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Brit. /
f
s/, U.S. /fs/ Forms: lME offycyous, 15 officius, 15- officious. [< classical Latin offici
sus dutiful, attentive, obliging, importunate < officium OFFICE n. + -sus -OUS suffix. Compare Middle French, French officieux dutiful, obliging (1544; 1848 in sense 5), Italian uffizioso (14th cent., rare; 1831 in sense 5), Spanish officioso (1444), Portuguese officioso (17th cent.).]
1. a. Of persons or their actions, etc.: active or zealous in the exercise of an office; dutiful. Obs.
c1487 J. SKELTON tr. Diodorus Siculus
Bibliotheca Historica V. 384 Dame Ceres..made to hym euydent exposicion how he sholde demene hym-self in thoffycyous admynystracion of thobseruauncis & sacrefyse.
1594 SHAKESPEARE Titus Andronicus V. ii. 200 Come, come, be euerie one officius, To make this banket.
1598 BACON Hypocrites in
Ess. (1862) 117 As to these others who are so officious towards God.
1641 R. CARPENTER Experience I. 13 To stand like officious, and dutifull servants.
1730 J. THOMSON Winter in
Seasons 205 In vain for him th' officious wife prepares The fire fair-blazing, and the vestment warm.
a1770 M. AKENSIDE To Cheerfulness in
Odes I. vi, The officious daughters pleas'd attend.
b. Of things: performing the proper office or function; serving the required purpose; efficacious. Obs.
1618 BP. J. HALL Contempl. IV. N.T.
I. 329 If twise in the day we do not present God with our solemne invocations, wee make the Gospell lesse officious, then the law.
a1657 G. DANIEL Trinarchodia: Henry V ccii, in
Poems (1878) IV. 151 The Stronger Squadron of the french fell in Vpon the goreing stakes;..'mongst these officious prongs Surpriz'd; their horse entangled, plunge their way Through many wounds, to Death.
1884 LD. SELBORNE in
Law Times Rep. 50 314/1 That interpretation which makes [the words] more officious with respect to the..purpose of the instrument is to be preferred
2. Doing or ready to do kind offices; eager to serve, help, or please; attentive, obliging, kind. Now rare, exc. as passing into sense 3.
Cf. officious lie n., officious falsity n. at Special uses.
1565 T. STAPLETON tr. Bede
Hist. Church Eng. V. iv. 157 She..came to the table, shewed her selfe very officious in caruinge..to the bysshope and all the hole table.
1570 Mariage Witte & Sci. II. i. sig. Bii, Shew thy selfe officious and seruisable stil.
1679 Season. Adv. Protestants 6 The Peoples aversion they took away by degrees by their officious kind behaviour.
1783 JOHNSON On Death Levet in
Gentleman's Mag. Aug. 695 Officious, innocent, sincere, Of ev'ry friendless name the friend.
1790 E. BURKE Refl. Revol. in France 202 They were tolerably well-bred; very officious, humane, and hospitable.
1827 J. KEBLE Christian Year II. ci. 193 Feeling more bitterly alone The friends that press officious round.
1939 N. W
EST Day of Locust xvi. 123 She was an officious, bustling woman with a face like a baked apple, soft and blotched.
1955 S. H. A
DAMS Grandfather Stories 119 Moreover, I was naturally of an affording and officious nature, and it was a signal honor to be selected for a post of responsibility and hazard.
3. Unduly forward in offering one's services, or in taking business upon oneself; doing, or prone to do, more than is asked or required; interfering, intrusive. In later use esp.: inclined to assert authority in a self-important or pompous way, esp. with regard to petty or trivial matters. (Now the usual sense.)
1596 W. WARNER Albions Eng. (rev. ed.)
IX. xlv. 215 Wolsey, that slye, officious, and too Lordly Cardnall.
1676 G. ETHEREGE Man of Mode I. i. 15 He..knows not whom, without Some officious Sot has betray'd me.
1770 J. LANGHORNE & W. L
ANGHORNE tr. Plutarch
Lives (1879) I. 163/2 He would not be so officious as to interpose.
1827 B. DISRAELI Vivian Grey III.
V vi. 127 One of those officious, noisy little men, who are always ready to give you unasked information.
1863 ‘G. ELIOT’ Romola II. v. 44 He glanced suspiciously at the officious stranger.
1883 Harper's Mag. June 100/1 He would do well to disembarrass himself of his too officious advisers.
1904 W. CHURCHILL Crossing II. i. 384, I waited for him in two streets until an officious person chanced along and threatened to take me before the Arcade.
1930 L. W. MEYNELL Camouflage vi. 83 Michael began to run. ‘You can't make this train, sir,’ an officious inspector warned him, trying to bar his way.
1959 A. CHRISTIE Cat among Pigeons ix. 108 That's what made her so officious. About finding fault, you know, and enforcing rules and finding out what people were doing that they shouldn't be doing.
1986 M. H
UGHES Dream Catcher i. 14 She mustn't seem unsure of what she was doing, or some officious person would be bound to come up and ask if they could help.
2001 Balance (Diabetes U.K.) Mar.-Apr. 27/1 It didn't take long for the officious dragon to declare that my diet was all wrong, that I needed to lose a stone in weight.
4. Relating or belonging to an office or business; official, formal. Obs.
1602 B. JONSON Poetaster IV. ix. sig. I4, Farewell, sweete Life: though thou be yet exil'd, Th'officious Court, enioy mee amply still.
1610 J. DOVE Advt. Seminaries 16 He sheweth, that, as there is one adoration which is religious, belonging to God, so there is an other, onely officious, belonging to all ecclesiasticall rites and ceremonies.
1742 R. NORTH & M. N
ORTH Life Francis North 225 He put off officious Talk of Government or Politicks, with Jests.
1796 C. BURNEY Mem. Life Metastasio II. 264 To waste his precious moments in answering letters purely officious.
1852 J. H. NEWMAN Disc. Univ. Educ. 221 The Sermons..of Protestant Divines in the seventeenth century, how often are they mere repertories of miscellaneous and officious learning.
5. In diplomats' use (as distinguished from official): not directly bearing on official business; having the character of a friendly communication or informal action on the part of a government or its official representatives; informal, unofficial. Now rare.
1852 LD. PALMERSTON in Mem. Ld. Malmesbury (1885) 238 When the diplomates call, do not be too reserved, but preface your observations by stating that what you say is officious. 1852 LD. PALMERSTON in Mem. Ld. Malmesbury (1885) 226 (note) Old diplomatists must know the difference between an officious and an official conversation. The first is the free interchange of opinions between the two Ministers, and compromises neither; the latter would do so, and bind their Governments. 1866 Pall Mall Gaz. No. 447. 165/1 Feelers put out in the officious press 1887 Pall Mall Gaz. 9 Nov. 2/1 Every individual who receives [official] protection from a foreign Government becomes in his turn a centre of protection to his friends and dependants, and spreads this diluted form which is known as ‘officious’ protection at a rate of arithmetical progression. 1900 Westm. Gaz. 16 Aug. 2/1 We want the great European Powers to consent to be our guarantees with the Sultan. They would act in an officious, if not in an official capacity.
SPECIAL USES
officious falsity n. Obs. rare = officious lie n.
1676 G. TOWERSON Explic. Decalogue 520 Concerning *officious falsities.
officious lie n. [after post-classical Latin mendacium officiosum (a420 in Jerome); compare Italian bugia ufficiosa (a1595), French mensonge officieux (c1660)] a lie told as an act of kindness to further another's interests.
1577 H. I. tr. H. Bullinger
50 Godlie Serm. II.
III. iv. Cc.v/1, An *officious lye, that is when I fitten or tell an vntruth for dueties sake, to the end that by my lye, I may kéepe my neighbour harmelesse.
1678 R. CUDWORTH True Intellect. Syst. Universe I. iv. 283 Ignorantly zealous Christians, who were for Officious Lyes and Pious Frauds
1788 J. WESLEY Wks. (1872) VII. 42 Concerning
officious lies, those that are spoken with a design to do good, there have been numerous controversies.
1882 Harper's Mag. Mar. 563/1 The officious lie, which is venial in principle, because it does not cause grave disorder.
1928 in J. Hagan
Compend. Catechetical Instr. III. xi. 425/2
Q. What is an officious lie?
A. An officious lie is a false statement to benefit oneself or another without injuring anyone else.
2003 New Catholic Encycl. (ed. 2) VIII. 900/2 Useful and harmless according to strict justice, the so-called ‘officious’ lie (
mendacium officiosum) is intended to gain some good or to protect oneself or others from harm.
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