within reach.
Hence Knick-knackatorian, -arian sb. and a. (also nicknackitorian, -arian -aterian). a. sb. One who keeps a ‘knick-knackatory’; a dealer in knick-knacks; b. adj. Devoted to knick-knacks.
1802. in Hone, Every-day Bk., I. 1284. The plaintiff was a nicknackitarian, that is, a dealer in curiosities.
1802. Chron., in Ann. Reg., 445/1. A profession technically called a Nicknackitorian, that is, a dealer in all manner of curiosities, such as Egyptian mummies, Indian implements,… antique shields, helmets, &c.
1842. United Service Mag., II. 7. Those of a knicknackaterian tendency.
