a. and sb. [f. the Latin phrase ultrā crepidam ‘beyond the sole’ in allusion to the reply of Apelles to the cobbler.
The form in which the reply is given by Pliny (Nat. Hist., XXXV. x. § 36) is ne supra crepidant judicaret. Valerius Maximus (VIII. xii. 3) expresses it by supra plantam ascendere vetuit.)
A. adj. Going beyond one’s proper province; giving opinions on matters beyond one’s knowledge.
1819. Hazlitt, Letter to W. Gifford, Wks. 1902, I. 368. You have been well called an Ultra-Crepidarian critic. Ibid. (1822), Table-T., II. vi. 143. The last sort I shall mention are verbal critics—mere word-catchers. [Note] The title of Ultra-Crepidarian critics bas been given to a variety of this species.
1832. Examiner, 662/1. He takes a fancy to teach that ‘Ultra-crepidarian Critic’ his own theory.
1872. F. Hall, Rec. Exemplif. False Philol., 112. His assumption of judicial assessorship, as a critic of English, is, therefore, to borrow a word from Hazlitt, altogether ultra-crepidarian.
B. sb. One who ventures beyond his scope; an ignorant or presumptuous critic.
1825. Beddoes, Lett., in Poems (1851), p. xxxviii. The ‘Fatal Dowry’ has been cobbled, I see, by some purblind ultra-crepidarian.
1831. Q. Rev., XLIV. 77. Two of these ultra-crepidarians are included in Mr. Southey’s present chapter of chronicles.
Hence Ultracrepidarianism.
a. 1876. M. Collins, Pen Sketches by Vanished Hand (1879), I. 242. A brochure on The Laws of Verse, which is curious as exemplifying what a great wit called ‘ultracrepidarianism.’
So † Ultracrepidast, = B. above. Obs. rare–1. Ultra-crepidate v. intr., to venture beyond one’s scope. Ultracrepidation, -crepidizing, the action or fact of criticizing ignorantly.
1640. Henshaw, Horæ Succ., II. Ep. Ded. 1. I cannot but condemne those ultra-crepitasts [sic] that, with Festus, will teach Saint Paul divinity.
1800. Coleridge, in Sir H. Davy’s Rem. (1858), 78. I was a well-meaning sutor who had ultra-crepidated with more zeal than wisdom. Ibid., 83. All this is ultra crepidation.
1837. S. R. Maitland, 6 Lett. Fox’s A. & M., p. ix. There is among the infinity of anonymous writing, compiling, concocting,… so much pretence (if I may make a word…, so much ultracrepidizing) that [etc.].
1882. Farrar, in Contemp. Rev., March, 374. It is always dangerous, as Coleridge phrased it, to ultra-crepidate.
