immense, a. (n.)
(ɪˈmɛns)
Also 5 emense, (6 imminens), 7 imens.
[a. F. immense (1360 in Godefroi) = It., Pg. immenso, Sp. inmenso, ad. L. immensus immeasurable, boundless, f. im- (im-2) + mensus, pa. pple. of metīrī to measure.]
1. Unmeasured; so great that it has not been or cannot be measured; immeasurably large; of boundless extent; infinite. ? Obs.
| 1599 Daniel Musoph. (R.), That immense and boundless ocean Of nature's riches. 1640 Habington Castara iii. (Arb.) 131 Great God! when I consider thee Omnipotent, æternall, and imens. 1677 Gale Crt. Gentiles iv. 464 God [is] not circumscribed or defined to any space, but immense in his Being. 1736 Butler Anal. i. iii. 89 The material world appears to be in a manner boundless and immense. a 1770 Jortin Serm. (1771) VI. viii. 159 The Scripture represents the Goodness of God as immense. |
2. Much beyond the ordinary measure or size; extremely great or large; vast, huge.
| 1490 Caxton Eneydos xxvi. 92 My teeres and emense wepynges. 1575 Laneham Let. (1871) 55 So imminens & profuse a charge of expens. 1660 F. Brooke tr. Le Blanc's Trav. 148 The immense Armies brought..by the Persian Kings against the Grecians. 1748 Anson's Voy. i. ix. 88 Those immense hills called the Andes. 1849 Macaulay Hist. Eng. vii. II. 252 The immense fine which the Court of King's Bench had imposed. 1895 Ld. Esher in Law Times Rep. LXXIII. 701/2 The statute..was minutely dissected at immense length. |
b. of persons in relation to actions or qualities.
| 1631 Weever Anc. Fun. Mon. 798 He was..little of stature, but immense in wit and vnderstanding. Mod. He is an immense eater. |
3. slang. Superlatively good, fine, splendid, etc.
| 1762 Gentl. Mag. 86/2 Here's cream—damn'd fine—immense—upon my word! 1869 Lowell Lett. II. 43 The poem turned out to be something immense, as the slang is nowadays. 1883 F. M. Crawford Dr. Claudius iii. (1892) 47 You look like a crown prince..Perfectly immense. |
† b. as adv. Immensely. Obs. slang.
| 1754 Murphy Gray's-Inn Jrnl. No. 89 ¶25 An immense fine Woman. 1772 Ann. Reg. ii. 191 A long while everything was immense great and immense little, immense handsome and immense ugly. |
B. as n. Immense, boundless, or vast extent; immensity.
| 1791 E. Darwin Bot. Gard. i. 258 Bade with cold streams the quick expansion stop, And sunk the immense of vapour to a drop. 1805 T. Lindley Voy. Brasil (1808) 40 The rear was brought up by..other troops, and an immense of rabble. 1829 Carlyle Novalis in Misc. (1869) II. 285 A kingdom of Devouring..a baleful Immense. 1872 Blackie Lays Highl. 37 Let others probe the immense of Possibles. |