English

Adjective

Ausonian ‎(not comparable)

1. Of ancient Ausonia or the Ausonians
   • 1887, Theodor Mommsen & William Purdie Dickson, The Provinces of the Roman Empire from Caesar to Diocletian, page 172:

     master of the glorious art of proud Ausonian song

2. (poetic) Italian
   • 1907 (1850), “The Palace of Art”, in Select Poems of Alfred Tennyson:

     Or hollowing one hand against his ear, / […] stay'd the Ausonian king to hear / Of wisdom and of law.

3. Of or relating to the ancient poet Ausonius.

Noun

Ausonian ‎(plural Ausonians)

1. An ancient inhabitant of middle or lower Italy
   • 1823, “Chronology”, in Encyclopaedia Britannica:

     The Ausonians, the most ancient inhabitants of Italy, computed the day from midnight.

2. (poetic) An Italian

Related terms

• ausonium

References

• Ausonian in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913

• J[ohn] A. Simpson and E[dward] S. C. Weiner, editors (1989) The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd edition, Oxford: Clarendon Press, ISBN 978-0-19-861186-8.