Etymology From Timon + -ean, after the 5th-century-BCE person Timon of Athens (as described by Plutarch, Lucian, and Aristophanes), possibly by way of William Shakespeare's play Timon of Athens (c. 1607). Used by John Toland in a letter (c. 1710–1722), apparently as a rare word or neologism, and by Thomas Amory in The Life of John Buncle (volume II; 1766), as a regular word.
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Of a form of bitter misanthropy related to Timonism, like Timon of Athens.
Solitude, on the contrary, not only deprives us of both the past and the future, but always inclines the present hour to joyless melancholy, which sooner or later ends in something intractable, Timonean, (pardon the word) or perhaps more fatal.~1710-1722, John Toland, undated letter
Such was the account Mr. Hobart gave me of himself, (which made me admire him much, as he was but fifty then) and to convince me his temper had nothing Timonean or unsocial in it from his solitary life, he requested I would dine with him.1766, Thomas Amory, The Life of John Buncle, Vol. II
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And so in love with his Timonean solitude was Rozoko, that it needed many bribes and bland persuasions, to induce him to desert his mossy, hillside, misanthropic cave, for the distracting tumult of a court.1849, Herman Melville, Mardi
Etymology From Timon + -ean, after a 3rd-century-BCE disciple of Pyrrho, Skeptic philosopher and satirist Timon of Phlius (c. 320 – c. 230 BC).
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Pertaining or related to Timon of Phlius, his life, works, style, or ideas.
Since only a small percentage of Timon's oeuvre has survived and much of Callimachus' work is equally fragmentary there are no direct quotes or precise allusions, but it is possible to discern some features of Callimachus' work that seem remarkably Timonean.2009, Dee L. Clayman, Timon of Phlius