Entry · catalog no. 6201
astorperious
/ /ˌæstərˈpɪəriəs/ /as-ter-PEER-ee-us
adjective · Harlem, New York · 1940s
✓ Verified
1.
Haughty, stuck-up — carrying yourself like you are too good for the room.
“She came in astorperious, wouldn''t speak to nobody.”
Origin & Attribution
Recorded in Zora Neale Hurston''s 1942 Harlem glossary. Built from Astor — the byword for old white money — and imperious: to be astorperious is to put on airs as if you belonged to that family. A Harlem coinage that turned a rich man''s name into an adjective for anybody acting above their station.
1942
Recorded in Hurston''s Story in Harlem Slang glossary
1940s
Current in Harlem speech
Region of origin
West
Midwest
N.East
South
The Northeast
Harlem, New York · 1940s
Spoken by
Harlem, New York
$ASTORPThe Record · cultural traction
▲ Dormant84 yrs
ahead of the mainstream
20/100
peak cultural energy
Introduced to English by the culture — logged here before the mainstream caught on.
Cultural usage — the recordMainstream search interest
First used
1942
in the culture
Cultural energy indexed from documented usage, search interest, and citation frequency. The recorded date is the archive’s permanent point of record.
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The Bronx, NY
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Philadelphia, PA
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Citations & Sources
■
+ Cite a sourceZora Neale Hurston, Story in Harlem Slang, The American Mercury — short story with glossary · 1942
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See also