The surname of a character in Dickens’s Bleak House (1852), who poses as a perfect model of deportment; allusively, a person who does this. Hence (colloq. and journalistic) Turveydropdom; Turveydropian a.
1859. Holmes County (Ohio) Republican, 11 Aug., 1/3. We poor creatures of the North, denied by a stern Providence the immense privilege of owning our brothers and sisters, vainly aim at the Turveydropian polish.
1876. J. Weiss, Wit, Hum. & Shaks., iii. 101. Malvolio’s conceit is Turveydropian and runs to deportment.
1877. W. H. Russell, Prince of Wales’ Tour, iv. 117. The maintenance of that staid deportment which the Oriental Turveydrop considers the best proof of high State and regal dignity.
1889. Catholic News, 3 Aug., 5/1. She … deported herself so as to delight a Turveydrop’s heart.
1892. Pall Mall G., 21 June, 2/1. He showed himself a past master in deportment and might be envied by Court Chamberlains, Gold Sticks, Masters of Ceremonies, and the whole of Turveydropdom.
1897. N. B. Daily Mail, 31 May, 4. They pose in the deprecatory attitude, and become [a] sort of ‘Turveydrops’ in Church politics.
1899. Longm. Mag., April, 337. Those Turveydropian maxims on deportment and dress.
