Meaning of auntliness | Babel Free

Definitions

The quality of being auntly.

uncountable

Examples

“In the good old days no family was complete⟳ without a spinster aunt to turn⟳ to in seasons of distress and grief, measles, whooping-cough, visiting, absence of parents, or unexpected company. More than any other woman, possibly, the spinster aunt has become⟳ New.[…]As a type⟳ of auntliness she is no longer plentiful, ubiquitous and tenderly considerate of a niecely sneeze⟳ or a nephewish whimper, of a brother-in-law’s slippers or a sister-in-law’s gruel or tea.”

“Rather, being the sole survivor of her own⟳ family, and sister of Mr. Branksome’s late father, she became “great” in her auntliness so far as the second generation was concerned, and adopted a grandmotherly attitude towards them, which aroused the enduring scorn of their maternal grandmother.”

“And the fact that [Jane] Austen was understood as unassuming and unaspiring, while it certainly speaks to the placidity of womenfolk in the good old days, hints at her very particular and marvelous self-sufficiency, a sufficiency that her sexlessness and auntliness together keep⟳ from being threatening:[…]”

CEFR level