enormous, a.
(ɪˈnɔːməs)
Also 6 innormous.
[f. L. ēnorm-is (see enorm) + -ous.]
† 1. Deviating from ordinary rule or type; abnormal, unusual, extraordinary, unfettered by rules; hence, mostly in bad sense, strikingly irregular, monstrous, shocking. Obs.
| 1531 Frith Judgm. on Tracy (1829) Pref. 246 So shall this enormous fact be looked upon with worthy correction. 1590 Barrow & Greenwood in Confer. 43 Innumberable enormous Canons & Constitucions of Antichrist. 1620 Venner Via Recta viii. 168 Whether the appetite be enormous, or too irregular. 1667 Milton P.L. v. 297 Nature here plaid at will Her Virgin Fancies, pouring forth more sweet, Wilde above rule or Art; enormous bliss. 1733 Pope Ess. Man iii. 242 The enormous faith of many made for one. 1774 T. Warton Hist. Eng. Poetry xvi. II. 370 Entered the choir in a military habit, and other enormous disguises. 1818 Hallam Mid. Ages (1872) II. 149 The absurd and enormous provisions of the spurious constitution. |
b. Extending beyond definite limits; redundant. Obs.
| 1704 Newton Opticks (1721) 88 The enormous part of the Light in the circumference of every lucid Point ought to be less discernible in shorter Telescopes than in longer. |
† 2. Of persons and their actions: Departing from the rule of right, disorderly. Of a state of things: Disordered, irregular. Hence, excessively wicked, flagitious, outrageous. Obs.
Expressions like ‘enormous wickedness’ are now felt as belonging to sense 3, perh. with some slight mixture of the older sense.
| 1593 Bilson Govt. Christ's Ch. 146 Avoyd the companie of such enormous persons. 1612 Shakes. & Fl. Two Noble K. v. i, Oh great corrector of enormous times. 1631 Weever Anc. Fun. Mon. 363 The Popes rapines and enormous proceedings in those dayes. a 1677 Barrow Serm. (1810) I. 168 Constantine..chose Christianity as the only religion, that promised impunity and pardon for his enormous practices. 1737 Hervey Mem. II. 241 Speaking of the enormous behaviour of the City of Edinburgh in this transaction. 1744 Johnson L.P., Savage Wks. III. 321 The enormous wickedness of making war upon barbarous nations because they cannot resist. 1827 Pollok Course T. vi, Some last, enormous, monstrous deed of guilt. 1827 Southey Hist. Penins. War II. 65 The enormous wickedness with which they abused their victory. Ibid. II. 112 The enormous guilt of destroying the city and its inhabitants. |
3. Excessive or extraordinary in size, magnitude, or intensity; huge, vast, immense.
This is the only current sense, and appears to have influenced the later use of senses 1 and 2.
| 1544 Phaër Regim. Lyfe (1560) I iij, Paine of the stone is one of y⊇ moste enormous paynes that the body of man is vexed with. 1667 Milton P.L. i. 511 Titan Heav'ns first born With his enormous brood. 1774 Goldsm. Nat. Hist. (1776) III. 31 The urus..of the large enormous kind of Lithuania. 1827 Pollok Course T. 1, Worn and wasted with enormous woe. 1836 Macgillivray tr. Humboldt's Trav. xxvii. 421 The line of enormous cracks and fissures. 1848 Macaulay Hist. Eng. I. 190 The fortress of Tangier..was repaired and kept up at an enormous charge. 1860 Tyndall Glac. i. §2. 11 These avalanches..consist of enormous blocks of ice. |
† b. Overgrown in power or importance. Obs.
| 1641 Milton Ch. Discip. i. (1851) 11 Doe wee suffer misshapen and enormous Prelatisme..thus to blanch and varnish her deformities. 1759 Robertson Hist. Scot. II. 97 This great princess and her enormous subject. |
4. quasi-adv.
| 1566 Drant Wail. Hierim. K viij, My peoples crymes..were more innormous vyle Then Sodom sinne. |