adj. and adv. Also 7 vixonely. [f. as prec. + -LY.] a. adj. Resembling a vixen in disposition. b. adv. Crossly, ill-naturedly.
a. 1677. Barrow, Pope’s Suprem., Wks. 1687, I. 225. It was onely, which in such a vixonely Pope was a great favour, a forbearance to quarrel with him.
1850. Hawthorne, Scarlet L., Introd. (1852), 3. Nevertheless, vixenly as she looks, many people are seeking, at this very moment, to shelter themselves under the wing of the federal eagle.
1895. Meredith, Amazing Marriage, xlv. Our female government asks it vixenly of our impotent male.
