lionism

English

Etymology

lion +‎ -ism The nineteenth century practice got its name from the lions that were on display at the Tower of London.

Noun

lionism (plural lionisms)

1. (historical) The nineteenth century practice of bringing an interesting person or object (called a lion) into one's home as entertainment for visitors.
   • 1837, “Human Zoology – No. II.: Lions”, in The New Monthly Magazine and Humorist, volume 51, page 177:

     The elements of lionism are of necessity evanescent,as they are various. Provided the thing be not common-place and familiar, there is scarcely a particular that will not constitute its owner a lion.

   • 1839 August, William Tait, ‎Christian Isobel Johnstone, “The Lion of the Coteries”, in Tait's Edinburgh Magazine, volume 6, number 68, page 495:

     An affray arose from Miss Florida getting into fits at seeing the body of a femal infant dwarf, (the Palermo Fairy,) which Lady Garston had bribed the keeper of an anatomical museum to lend her for the night. Lady Merivale, disgusted by this bit of lionism, wished to be off, and looked round for Brandon to order her carriage.

   • 1877, Harriet Martineau, ‎Maria Weston Chapman, Harriet Martineau's Autobiography: In Three Volumes, page 295:

     A man so seriously devoted to an object is not likely to find himself the guest of the coarsest perpetrators of 'lionism.' He is not likely to accept the hospitality on condition of being made a show; but he need not part with his good humour.

   • 2009, Richard Salmon, “The physiognomy of the lion: encountering literary celebrity in the nineteenth century”, in Tom Mole, editor, Romanticism and Celebrity Culture, 1750-1850, page 60:

     While other contemporary cultural practices and technological developments, equally reflective of the same historical period, may have done more to shape the future condition of what we habitually describe as 'modern' celebrity, the phenomenon of lionism can be seen as uniquely representative of the heterogeneous 'transitional' character of an earlier modernity.

   • 2013, C. Boyce, ‎P. Finnerty, ‎A. Millim, Victorian Celebrity Culture and Tennyson's Circle:

     His dislike of the spectacle and practice of lionism, which were so prevalent in the social gatherings and salons of London, meant that he excluded himself from the very places where wider success, fame and fortune were arbitrated and produced.

   • 2016, Juliet John, The Oxford Handbook of Victorian Literary Culture, page 540:

     At the beginning of Queen Victoria's reign, the emergent nature of literary celebrity provoked much anxious debate due to the new phenomenon of 'lionism'.

2. (historical) The state of being the lion (interesting object or person that is entertainment for guests) of nineteenth century hostesses.
   • 1847, George Henry Lewes, Ranthorpe, page 100:

     In the whirl and giddiness of his lionism, he had contracted debts with the same recklessness as he had done every thing else.

   • 1877, Harriet Martineau, ‎Maria Weston Chapman, Harriet Martineau's Autobiography: In Three Volumes, page 294:

     To any one strong enough to stand it, however, the experience of literary 'lionism' yelds much that is worth having.

   • 1908, Lionel Josaphare, “The Literary Lion”, in The Pacific Monthly: A Magazine of Education and Progress, page 458:

     As a matter of fact, the exemplar of lionism belongs to a Society for the Preservation of Egotism: any attack on the lion's traits would meet with peremptory slaughter.

   • 1939, Frederika Beatty, William Wordsworth of Rydal Mount, page 48:

     Wordsworth, he says, accepted his lionism and was not affected by it, whereas his wife, a small, withered, puckered, winking lady, who never spoke, seemed to be more in earnest about the affair, and was visibly and sometimes ridiculously assiduous to secure her proper place of precedence at table.

   • 2014, Antonio Candido, ‎Howard S. Becker, Antonio Candido: On Literature and Society, page 10:

     Which the Count needs, because all of his Byronism, his "lionism," his use of hashish, his fame as a vampire, his infallibility (as if he were an initiate), his dominion over the heights and depths of society, converges toward an emotion and a dominant form of behavior to which he desires to attribute this providential character: vengeance.

3. The embodiment of Rastafarian ideals; the state of being a "Rasta Lion".
   • 1985, Rastafari, page 75:

     Yet it is here, in this repressed sphere of African original roots vibrations, that the enduring foundations of true lionism is to be found.

   • 1999, William David Spencer, Dread Jesus, page 66:

     Lionism transcends even Haille Selassie who merely came in the name of the Lion as ' The Conquering Lion of Judah' or as the 'man-lion from Mount Zion.'

   • 2010, Delano Vincent Palmer, Messianic 'I' and Rastafari in New Testament Dialogue, page 21:

     It was at this site that 'lionism' and other fundamental Rastafari tenets were first developed.

4. (rare) Alternative form of Lionism
   • 2005, Ola Vincent, Ola Vincent's Speeches, Writings and Presentations: 1985-2004, page 449:

     Thus lionism enshrined the doctrine of love, which binds humanity together.

   • 2000, Tell - Issues 40-52, page 11:

     Sanusi says of his tenure as a Lions Club member: " I have always believed that lionism and clubs alike are anti-Islamic but this disposition, however, changed when I was lured into the club by a friend. And upon realising its objectives, I promise not to rest on my oars in making Lions Club the desire of all who want to render service to humanity."

   • 2016, PMJF Lion Er T M Gunaraja, Lions 324A1 Hand Book, page 52:

     He joined lionism in 1985 in Lions Club of Madras Park Town.