novercal

English

Etymology

From Latin novercalis, from noverca (“a stepmother”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /nəʊˈvɜː(ɹ)kəl/
• Rhymes: -ɜː(ɹ)kəl

Adjective

novercal (not comparable)

1. (dated) Of or pertaining to a stepmother.
   • 1713, W[illiam] Derham, Physico-Theology: Or, A Demonstration of the Being and Attributes of God, from His Works of Creation. […], London: […] W[illiam] Innys, […], →OCLC:

     when almost the whole tribe of birds do thus, by incubation, produce their young , it is a wonderful deviation , that some few families only ſhould do it in a more novercal way

   (Can we find and add a quotation of Robert Browning to this entry?)

Synonyms

• stepmotherly

References

• “novercal”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.