apropos, adv., adj., and n.
Forms:
Also ‖ à propos.(Show Less)
Etymology: < French à propos (used in French as adverb, adjective, and noun), < à to + propos purpose, plan, < Latin prōpositum, past participle of prōpōnĕre to set forth, propose.
Const. to, of.
A. adv.
1. To the purpose; fitly, opportunely.
1668 Dryden Of Dramatick Poesie 32
The French..use them with better judgment and more apropos.
1708 Addison in Duke of Manchester Court & Society Elizabeth to Anne
(1864)
II. 315
Stanhope and Earl arrived very àpropos.
1729 B. Mandeville Fable Bees ii. iv. 187
Men of prodigious Reading..who judge ill, and seldom say any thing a propos.
1668—1729(Hide quotations)
2. With regard to, in respect of, as suggested by. (French à propos de.) absol. (as introductory to an incidental observation or question): By the way.
1749 T. Smollett tr. A. R. Le Sage Gil Blas III. ix. i. 187
But a-propos, Hast thou seen the girl?
1840 T. Hood Up Rhine 153
Apropos to which last, you will find inclosed [etc.].
1883 W. Black Shandon Bells xxxiii
Suddenly, and à propos of nothing, asking him how it was possible for a man to have three godmothers.
1749—1883(Hide quotations)
B. adj.
To the point or purpose; having direct reference to the matter in hand; pertinent, opportune, ‘happy’.
1691 T. Hale Acct. New Inventions 44
It is certainly..a propos what he had said before in that Page.
1730 J. Southall Treat. Buggs 20
The thought was à propos.
1738 Pope Epist. of Horace ii. vi. 154
A Tale extreamly à propos.
1826 B. Disraeli Vivian Grey II. iii. vii. 83
Isn't there a passage in Spix apropos to this?
1691—1826(Hide quotations)
C. n.
An opportune or pertinent occurrence (obs.); pertinency.
1783 European Mag. 3 246
A greater apropos than this happened from mere accident.
1860 Edinb. Rev. No. 225. 96
Few men..have described what they have seen with more apropos.
1783—1860(Hide quotations)
Phrases
Phr. à propos de bottes [French, lit. = ‘with regard to boots’] , without serious motive, without rhyme or reason.
1757 Ld. Chesterfield Let. 23 Sept.
(1932)
(modernized text)
V. 2242
À propos de bottes, for I am told he always wears his; was his Royal Highness very gracious to you or not?
1845 Q. Rev. 76 533
The first introduces that prince—very much àpropos de bottes—for the purpose of denying that he had any party.
1925 A. Huxley Those Barren Leaves i. i. 9
She would remember an ancient floater—just like that, à propos de bottes.
1934 ‘G. Orwell’ Burmese Days
(1935)
xviii. 225
This was àpropos de bottes, but the subject needed no introduction.
1757—1934(Hide quotations)