Literary notes about meddlesome (AI summary)
The term "meddlesome" has been employed in literature to denote unwarranted interference in various spheres of life. In early travel narratives, for example, it critiques excessive editorial involvement that has led accounts astray, describing the interference as "over-meddlesome" [1]. In works of philosophy and theology, the term underscores the dangers of introducing extraneous, detrimental intermediaries between individuals and the divine, as seen in the denunciation of "meddlesome priestcraft" [2]. Moreover, in literary fiction, the word acquires a distinctly pejorative tone in everyday social interactions, where characters are admonished for prying into matters that are none of their concern—illustrated by the scolding remark about not being a "meddlesome wench" [3, 4]. Even in historical texts, meddlesome individuals are held accountable for corrupting the purity of important sources [5], and allegorical works like "The Pilgrim's Progress" use it to label well-meaning yet intrusive busybodies [6]. Thus, across genres and centuries, "meddlesome" consistently critiques unnecessary and unwanted interference, whether in spiritual, personal, or scholarly domains.
- In some other cases this editorial spirit has been over-meddlesome and has gone astray.
— from The Travels of Marco Polo — Volume 1 by Marco Polo and da Pisa Rusticiano - Away, it says, with all intermediaries between the soul and God, with all meddlesome priestcraft and all mechanical salvation.
— from The Life of Reason: The Phases of Human Progress by George Santayana - Don’t you be a meddlesome wench an’ poke your nose where it’s no cause to go.
— from The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett - Don't you be a meddlesome wench an' poke your nose where it's no cause to go.
— from The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett - Unfortunately, this source has not been spared by meddlesome men, and it has not reached us in its pristine condition.
— from Cookery and Dining in Imperial Rome by Apicius - They also began to speak [256] falsely about His servants, and to count the very best of them meddlesome, troublesome busy-bodies.
— from The Pilgrim's Progress by John Bunyan Every Child Can Read by John Bunyan
