Zeligesque

English

Etymology

Zelig +‎ -esque

Adjective

Zeligesque (comparative more Zeligesque, superlative most Zeligesque)

1. Appearing at a surprisingly wide variety of historic events and/or with a similarly diverse group of historic figures.
   • 1999 September 30, Doreen Carvajal, “Writer as Character in Reagan Biography”, in The New York Times:

     For literary purposes, the author, 59, has essentially transformed his own life […] revised his age, birthplace, identity and resume to become a Zeligesque narrator who is a Reagan contemporary, glimpsing the future President on a Dixon High School football field; bumping into him beneath the elms of his Illinois alma mater, Eureka College; reporting for duty to Lieutenant at the Army Air Force's first motion picture unit.

   • 2011, Simon Sebag Montefiore, Jerusalem: The Biography – A History of the Middle East, page 267:

     During his long career, this Zeligesque courtier, warrior and writer managed to serve all the great Islamic leaders of his century, from Zangi and the Fatimid caliphs to Saladin, and to know at least two of the kings of Jerusalem.

   • 2018, Rick Wilson, Everything Trump Touches Dies:

     He's become a kind of Zeligesque political figure, appearing when he's least desired and least expected.