a. and sb. [f. the name of Izaak Walton, author of The Compleat Angler (1653): see -IAN.]
A. adj. Of or pertaining to Izaak Walton. B. sb. A disciple of Walton, an angler.
1829. Woolmer’s Exeter & Plymouth Gaz., 9 May, 3/2. This fine fish [a salmon] was hooked with the line and artificial minnow called by Waltonians ‘the kill-devil,’ and afforded anxious sport for nearly three quarters of an hour before he was safely landed.
1832. P. Egan’s Bk. Sports, 314/2. The Waltonians, the Cottonians, and the Saltonians (for Walton, Cotton, and Salter, are their feat-books).
1837. Lockhart, Scott, xlix. (1845), 432/2. This little group of Waltonians, bound for Lord Somerville’s preserve.
1845. J. Coulter, Adv. Pacific, ii. 12. Exhibiting a sized fish that any Waltonian might well stare at.
1866. (title) Rules of the true Waltonian Society held at the Crown Tavern, Pentonville Hill. Established 1830.
1908. Westm. Gaz., 2 Jan., 12/1. He … is an ardent devotee of the Waltonian art.
So Waltonizing vbl. sb., angling.
1841. J. T. J. Hewlett, Peter Priggins, I. i. 25. A landing-net, minnow-can, casting-net, and half a hundred more requisites for Waltonizing.
1882. H. S. Leigh, Strains fr. Strand, 1.
| No sign was near of pebbly brook, | |
| That loves to brawl or babble; | |
| Where patient swains with rod and hook | |
| In Waltonising dabble. |
