pendulous, a.
(ˈpɛndjʊləs)
[f. L. pendul-us hanging down, pendent (f. pendēre to hang) + -ous. For element -ul- cf. crēdul-us, garrul-us, etc.]
1. Supported or attached above so as to hang downwards; suspended; hanging down, pendent, drooping. Freq. in Nat. Hist., e.g. of the nests of certain birds, the ovules, flowers, etc. of plants.
| 1656 Ridgley Pract. Physick 218 Gorgareon is a pendulous kernel. 1695 J. Edwards Perfect. Script. 242 This..was no ear-ring, but a pendulous jewel upon her face. 1782–3 W. F. Martyn Geog. Mag. I. 232 Ears long, broad and pendulous. 1834 Pringle Afr. Sk. vi. 204 On the few straggling trees..appeared the pendulous nests of the loxia and weaver-bird. 1859 W. S. Coleman Woodlands (1866) 40 Some varieties have the branches quite pendulous like the weeping willow. 1880 Gray Struct. Bot. vi. §8 (ed. 6) 277 Ovules are..pendulous, when more or less hanging or declining from the side of the cell. |
† b. Supported or poised so as to project or overhang; suspended overhead; overhanging. (Cf. hanging ppl. a. 2.) Also fig. Impending. Obs.
| c 1605 Rowley Birth Merl. v. i. (1662) G iij, I will erect a Monument upon the verdant Plains of Salisbury..with pendulous stones that I will hang by art. 1605 Shakes. Lear iii. iv. 69 All the plagues that in the pendulous ayre Hang fated o're mens faults. 1684 T. Burnet Th. Earth i. 266 The pendulous gardens of Alcinous. c 1705 Berkeley Descr. Cave of Dunmore Wks. 1871 IV. 510 A third [cave]..stopped up by the fall of such pendulous rocks as are above mentioned. |
c. Hanging or floating in the air or in space. (In quot. 1638 with fig. allusion.) Now rare or Obs.
| 1638 Featly Transub. 9 And you..he hath placed in a pendulous Bishopricke adjoyning to Mausolus his sepulcher in the ayre. 1646 Sir T. Browne Pseud. Ep. ii. iii. 72 The like doth Beda report of Bellerophons horse which framed of iron and placed betweene two Loadstones with winges expansed, hung pendulous in the ayre. 1667 Milton P.L. iv. 1000 Wherein all things created first he weighd, The pendulous round Earth with balanc't Aire In counterpoise. 1696 Whiston Th. Earth (1722) 19 Globes of Fire and Light pendulous in our Air. a 1849 Poe City in Sea 27 So blend the turrets and shadows there That all seem pendulous in air. |
2. spec. Suspended so as to swing, oscillating; hence, of movement: Of, or resembling that of, a pendulum; oscillatory, undulatory; consisting of simple vibrations.
| 1706 W. Jones Syn. Palmar. Matheseos 288 The Velocities of a Pendulous Body..describing different Arcs. 1728 Pemberton Newton's Philos. 87 The greater the arch the pendulous body moves through, the greater time it takes up. 1855 Bain Senses & Int. ii. iv. §7 (1864) 270 In walking there is a pendulous swing of the leg. 1879 G. B. Prescott Sp. Telephone 99 [If] the plate has a simple pendulous motion. |
3. fig. Hanging in suspense or wavering between two opinions, purposes, or tendencies; vacillating, undecided, unsettled, uncertain, doubtful. Now rare.
| 1624 F. White Repl. Fisher 572 The third [opinion] is pendulous, with shew of Limitation, and Mitigation. 1644 Prynne Rome's Master-P. (ed. 2) 16 The Kings mind was wholy pendulous (or doubtfull). 1677 R. Cary Chronol. ii. ii. iii. xi. 245 He farther shews how Various and Pendulous Eusebius is, in making forth his Reckonings. 1779 Johnson Let. to Mrs. Thrale 4 Oct., In this doubtful pendulous state of the distemper, advice may do much. 1850 Mrs. Browning Sonn. fr. Portuguese xxxvi, A love set pendulous between Sorrow and sorrow. |
† b. Dependent, contingent, conditional (on or upon something else). Obs.
| 1654 H. L'Estrange Chas. I (1655) 60 They are not souldered by any magnetique of Love, but..pendulous upon the variety and mutation of affaires. 1692 Covt. Grace Conditional 2 Arminians maintain Conditions, so as if the Efficacy of Christ's Death were pendulous thereon. |
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Add: [1.] d. Of a part of the body: tending to droop heavily, lacking firmness; flabby, sagging, flaccid.
| 1822 T. Taylor tr. Apuleius vii. 145 Though I vibrated my pendulous lips with excessive rotundity. 1911 R. Brooke Poems 72 And all the while, in perfect time, His pendulous stomach hangs a-shaking. 1964 S. Bellow Herzog 244 Her lip grew pendulous as she aged. 1980 F. Weldon Puffball 123 She thought..that afterwards her body would be spoiled; she would have pendulous breasts and a flabby belly. |