exuberant, a.
(ɛgˈzjuːbərənt)
[ad. L. exūberant-em, pr. pple. of exūberāre, f. ex- (see ex- prefix1) + ūberāre to be fruitful, f. ūber fertile, connected with ūber udder. Cf. F. exubérant.]
1. Luxuriantly fertile or prolific; abundantly productive. Also fig.
| 1645 Evelyn Diary 29 Jan., Vines..so exuberant that..one vine will loade 5 mules with its grapes. 1728 Morgan Algiers II. v. 313 A paltry Recompense for the exuberant Rhodes. 1759 B. Martin Nat. Hist. Eng. I. 12 The Earth has been so exuberant in the Production of this Metal. 1788 W. Gilpin Ess. Prints 163 His fancy is exceedingly fruitful..It is indeed too exuberant. 1854 Emerson Lett. & Soc. Aims, Poet. & Imag. Wks. (Bohn) III. 168 We know Nature, and figure her exuberant..in her fertility. 1871 Rossetti Jenny Poems 109 Love's exuberant hotbed. |
2. Growing luxuriantly; produced in superabundance or excess.
| 1513 Bradshaw St. Werburge i. 607 A pure perfyte plante..Merveylous by growynge..with dyuers proprytes, of grace exuberaunt. 1664 Evelyn Kal. Hort., August (1679) 22 Cleanse your vines from exuberant branches. 1796 H. Hunter tr. St. Pierre's Stud. Nat. (1799) III. 583 Both..may perish with hunger in the midst of our exuberant crops. 1848 Prichard Nat. Hist. Man 99 Races bearing an exuberant growth of hair. a 1862 Buckle Civiliz. (1869) III. i. 9 An exuberant and therefore a restless population. |
¶ Misused for ‘superfluous’.
| 1667 Waterhouse Fire Lond. 157 An Exuberant Servant..is better spared, than a Charity to one of these. |
3. Of a fountain, stream, etc.: Overflowing. [Cf. Virg. æn. vii. 465 exuberat amnis.]
| 1678 Cudworth Intell. Syst. 595 He as it were an Exuberant Fountain, this as a Stream derived from him. 1686 Goad Celest. Bodies i. xvi. 105 Even the Sextile..is found at times to usher in exuberant Flouds. 1876 Blackie Songs Relig. & Life 18 Life's exuberant sea. |
4. fig. a. Of affections, joyous emotions, beneficence, vitality, health, or their manifestations: Overflowing, abounding.
| 1648 Boyle Seraph. Love xi, Such exuberant goodness as may justly ravish us to an amazement. 1711 Addison Spect. No. 169 ¶8 Such an exuberant Love to Mankind. 1768–74 Tucker Lt. Nat. (1852) II. 616 An exuberant health without any judgment to guide it, will never make either a happy or a useful man. 1828 Macaulay Hallam Ess. 1854 I. 59 An age of exuberant zeal. 1863 Kinglake Crimea (1876) I. vi. 85 The English in their exuberant strength. |
b. Of persons, their actions or expressions: Effusive in display of feeling. Now more usually, Abounding in health and spirits, overflowing with delight.
| 1503 Hawes Examp. Virt. vii. 131, I vnto you must be well exuberaunt. 1753 Johnson Adventurer No. 58 ¶3 Exuberant praise bestowed by others. 1815 W. H. Ireland Scribbleomania 48 He has been..exuberant in his encomiums upon individuals. 1863 M. E. Braddon Eleanor's Vict. i, She seemed an animated..exuberant creature. 1866 Mrs. Carlyle Lett. III. 323 An exuberant letter from Charles Kingsley. 1874 Helps Soc. Press. xxv. 395 After exuberant demonstrations to me. |
c. Of diction or composition: Copious, diffuse, lavish in ornament.
| 1654 Fuller Ephemeris Pref. 6 Here may they observe the variety of eloquence in severall persons, some large, copious and exuberant. 1715 Pope Iliad Pref. D ij b, His Similes have been thought too exuberant, and full of Circumstances. 1863 Geo. Eliot Romola iii. xxxviii, Exclamations of joy and wailing, mingled with exuberant narrative. |
d. Of wealth or stores: Overflowing, abundant. Of expenditure or display: Lavish, profuse.
| 1686 Goad Celest. Bodies iii. iv. 499 Our Collections are more exuberant than Stow's. 1751 Johnson Rambler No. 101 ¶4 My fortune being by no means exuberant. 1796 Burke Regic. Peace Wks. 1842 II. 349 The exuberant display of wealth in our shops. 1869 Lecky Europ. Mor. II. i. 99 The exuberant charities of the church. |