Malaprop

( Mrs. ), aunt and guardian to Lydia Languish, the heire . Mrs. Malaprop sets her cap at Sir Lucius O’Trigger, “a tall Irish baronet,” and corresponds with him under the name of Delia. Sir Lucius fancies it is the niece, and, when he discovers his mistake, declines the honor of marriage with the aunt. Mrs. Malaprop is a synonym for those who misapply words without mispronouncing them. Thus Mrs. Malaprop talks of a Darbyshire putrefaction , an allegory on the banks of the Nile , a barbarous Vandyke , she requests that no delusions to the past be made, and talks of flying with the utmost felicity .—Sheridan, The Rivals (1775). (Mrs. Malaprop’s name is itself a clever invention; by no means mal à propos .)