wondrous, a. and adv. literary.
(ˈwʌndrəs)
Also 6–9 wonderous, 6 wond(e)rouse, wo(u)nderus, woundrous, 6–7 woonderous, 7–9 wond'rous.
[Alteration of wonders a. by substitution of suffix -ous, after marvellous.]
Wonderful.
| a 1500 Chaucer's Dreme 1898 The sede wex grene, And on the dry herse gan spring Which me thought a wondrous thing. 1509 Hawes Past. Pleas. iv. (1555) C iiij, The wonderous serpente Of the seuen metals, made by enchauntment. 1535 Coverdale Ps. cxix. 18, & so shal I spie out wonderous thinges in thy lawe. 1590 Spenser F.Q. ii. viii. 5 A faire young man, Of wondrous beautie. a 1656 Hales Gold. Rem. (1673) 7 The Grecians, till barbarism began to steal in upon them, were men of wonderous subtlety of wit. 1667 Milton P.L. vii. 483 Some of Serpent kinde Wondrous in length and corpulence. 1709 Watts Hymn, When I survey the wondrous cross On which the Prince of glory dy'd. 1781 Cowper Hope 155 Hope..has the wondrous virtue to educe From emptiness itself a real use. 1844 Kinglake Eothen viii, For hours, and hours, this wondrous white woman poured forth her speech. 1864 Bryce Holy Rom. Emp. xix. (1875) 357 The German mind, just beginning to put forth the blossoms of its wondrous literature. |
B. adv. = next. arch.
| a 1557 M. Basset tr. More's Treat. Passion M.'s Wks. 1391/2 An vrgent and woonderous necessarye cause. 1632 Lithgow Trav. v. 229 We found this auncient Well so wondrous deepe, that scarcely all our ropes could sinke our bucket in the water. 1678 Hobbes Decam. vii. 77 As he made some Bodies wondrous great, so he made others wondrous little. 1740 Richardson Pamela (1824) I. xxiii. 35 They tell me she is grown wondrous pretty. 1781 Cowper Anti-Thelyphth. 38 Some she would teach (for she was wondrous wise). 1843 James Forest Days vi, This horse eats so wondrous slow. 1856 Mrs. Browning Aur. Leigh ii. 428 Lady, thou art wondrous fair. |