a. [f. L. Ulysses (also Ulixes), ad. Gr. Ὀδυσσεὐς Odysseus, king of Ithaca and hero of the Odyssey.] Of, belonging to, or connected with Ulysses; spec. characteristic of, or resembling, Ulysses in craft or deceit, or in extensive wanderings.
In quots. 1700, 1746 the metre shows the stressing to be Ulysse·an.
1639. T. Bancroft, Epigr. & Epit., B 3 b. This Vlyssean course of yours Vs of your worthier qualities assures.
1676. Bp. N. French, Vnkirde Desertor, xvi. Wks. 1846, II. 151. His subuerting our union with Vlyssean practizes.
1700. Dryden, Ovid’s Met., XIII. 100. That this is not a Fable forg’d by me, Like one of his, an Ulyssean Lie.
1746. Francis, trans. Horace, Epist., I. vi. 95. Then let us … like th’ abandon’d Ulyssean Crew, Our Ithaca forgot, forbidden Joys pursue.
a. 1850. Marg. Fuller, Life Without & Within (1862), 55. It is said … that the modern Greeks are Ulyssean in this respect, never telling straightforward truth, when deceit will answer the purpose.
1875. W. D. Geddes, in Contemp. Rev., July, 256. The pathos culminates in the Ulyssean part of the ‘Iliad,’ the humour in the ‘Odyssey’ itself.
1889. Scottish Leader, 13 April, 6. Sir Samuel Baker … is one of the best living specimens of the Ulyssean Englishman.
