a. and sb. [f. prec. + -AN.]

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  A.  adj. a. Of Bœotia. b. Dull, stupid.

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1598.  Marston, Pigmal., ii. 142. I dull-sprighted fat Boetian Boore.

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1809.  Byron, Bards & Rev., 82. To be misled By Jeffrey’s heart, or Lambe’s Bœotian head.

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1831.  Carlyle, Sart. Res., III. i. The earnestness and Bœotian simplicity … with which that ‘Incident’ is here brought forward.

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  B.  sb. a. A native of Bœotia. b. A stupid clown, a ‘thick-head.’

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1649.  G. Daniel, Trinarch., Hen. V., lix. These Trencher-Sts.; full-paunch’t Boetians, Contemne all Bodies bred in purer Ayre, As Atticke leanness.

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1821.  Lockhart, Valerius, II. x. 296. An opportunity for mounting, which I should have been a Bœotian indeed had I neglected.

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1839.  Thirlwall, Greece, VIII. 465.

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