Dr. Watsonish

English

Alternative forms

• Dr. Watson-ish, Dr Watsonish

Etymology

From Dr. Watson +‎ -ish.

Adjective

Dr. Watsonish (comparative more Dr. Watsonish, superlative most Dr. Watsonish)

1. Resembling or characteristic of the character Dr. Watson from the Sherlock Holmes stories.
   • 1908 May 24, “The Englishman’s Umbrella”, in The New York Times, volume LVII, number 18,383, New York, N.Y., part five, page 5, column 1:

     “How on earth could you tell it was his?” asked a Dr. Watsonish-kind of clerk with as much awe as if he were addressing Sherlock Holmes himself.

   • 1929 June 23, “The Weekly Review—A Page About Books”, in Donald Davidson, editor, The Knoxville Sunday Journal‎^[1], volume 5, number 48, Knoxville, Tenn.:

     To a cottage by the sea come a famous English detective and his very Dr. Watson[-]ish friend.

   • 1942 February 11, Lee Russell, “Sittin’ in the Press Row with Lee Russell”, in The Idaho Daily Statesman, number 173, Boise, Ida., page eleven, column 1:

     Charlie [Robinson] enlightens: […] “In my Dr. Watsonish way, I have rawther deducted that the policy of the Round Table might be summed up thusly: No regular meetings are scheduled, but as activities an occasions demand, the club is called together and I believe past history warrants the conclusion that they have done a better than average job of getting things done. […]”

   • 1945 April 15, Mary-Carter Roberts, “Reviewing The New Books”, in The Sunday Star, number 2,089/36,871, Washington, D.C., pages C—3, column 1:

     One of the most irritating auctorial devices is that of having a story told through the eyes of a character who takes no part in it, who merely looks and listens in a sort of Dr. Watsonish fascination.

   • 1950 October 18, M.S., “Civic Interest In Theatre Project: Melton’s “Pygmalion” Was A Town Occasion”, in Leicester Evening Mail, page eight:

     There was an easy power in Maxwell Knights’ professor, but Reg. Hubbard, as Pickering, tended to be too much a secondary character, a Doctor Watsonish yes-man rather than a character in his own right.

   • 1961, Colin Wilson, Adrift in Soho, Boston, Mass.: Houghton Mifflin Company; Cambridge, Mass.: The Riverside Press, →LCCN, page 39:

     I was flattered that he should consider me worthy of his acquaintance; I felt a certain Doctor Watson-ish admiration for the charm and confidence of his manner.

   • 1961 January 13, Bill Summers, “Becky Uses Charms To Climb, Plot”, in Orlando Evening Star, 85th year, number 9, Orlando, Fla., pages 6—B, column 1:

     Joseph Sedley, a Dr. Watsonish-type character, provided some chuckles.

   • 1966 March 6, Frankie Matthesen, “The Courant Coroner”, in The Hartford Courant, volume CXXIX, number 65, Hartford, Conn., page 15, column 1:

     John Jericho has gained a Dr. Watsonish raconteur in Hugh Pentecost’s “Hide Her From Every Eye;” […]

   • 1973 June 21, Paul Dellinger, “Barter’s ‘The Hostage’ Combines Stage Ploys”, in The Roanoke Times, volume 173, number 172, Roanoke, Va., page 46, column 3:

     Gwyllum Evans, as a kilted Dr. Watsonish commander who sees the warfare through his own fantasies, provides some with his bagpipe entrances and with one of the many great songs of the production.

   • 1978 June 18, Brian Roberts, “Farewell to Hawaii”, in Star-Bulletin & Advertiser, page F-3, column 2:

     We then apprehend our criminals by a process of deduction and elimination in the true Sherlock Holmes’ manner, although if the truth be known most of us, including our policemen, are more Doctor Watsonish, and not clear, incisive Holmes types.

   • 1979 May 9, Bill Mandel, “The $600 Man”, in San Francisco Examiner, 114th year, number 284, page 23, column 1:

     Robert Conrad’s tough, lady-killing Jim West and Ross Martin’s urbane, Dr. Watsonish Artemus Gordon were James Bond types 100 years before Bond’s era, technocratic super-spies in the Gilded Age of the American West (cheez — I’m starting to sound like Kevin Starr).

   • 1984 August 21, Deborah H. Williams, “Storytime”, in The Evening Press, Binghamton, N.Y., page 1C, column 1:

     In these pages, an astute Sherlock Holmesian character solves all kinds of mysteries with help from a somewhat inept Dr. Watsonish assistant.

   • 1985 August 11, Ken Tucker, “GREASY LAKE By T. Coraghessan Boyle. Viking. $16.95”, in The Philadelphia Inquirer, volume 313, number 42, page 9, column 3:

     The voice of Boyle’s Doctor Watson-ish narrator is deadpan-perfect (“Beersley was known for his composure, his stoicism, his relentless pursuit of the evidence under even the most distracting circumstances”), but the spoofy plot quickly becomes a tedious joke.

   • 1992 February 19, Charles Spencer, “A musical humming with ideas”, in The Daily Telegraph, number 42,504, page 16:

     There’s strong support from Bryan Pringle as an anarchic, gravel-voiced Alfred Doolittle and Michael Medwin as an agreeably Doctor-Watsonish Col Pickering, and the stamping ensemble dance routines during such great numbers as With a Little Bit of Luck and Get Me to the Church on Time exude an infectious exuberance.

   • 2009, Quill & Quire, volume 75, page 32, column 3:

     […] Dr. Watsonish diagnostician Hamish Wakefield makes bull-headed statements but is easily offended, possibly due to being a closeted homosexual; […]

   • 2013 July 24, Pete Naughton, “Why radio trumped TV for royal baby coverage”, in The Daily Telegraph, number 49,192, page 30, column 2:

     Desolation Island, the fifth book in O’Brian’s Aubrey-Maturin series (Stephen Maturin being the Captain’s phlegmatic, slightly Dr Watson-ish sidekick and confidante), follows Aubrey’s new charge, the HMS Leopard, on a voyage from England to Botany Bay in Australia.

Synonyms

• Watsonian
• Watsonish