parenthetic (parent he tik)

[ parenthetical (par-en-thet'i-kal), a. [ incidental. He had disposed of Mrs. Paul at her door, and had hastened back, pausing for a parenthetical gla at the bar. The Century, XXXVIII. 183. 4. Curved; bowed; resembling in shape the marks called parentheses. [Humorous.] There an Indian woman, with her semi-Tartar features, nakedly hideous, and her thin parenthetical legs, encased in wrinkled tights, hurried round the fane. R. F. Burton, El-Medinah, p. 397. parenthetically (par-en-thet'i-kal-i), adv. In a parenthesis; in the manner or form of a parenthesis; by way of parenthesis; as a parenthesis.