veronica
verbEtymology Named after Saint Veronica.
1
To draw a muleta over and away from a bull's face in bullfighting.
veronica
nounUK /vəˈɹɒnɪkə/
Etymology Named after Saint Veronica.
1
Catholicism, Christianity, Roman Catholicism The image of Jesus's face believed to have been made on the cloth with which St Veronica wiped his face as he went to be crucified; or the cloth used for this.
- A veil that had wiped off the sweat of Christ? Who could possibly believe that? (…) The only true Veronica of this century was the veronica of the matador – the classic slow swing of the cape before the bull’s face, imitating that holy wiping, mocking it.1973, Nicholas Monsarrat, The Kapillan of Malta:
- He wiped the lady’s martini glass, having had some trouble with a kind of veronica of lipstick, spat in it viciously, then washed it again.1988, Anthony Burgess, Any Old Iron:
2
Bullfighting, Entertainment, Lifestyle A circular swinging movement of the cape, used to avoid the bull.
- The cougher makes a lunge. Slothrop sweeps aside, gives him a quick veronica with his cape, sticks his foot out and trips the kid, who lies on the ground cursing1973, Thomas Pynchon, Gravity's Rainbow:
- He stepped aside as a fight got going between an attendant and some kid by the Alkool display, hopping backwards in a practised veronica when a bottle broke, fearful for his flares.1989, Martin Amis, London Fields, Vintage, published 2003, page 357:
- meadows full of wildflowers that seemed to Kit enormous, violets as big as your hand, yellow lilies and blue veronica you could shelter from the rain under2006, Thomas Pynchon, Against the Day, Vintage, published 2007, page 871:
- There are also (placed there by man or nature?) quite a lot of skinny fuchsias and dense veronicas, all in flower, and some kind of rather attractive grey-leaved sage.1978, Iris Murdoch, The Sea, The Sea, Vintage, published 1999, page 11: