All 5 Uses of
patronize
in
Great Expectations
- That abject hypocrite, Pumblechook, nodded again, and said, with a patronizing laugh, "It's more than that, Mum.†
p. 109.3patronizing = treating in a manner that demonstrates a sense of superiority, but is supposed to seem kind
- I might have been too reserved, and should have patronized her more (though I did not use that precise word in my meditations) with my confidence.†
p. 134.6 *patronized = treated in a manner that demonstrated a sense of superiority, but was supposed to seem kind OR acted like a patron (supported someone or something; or was a customer)
- Yet I do not call to mind that I was ever in my earlier youth the subject of remark in our social family circle, but some large-handed person took some such ophthalmic steps to patronize me.†
p. 80.8
- When he had at last done and had appointed to send the articles to Mr. Pumblechook's on the Thursday evening, he said, with his hand upon the parlor lock, "I know, sir, that London gentlemen cannot be expected to patronize local work, as a rule; but if you would give me a turn now and then in the quality of a townsman, I should greatly esteem it.†
p. 161.0
- For myself, I found that I was expressing my tendency to lavish expenditure, and to patronize Herbert, and to boast of my great prospects, before I quite knew that I had opened my lips.†
p. 224.5
Definitions:
-
(1)
(patronize as in: Don't patronize me.) treat in a manner that demonstrates a sense of superiority, but is supposed to seem kind
or:
the actions of a patron (to support someone or something; or to be a customer) -
(2)
(meaning too rare to warrant focus) meaning too rare to warrant focus:
More rarely, patronize can mean to "give business to" as in "I don't patronize that restaurant because the owner is rude."