All 4 Uses of
officious
in
The Odyssey by Homer - (translated by: Pope)
- The thighs now sacrificed, and entrails dress'd, The assistants part, transfix, and broil the rest While these officious tend the rites divine, The last fair branch of the Nestorean line, Sweet Polycaste, took the pleasing toil To bathe the prince, and pour the fragrant oil.†
Book 3 *
- He bathes; the damsels with officious toil, Shed sweets, shed unguents, in a shower of oil; Then o'er his limbs a gorgeous robe he spreads, And to the feast magnificently treads.†
Book 8
- If with desire so strong thy bosom glows, Ill (said the king) should I thy wish oppose; For oft in others freely I reprove The ill-timed efforts of officious love; Who love too much, hate in the like extreme, And both the golden mean alike condemn.†
Book 15
- Such servant as your humble choice requires, To light received the lord of my desires, New from the birth; and with a mother's hand His tender bloom to manly growth sustain'd: Of matchless prudence, and a duteous mind; Though now to life's extremest verge declined, Of strength superior to the toil design'd— Rise, Euryclea! with officious care For the poor friend the cleansing bath prepare: This debt his correspondent fortunes claim, Too like Ulysses, and perhaps the same!†
Book 19
Definition:
-
(officious) too eager to tell others what to do -- often regarding unimportant matters