Sherlock Holmesque

English

Etymology

From Sherlock Holmes +‎ -esque.

Adjective

Sherlock Holmesque (comparative more Sherlock Holmesque, superlative most Sherlock Holmesque)

1. Resembling or characteristic of the fictional detective Sherlock Holmes.
   • 1903, Brick, page 238:

     […] the interpreter, with Sherlock-Holmesque astuteness, paired this fact with that of the Frenchmen’s presence in the town […]

   • 1910 September 8, “Concentrates”, in The Cobalt Daily Nugget, volume II, number 191, Cobalt, Ont., page one, column 3:

     Half the population of the Silver Belt will turn Sherlock Holmesque. There are already fourteen different theories as to how the villains bored the hole in the wall, and there are dozens on the wing.

   • 1912 October 14, “Policeman With Keen Ears Deduces an Alarm Clock Is Not Proper Companion”, in The Gazette Times, Pittsburgh, Pa., page 1:

     Frantz held the package at arm’s length and grew Sherlock Holmesque. Policeman gets a clue—asks for reasons—same not satisfactory—Frantz in cell in Center Avenue Station—clock on sergeant’s desk as evidence.

   • 1923 August 8, “Alarm Clocks in Bag Let Go; Youth Nabbed”, in The Detroit Free Press, volume 88, number 315, Detroit, Mich., page 7:

     A la Sherlock Holmesque, Authier traced the noise to a paper sack which a youth nearby was carrying under his arm.

   • 1976 October 29, Dave Kindred, “The continuing Looney saga: Has our hero found peace?”, in The Courier-Journal, Louisville, Ken., page C 1, column 2:

     “Sure as the Lord made tumbleweeds in Kansas, we — your Sherlock Holmesque readers — are closing in on the elusive Joe Don Looney,” the Morrisseys wrote.

   • 1988 April 8, Lisa McKinnon, “In search of theater”, in Lompoc Record, volume 114, number 307, page T1:

     He plays Brown, a federal agent who disguises himself as a bumbling Sherlock Holmesque detective.

   • 2000 April 28, betnoir, quoting Excession, “[OFF] A new police sitcom..”, in alt.callahans (Usenet):

     > Sherlock Holmesque films are pretty cool.

   • 2003, Frank Stiffel, “When-it-Rains-it-Purrs, Inc.”, in The House of Margie: The Oxymoron Factor 4: A Post-Holocaust Memoir, Xlibris, →ISBN, page 253:

     But that little something happened to put me on the road leading to culinary achievements, and remained imbedded in my mind forever as a Sherlock Holmesque “Case of the Stubborn Duck”.

   • 2007 October 7, CricketLeague, “Hair made the most appaling^[sic] decision in my entire life - Sir John Anderson”, in rec.sport.cricke (Usenet):

     Am I supposed to call you a GENIUS because of your Sherlock Holmesque revelation ?

   • 2008 December 19, Geoff Miller, “Just One Word (Not Even!)”, in alt.support.childfree (Usenet):

     It's sort of a Sherlock Holmesque thing, to try and pin down where a person is from based on their idioms and figures of speech.

   • 2017, Maria L.M. Fres-Felix, quoting Joselito D. Delos Reyes, Crimetime: Inspector SJ Tuason Case Files, Anvil Publishing, Inc., →ISBN:

     Here, a compendium of well-written Sherlock Holmesque stories, set at our bustling Metro where milieu and characters extol authenticity, is a fine example of where we should commence in this rarely trod sub-genre of fiction.

Synonyms

• Holmesish
• Sherlock Holmesish
• Sherlock Holmesy
• Sherlockish
• Sherlocky