Crossword clues for avuncular
Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English
The Collaborative International Dictionary
Avuncular \A*vun"cu*lar\, a. [L. avunculus uncle.] Of or pertaining to an uncle.
In these rare instances, the law of pedigree, whether
direct or avuncular, gives way.
--I. Taylor.
Douglas Harper's Etymology Dictionary
1789, from Latin avunculus "maternal uncle," diminutive of avus (see uncle) + -ar. Used humorously for "of a pawnbroker" (uncle was slang for "pawnbroker" from c.1600 through 19c.).My only good suit is at present under the avuncular protection. ["Fraser's Magazine," 1832]
Wiktionary
a. 1 In the manner of an uncle, pertaining to an uncle. 2 (context by extension English) kind, genial, benevolent, or tolerant.
WordNet
adj. being or relating to an uncle
like an uncle in kindness or indulgence; "showed avuncular concern"
Usage examples of "avuncular".
He had a reassuring, avuncular manner, like one of those Middle European professors that always turned up in old sci-fi movies.
Ruddock, forty-three, stocky, with a gray mustache and a perceptible spare tire round his middle, cut a more avuncular figure.
He smiled gently, his pink face crinkling in his most avuncular manner.
One emblematic evening I watched Franklin pump to apogee and bail out, no doubt escaping one of those avuncular Flying Fortresses on a parachute that thighs sacrificed their stocking silks for.
His attitude toward her verged on the avuncular, and it nettled Julia from time to time.
But whatever the explanation, he had strictly censored himself from that night on, treating her in an avuncular manner that had amazed himself, and would certainly have flabbergasted any of his cronies or former mistresses had they seen him.
Then he pinched her chin in an almost avuncular fashion and, to her mixed regret and relief, released it.
Seeing her smile, he grinned and chucked her under the chin in an avuncular fashion that made James look outraged.
The doctor found himself falling into a stance - half avuncular, half conspiratorial -which he adopted with sick children.
Our cook is a gentle, avuncular Muslim called Doud whose careful rhythm of prayer and cooking and cleaning washes like a balm from his small inferno behind the dining room and soothes in waves across our house.
He had inherited the Chair from the most distinguished anchor of the last two decades, Dalt Conklin, the affable and avuncular Uncle Dalt whose shoes Don Cooder had been trying to fill for ten years now.
As you probably know, on Renascence a man of sufficient means and with no family of his own can adopt a family, if it has no objections, and assume an avuncular status.
Over the years, Hyde and Berman had formed an odd-couple relationship, the avuncular conservative Catholic from the Chicago suburbs and the amiable Jewish liberal from California.
Judges addressing juries, or prospective jurors, could be friendly and avuncular or tight and businesslike.
I admit I have a semisoft spot in my rugged heart for sweet young women of extraordinary beauty - in a dignified and avuncular manner- mostly.