bardolator

See also: Bardolator

English

WOTD – 23 April 2013

Alternative forms

• Bardolator

Etymology

Blend of bard +‎ idolator

Pronunciation

• (General American) IPA^(key): /bɑɹˈdɑlətɚ/
• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /bɑːˈdɒlətə/

• Audio (Southern England)

  (file)

• Hyphenation: bar‧dol‧a‧tor

Noun

bardolator (plural bardolators)

1. (usually derogatory) One who loves or worships the works of William Shakespeare.
   • 1991, Samuel Schoenbaum, Shakespeare's Lives, →ISBN, page 134:

     Was Williams enjoying a philistine practical joke at the expense of an intrusive antiquary and transparently naive bardolator?

   • 1994, Nina Auerbach, “Revelations on Pages and Stages”, in Janice Carlisle, Daniel R. Schwarz, editors, Narrative and Culture, University of Georgia Press, published 2010, →ISBN, page 29:

     To Victorian bardolators, Shakespeare was so elevated a hero that he was virtually immobile.

   • 2012, William Greenslade, “Shakespeare and politics”, in Gail Marshall, editor, Shakespeare in the Nineteenth Century, Cambridge University Press, →ISBN, page 242:

     […] such rhetorical elision drew attention less to Aveling's literary and political insight than to his dubious borrowing of the all too available cloak of sentimentality in which Shakespeare was prone to be dressed by bardolators of the Marie Corelli school.

Related terms

• bardolatry

Translations

One who loves or worships the works of William Shakespeare

• French: bardolâtre (fr)

See also

• Janeite