Eccentricity

eccentricity, in astronomy: see orbit.

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Eccentricity

Addams Family

weird family, presented in grotesque domesticity. [TV: Terrace, I, 29]

Boynton, Nanny

travels with set of Encyclopaedia Britannica to settle disputes. [Am. Lit.: “Percy” in Stories, 634–644]

Dick, Mr.

odd but harmless old gentleman. [Br. Lit.: David Copperfield]

Doolittle, Doctor

veterinarian who talks to animals. [Children’s Lit.: Dr. Doolittle]

Flite, Miss

“ancient” ward in Chancery. [Br. Lit.: Bleak House]

Great-Aunt Dymphna

outlandish dresser who pointedly doesn’t eat meat. [Children’s Lit.: The Growing Summer, Fisher 124–127]

Havisham, Miss

jilted bride turns into witchlike old woman. [Br. Lit.: Great Expectations]

Longstocking, Pippi

outrageous, rebellious, imaginative child. [Children’s Lit.: Pippi Longstocking]

Madeline

individualist; only girl “out of line.” [Children’s Lit.: Madeline, Fisher, 196]

Madwoman of Chaillot

delightfully pixilated old woman manages to exploit the Parisian exploiters. [Fr. Lit.: The Madwoman of Chaillot, Benét, 618]

Pickwick, Mr. (Samuel)

jolly “conformist” who understands anything but the obvious. [Br. Lit.: Pickwick Papers]

Poppins, Mary

English nanny who practises levitation, flies up chimneys, etc. [Children’s Lit.: Mary Poppins, Fisher, 218]

Salus, St. Simeon

behaved queerly to share outcasts’ contempt. [Christian Hagiog.: Attwater, 311]