fervid, a.
(ˈfɜːvɪd)
Also 7 fervide.
[ad. L. fervid-us burning, vehement, f. fervēre to glow.]
1. Burning, glowing, hot. Now poet. or rhetorical.
| 1599 A. M. tr. Gabelhouer's Bk. Physicke 6/2 Let it stand a day or two in som fervide place. 1667 Milton P.L. v. 301 The mounted Sun Shot down direct his fervid Raies. 1718 Pope Iliad xvi. 939 Sol had driven His fervid orb through half the vault of heaven. 1794 Sullivan View Nat. II. 55 The more fervid the lightning, the more animated they appear. 1833 N. Arnott Physics (ed. 5) II. 62 His attention was soon recalled to the fervid land of the sun. 1851 Thackeray Eng. Hum. ii. (1858) 59 To hang on in the dust behind the fervid wheels of the parliamentary chariot. |
| transf. 1865 Swinburne Poems & Ball., Hendecasyllables 5 Flame as fierce as the fervid eyes of lions. 1871 M. Collins Mrq. & Merch. II. iii. 61 The Christmas night had been fervid..There had been a dinner. |
2. fig. Glowing, intensely impassioned.
| 1656–81 Blount Glossogr., Fervid, fierce, vehement. a 1717 Parnell Happy Man 16 The fervid wishes, holy fires, Which thus a melted heart refine. 1779–81 Johnson L.P. Wks. 1816 X. 122 He is warm rather than fervid. 1828 Carlyle Misc. (1857) I. 211 Of Burns's fervid affection..we have spoken already. 1838 Dickens Nich. Nick. xxvii, It is your..fervid imagination, which throws you into a glow of genius and excitement. 1855 Macaulay Hist. Eng. IV. 335 The fervid loyalty with which Charles had been welcomed back to Dover. 1872 Blackie Lays Highl. 155 Without the call of fervid preacher. |
Hence
ferˈvidity [+
-ity]: (
a) Intense heat. (
b) Passion, zeal (J.).
ˈfervidly adv., in a fervid manner; earnestly.
ˈfervidness, the state or quality of being fervid.
| 1692 Bentley Boyle Lect. Serm. vi. 188 A kind of injury done to him by the fervidness of St. Peter. 1727 Bailey vol. II, Fervidity. 1775 Ash, Fervidity, heat. 1847 Craig, Fervidly, very hotly, with glowing warmth. 1872 Geo. Eliot Middlem. i, A young lady..knelt down..by the side of a sick labourer and prayed fervidly. |