Shylockian adjective1 •Of, relating to, or in the manner of the character Shylock from Shakespeare's play The Merchant of Venice, such as being hard-hearted, exploitative, avaricious, deceitful, or vengeful.‘A wilderness of dragons.’ There is a sting in this Shylockian plural, the sharper for coming from a critic, who deserves the title of the poet's best friend. — 1936 formsmore Shylockian · most Shylockian