a. Also 7 erron. Sabariticke. [ad. L. Sybarīticus, ad. Gr. Συβαρῑτικός, f. Συβαρίτης SYBARITE.]
1. Of or pertaining to Sybaris or its inhabitants.
Sybaritic fables (Gr. λόγοι Συβαριτικοί, ἰστοριαι Συβαριτικαι), a class of fables or stories that appear to have been concerned only or mainly with human beings and to have involved humorous or ridiculous situations or conversations.
1786. Polwhele, trans. Theocritus, Idyl., V. (1792), II. Notes 100. Long after the destruction of the old Sybaritic republic.
1840. trans. C. O. Müller’s Hist. Lit. Greece, xi § 15. 145. The Sybaritic fables mentioned by Aristophanes [Wasps]. Ibid. Doubtless, therefore, the Sicilian poet Epicharmus means, by Sybaritic apophthegms, what others call Sybaritic fables.
1889. J. Jacobs, Æsop, I. 203. It is possible that the collections on which we are commenting have a connection … with the ‘Sybaritic Jests.’
2. Characterized by or devoted to excessive luxury; effeminately luxurious.
1619. H. Hutton, Follie’s Anat., B iv b. His belly is a Cesterne of receit,… A Sabariticke Sea, a depthlesse Gulfe.
1759. Warburton, Lett. to Hurd, 30 Jan. On the 4th, I shall get to town, when I hope you will dine with me on a single dish, to atone to Philosophy for the Sybaritic dinners of Prior-Park.
1835. Marryat, Olla Podr., III. 252. The Sybaritic sheet of finest texture.
1849. Thackeray, Lett. (1887), 56. It was a Sybaritic repast, in a magnificent apartment, and we were all of us young voluptuaries of fashion.
1876. World, V. No. 117. 12. They do what they please,… and inhale an atmosphere of sybaritic enjoyment.
