English edit

Etymology edit

After Don Quixote.

Pronunciation edit

  • (UK) IPA(key): /ˈkwɪksət/, /ˈkwɪksəʊt/, /kɪˈhəʊti/

Noun edit

Quixote (plural Quixotes)

  1. Someone resembling Don Quixote; someone who is chivalrous but unrealistic; an idealist. [from 17th c.]
    • 1723, Charles Walker, Sally Salisbury:
      I had once determined to fix the terrible Name of some Man of War in the Front of your History, a perfect Hero, that should like another Quixot defend your Reputation right, or wrong [...].
    • 1929, Cecil Day Lewis, Transitional Poem:
      Few things can more inflame / This far too combative heart / Than the intellectual Quixotes of the age / Prattling of abstract art.

Related terms edit