Lionism

English

Etymology

Lion +‎ -ism

Noun

Lionism (uncountable)

1. The ideals of and membership in the Lions Club
   • 1959, Minter L. Wilson, The Light of Other Days, page 224:

     We have learned that Lionism is a spirit . We have learned that an atmosphere has created Lionism, and that Lionism in return creates an atmosphere.

   • 1986, Rashmi Mayur, ‎Prem Ratan Vohra, Bombay by 2000 A.D., page 87:

     The laudable aspects of the movement caught the imagination of the citizens of the world and soon Lionism became an international movement.

   • 1991, Paul Martin, We Serve: A History of the Lions Clubs, page 22:

     In Lionism, I feel we have such a stabilizer and inasmuch as it has been truly said that Lionsim represents a true cross-section of the best in citizenship, everywhere, much of our feeling of concern may to a very large extent at least be allayed.

   • 2000, Pepper Worthington, Big Daddy: The W. Roy Poole Story, page 122:

     O is also for outstanding, that one word that better sums up his contributions to Lionism.

   • 2023, Bishnu Bajoria, My Journey in Lionism, page 8:

     Lionism is a platform which gives enough opportunity to its members to develop their personalities and become better human beings.

2. (rare) Alternative form of lionism
   • 1869, Thomas Carlyle, Sartor Resartus (1831): Lectures on Heroes, page 330:

     He could not get his Lionism forgotten, honestly as he was disposed to do so.

   • 1877, Harriet Martineau, Harriet Martineau's Autobiography, page 206:

     The practice of 'Lionism' originates in some feelings which are very good, —in veneration for intellectual superiority, and gratitude for intellectual gifts; and its form and prevalence are determined by the fact, that literature has reached a larger class, and interested a different order of people from any who formerly shared its advantages.

   • 2023, Elizabeth King, The Novelist in the Novel:

     Literary “Lionism,” he claims, has “ruined innumerable men" because it turns an author into “a wretched inflated wind-bag – inflated till he burst, and become a dead lion."