fulsomeness
(ˈfʌlsəmnɪs)
[f. as prec. + -ness.]
The quality or state of being fulsome.
† 1. Abundance, plentifulness, fullness. Obs.
| c 1386 Chaucer Sqr.'s T. 397 The knotte, why that every tale is told, If it be taryed til that lust be cold..The savour passeth ever lenger the more, For fulsomnes of his prolixité. a 1400 Prymer (1891) 95 Y seyde in my fulsumnesse [in abundantia mea]. c 1430 Lydg. Min. Poems (Percy) 14 Bochous schewed ther his fulsomnes Off holsome wynes to every maner wighte. 1447 O. Bokenham Seyntys (Roxb.) 274 Of wych ioye kyng dauyd þus seyde expresse, I lord with þi fulsumnesse sacyat shal be. |
† 2. The quality of cloying, surfeiting, or nauseating the palate; grossness, sickliness, or offensiveness of savour. Also, the state of being cloyed or surfeited. Also fig. Obs.
| 1481 Earl of Worcester Tulle on Friendsh. C iij a, Ther is not suche fulsomnesse in frendship, as ther is in other thynges, ffor frendship fareth as wine which may be kepte many yeres. 1576 Newton Lemnie's Complex. 156 a, The body lacking exercise, gathereth fulsomnes & pestilent sauours. 1594 Carew Huarte's Exam. Wits xii. (1596) 191 Our soule hath a fulsomnesse at this slight meat. 1620 Venner Via Recta viii. 169 They induce fulsomenesse, and subuert the stomacke. 1621 Burton Anat. Mel. ii. ii. ii. (1651) 238 To absterge belike that fulsomeness of sweet, to which they are there subject. 1656 H. More Enthus. Tri. 20 Quickned and actuated..(as the fulsomnesse of sugar is by the acrimony of Lemons). 1688 Clayton in Phil. Trans. XVII. 979 A strong sort of Tobacco, in which the Smoakers say they can plainly taste the fulsomness of the Dung. 1876 Trench Synon. N.T. lxi. 219 By ‘fulsomeness’ is indicated the disgust and loathing from over-fulness of meat as well as of wine. |
† 3. The quality of being offensive or disgusting to the senses; foulness, loathsomeness. Obs.
| 1563 Homilies ii. Repairing Ch. (1859) 277 All these abominations they..have cleansed and purged the churches of England of, taking away all such fulsomeness and filthiness as [etc.]. 1610 Price Creat. Prince B j b, Others haue described them by some diseases, to manifest the fulsomness and loathsomnesse thereof. |
4. The quality of being offensive to good taste (esp. by over-adulation or the like). † Also, coarseness, obscenity (obs.). (See fulsome 6–7.)
| 1693 Dryden Juvenal Ded. (1697) 60 No Decency is consider'd, no Fulsomness omitted. 1699 Bentley Phal. Pref. 50 How a man may commend himself, without Envy or Fulsomness. 1845 Ld. Campbell Chancellors (1857) I. lviii. 179 Rather a proof of the bad taste in pulpit oratory prevailing..than of any peculiar servility or fulsomeness. 1881 Times 13 Mar. 9/3 Adulation became an art, and was carried to a pitch of fulsomeness beyond modern conception. |