All 4 Uses of
patronize
in
Babbitt
- Himself, he patronized the glittering Pompeian Barber Shop in the Hotel Thornleigh, and every time he passed the Reeves shop—ten times a day, a hundred times—he felt untrue to his own village.†
Chpt 3 *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)
- Incredulously he remembered that he had by his roaring familiarity with them laid himself open to the patronizing of youths whom he would have kicked out of his office; that by dancing too ardently he had exposed himself to rebukes from the rattiest of withering women.†
Chpt 29patronizing = treating in a manner that demonstrates a sense of superiority, but is supposed to seem kind
- His wife was awake, her face sallow and lifeless in the morning light, but now he did not compare her with Tanis; she was not merely A Woman, to be contrasted with other women, but his own self, and though he might criticize her and nag her, it was only as he might criticize and nag himself, interestedly, unpatronizingly, without the expectation of changing—or any real desire to change—the eternal essence.†
Chpt 33unpatronizingly = not treated in a manner that demonstrates a sense of superiority, but is supposed to seem kindstandard prefix: The prefix "un-" in unpatronizingly means not and reverses the meaning of patronizingly. This is the same pattern you see in words like unhappy, unknown, and unlucky.
- They called him "Old Georgie" and shouted, "Come on now, sport; shake a leg" ...boys in belted coats, pimply boys, as young as Ted and as flabby as chorus-men, but powerful to dance and to mind the phonograph and smoke cigarettes and patronize Tanis.†
Chpt 29
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."