bounteous, a.
(ˈbaʊntɪəs)
Forms; 4–5 bontyvous, bountyveus, bountevous(e, -euous(e, 5 bontyvese, bonteuous, bountyuous, superl. bounteest, 6 bountuous, 5– bounteous.
[ME. bontyvous, bountevous, f. OF. bontif, bontive benevolent, full of goodness (f. bonté goodness; see bounty) + -ous. Afterwards altered so as to appear f. bounté, bounty + -ous.]
1. Of persons or agents: Full of goodness; in modern use, always: Full of goodness to others, beneficent; generously liberal, munificent.
| c 1374 Chaucer Troylus i. 883 Ne y neuere saw a more bounteuouse Of her astate. 1413 Lydg. Pylgr. Sowle v. xiv. 79 We thanken the..Of thy full bounteous benyuolence. 1477 Earl Rivers (Caxton) Dictes 22 Be bonteuous to alle thoos that seke sciences. 1526 Pilgr. Perf. (W. de W. 1531) 19 b, His bountuous liberalite and mercy. 1605 Shakes. Macb. iii. i. 98 Euery one According to the gift which bounteous Nature Hath in him clos'd. 1606 ― Ant. & Cl. iv. ii. 10 Lets to night Be bounteous at our Meale. 1681 Dryden Abs. & Achit. 872 Colleges on bounteous Kings depend. 1732 Pope Hor. Sat. ii. ii. 60 Oyl, tho' it stink, they drop by drop impart, But sowse the cabbage with a bounteous heart. 1738 Wesley Hymn ‘Come Holy Spirit’, Thou bounteous Source of all our Store. 1871 R. Ellis Catullus lxiv. 22 Born in bounteous ages. |
† b. Of prowess; Valiant: see bounty 1 b. Obs.
| a 1440 Sir Degrev. 311 The knyghtus..in batelle so bountyveus. c 1485 Digby Myst. (1882) iii. 952 The bounteest, and the boldest onder baner bryth. |
2. Of things: Proceeding from bounty; generously or freely bestowed, ‘liberal’, plentiful, ample in size or amount, abundant.
| 1542 Udall Erasm. Apophth. 341 a, To bee honoured with moste high & bounteous rewardes. 1697 Dryden Virg. Georg. i. 248 The promis'd Blessing of a Bounteous Crop. 1751 Johnson Rambl. No. 181 ¶4 The consequences which such a bounteous allotment [in a lottery] would have produced. 1790 Cowper Iliad i. 29 To accept the bounteous price. 1842 Tennyson Gardener's Dau. 138 The bounteous wave of such a breast As never pencil drew. 1878 Morley Diderot II. 68 The land where production has been so noble, so bounteous, so superb. |