plenteous (adj.)

c. 1300, plenteivous, "fertile, fruitful, prolific," from Old French plentivos, plentiveus "fertile, rich" (early 13c.), from plentif "abundant," from plentee "abundance" (see plenty). From late 14c. as "abundant, plentiful, copious." Modern form by late 14c. Related: Plenteously; plenteousness.

plenteous, -iful. As with other pairs in -eous & -iful (e.g. from bounty, beauty, duty, pity), the meaning of the two is the same, but the -eous word is the less common & therefore better suited to the needs of poetry & exalted prose ; for these it should be reserved. [Fowler, 1926]

also from c. 1300

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plenty (n.)

mid-13c., "abundance; as much as one could desire; an ample supply," from Old French plentee, earlier plentet "abundance, profusion" (12c., Modern French dialectal plenté), from Latin plenitatem (nominative plenitas) "fullness," from plenus "full, filled, greatly crowded; stout, pregnant; abundant, abounding; complete," from PIE root *pele- (1) "to fill."

From early 14c. as "a large amount, a great deal." The meaning "condition of general abundance" is from late 14c. The colloquial adverb meaning "very much" is first attested 1842. Middle English had parallel formation plenteth, from the older Old French form of the word.

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ample

mid-15c., "great, abundant," especially "sufficient for any purpose," from Old French ample "large, wide, vast, great" (12c.), from Latin amplus "large, spacious; abundant, numerous; magnificent, distinguished," which is related to ampla "handle, grip; opportunity," from Proto-It

copious

"abundant, plentiful," mid-14c., from Latin copiosus "plentiful," from copia "an abundance, ample supply, profusion, plenty; riches, prosperity; ability, power, might," also the name of the Roman goddess of abundance," from assimilated form of com "with, together" (see com-) + op

rich

Old English rice "strong, powerful; great, mighty; of high rank" (senses now obsolete), in later Old English "wealthy;" from Proto-Germanic *rikijaz (source also of Old Norse rikr, Swedish rik, Danish rig, Old Frisian rike "wealthy, mighty," Dutch rijk, Old High German rihhi "rul

maple

"tree of the genus Acer," c. 1300, mapel, from Old English mapultreow "maple tree," also mapolder, mapuldre, related to Old Norse möpurr, Old Saxon mapulder, Middle Low German mapeldorn, from Proto-Germanic *maplo-. There also was a Proto-Germanic *matlo- (source also of Old High

pity

mid-13c., pite, "compassion, kindness, generosity of spirit;" c. 1300 "disposition to mercy, quality of being merciful," also "a feeling of sympathy and compassion aroused by the sorrow or suffering of another," from Old French pite, pitet "pity, mercy, compassion, care, tenderne

arithmetic

"art of computation, the most elementary branch of mathematics," mid-13c., arsmetike, from Old French arsmetique (12c.), from Latin arithmetica, from Greek arithmetikē (tekhnē) "(the) counting (art)," fem. of arithmetikos "of or for reckoning, arithmetical," from arithmos "number

impact

c. 1600, "press closely into something," from Latin impactus, past participle of impingere "to push into, drive into, strike against," from assimilated form of in- "into, in, on, upon" (from PIE root *en "in") + pangere "to fix, fasten" (from PIE root *pag- "to fasten"). Original

gloss

"glistening smoothness, luster," 1530s, probably from Scandinavian (compare Icelandic glossi "a spark, a flame," related to glossa "to flame"), or obsolete Dutch gloos "a glowing," from Middle High German glos; probably ultimately from the same source as English glow (v.). Superf

sedulous

"diligent in application or pursuit of an object," 1530s, from Latin sedulus "attentive, painstaking, diligent, busy, zealous," probably from sedulo (adv.) "sincerely, diligently," from sedolo "without deception or guile," from se- "without, apart" (see se-) + dolo, ablative of d

Deuteronomy

5th book of the Pentateuch, late 14c., Deutronomye (Wycliffe), from Late Latin Deuteronomium, from Ecclesiastical Greek Deuteronomion, literally "second law," from deuteros "second" (see deutero-) + nomos "law" (from PIE root *nem- "assign, allot; take"). A mistranslation of Hebr

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updated on July 11, 2020

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Dictionary entries near plenteous

pleistodox

*plek-

plenary

plenipotentiary

plenitude

plenteous

plentiful

plentitude

plenty

plenum

pleo-