statuesque

adj

Etymology: Unadapted borrowing from French statuesque. By surface analysis, statu(e) + -esque.

1. Resembling or characteristic of a statue.

   “He was by no means a bad hero to look at, if such a thing were needed. His face was pale, melancholy, statuesque—and his large enthusiastic eyes, suggested a story and a secret—perhaps a horror.”

   “We went out by his gate into the road, and there we made a minute examination of the statuesque passing traffic. The tops of the wheels and some of the legs of the horses of this char-a-banc, the end of the whip-lash and the lower jaw of the conductor — who was just beginning to yawn — were perceptibly in motion, but all the rest of the lumbering conveyance seemed still.”

2. Elegantly tall, graceful, and attractive.

   “Christy Turlington is a statuesque supermodel famous for her fashion ads.”

   “The grand, handsome, and much younger Mrs. Nettles, […] has the nose and cheekbones of a Cherokee and is so black and statuesque in her muscularity and boneyness that she seems carved by an ax from an effulgent vein of coal.”