Definition of "auntishly"

Besides, my matronly character, years, &c. entitle me to treat you if not maternally, a little auntishly.

1802 June 26, Anne Grant, “Letter XXXIV. To Miss Dunbar, Boath.”, in Letters from the Mountains; Being the Real Correspondence of a Lady, Between the Years 1773 and 1807, 2nd edition, volume III, London: […] Luke Hansard & Sons, for Longman, Hurst, Rees, & Orme, […]; J[ohn] Hatchard, […]; and Mrs. Cook, […], published 1807, page 130

“[…] I saw a girl buying chops in a butcher’s while I was waiting and I thought Eric ought to paint her. He’d go mad at sight of her. She had everything a painter wants.” […] “What do you mean by everything?” she auntishly asked, becoming aware of what Val had said about a girl buying chops. “Raw beauty,” he teased, “unadorned and to be adorned by the painter; myth-making face; body excavated from mythology too. […]”

, Rhys Davies, chapter 5, in The Perishable Quality, Melbourne, Vic., London, Toronto, Ont.: Heinemann, page 124

Whatever Mother and Father, and Aunt Rosa Bona auntishly doting and chirruping under her platter of feathers, may believe, I have never really seen their faces.

1963, Hal Porter, The Watcher on the Cast-Iron Balcony: An Australian Autobiography, London: Faber and Faber, […], page 32

There were French and German horses among the entries and a great many foreign visitors – ‘quite a babel of tongues on the roof of the grandstand’ clucked The Times rather auntishly.

1968, Ivor Herbert, Patricia Smyly, “The Lamb”, in The Winter Kings, Pelham Books, published 1969, page 26

It was so pleasant being bossed auntishly by Truman, told when to come and see him, when to go off by ourselves, where to eat and how we were to take whirlpool mineral baths, steam and massage at the Spa Hotel.

1968 February 21, Christopher Isherwood, edited by Katherine Bucknell, Diaries, volumes two (1960–1969; The Sixties), London: Chatto & Windus, published 2010, page 497

I need that assurance, will she ruffle self’s curls and smile auntishly, or will her caress mean something?

1969, Walter Harris, Clovis, New York, N.Y.: G. P. Putnam’s Sons, page 22

“You’re talking to a bunch of Southern writers who really enjoyed your show this morning. It’s like sitting down in the parlor listening to my aunt tell stories,” he said. “Everyone here has been so hospitable and supportive of me,” replied Miss [Eudora] Welty, auntishly proper and polite.

1980 November 21, Emma Edmunds, “Eudora Welty: The South’s Chekhov Hones Her Craft”, in The Atlanta Constitution, volume 113, number 113, Atlanta, Ga., page 14-B, column 1

Because of the interest he began to show in Pansy and the attention he gave her, Henry thought Kennedy ‘behaved terribly auntishly’ towards him.

1985, Keith Clements, “Pansy”, in Henry Lamb: The Artist and his Friends, Bristol: Redcliffe, section VI (Coombe Bissett 1928–1960), page 259

Little Gottfried is waving a building brick under my nose and saying, ‘Aunt Miesenmaus, Goffi write to Uncle Dietrich too!’ – so I keep having to break off and be auntishly unschoolmarmish. I don’t think any aunt has ever been so besotted with her nephew. I wish I could bring him to see you some time.

1994, Maria von Wedemeyer, translated by John Brownjohn, edited by Ruth-Alice von Bismarck and Ulrich Kabitz, Love Letters from Cell 92: Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Maria Von Wedemeyer, 1943-1945, HarperCollinsPublishers, page 92

She wanted to warn, “Don’t, Tamzin! Don’t expose your fragile heart! George is a good boy, but he . . he’s a boy! He doesn’t think in the long-term, that you might fall to bits when it ends.” But, of course, she just smiled and patted their shoulders auntishly. And behind her back she crossed her fingers really hard.

2008, Sue Moorcroft, Family Matters, Oxford: ISIS, page 222

Slowly, auntishly, Cathleen puts her hand out and pats Jonathan’s arm.

2009, Ruth Thomas, “Hey Ho, Silvo”, in Super Girl, Faber and Faber, page 197

An older lady sits and clings to him for a while, auntishly. […] He sits auntishly in the comfy damp chair.

2015, Kevin Barry, Beatlebone, Doubleday, pages 79 (Lady Narcosis (Sweet Country Music)) and 129 (Every Day Is a Holiday at the Amethyst Hotel)