gulfy, a. poet.
(ˈgʌlfɪ)
Forms: 6 gulffy, 6–9 gulfie, -ye, 7 gulphie, 8–9 gulphy, 9 gulfy.
[f. gulf n. + -y1.]
1. Full of eddies or whirlpools. Also, whirlpool-like.
| 1594 Carew Tasso iv. v. 141 There thousands vncleane Harpyes might you vew,..And gulffy Scillaes an huge barcking crew. 1598 Chapman Iliad ii. 538 Well built ships..To passe the gulffy purple Sea. 1628 Milton Vac. Exerc. 92 Rivers, arise; whether thou be the Son, Of utmost Tweed, or Oose, or gulphie Dun. 1715–20 Pope Iliad ii. 1071 Where gulphy Xanthus foams along the fields. 1792 E. Darwin Bot. Gard. i. 49 The cliffs of Orkney's gulphy coast. 1856 Aird Poet. Wks. 69 He sate and eyed The gulfy eddyings of the woolly smoke. |
2. † a. fig. Deep as an abyss; abysmal (
obs.).
b. Full of hollows or depths.
| 1607 T. Walkington Opt. Glass 154 The gulfye bottome of despaire. 1737 Brooke Tasso ii. 641 One step alone 'twixt triumph and defeat, The gulphy ruin and the towery height. 1791 Cowper Iliad xxi. 447 Into his gulphy channel rush'd The refluent flood. 1808 J. Barlow Columb. iv. 371 The waves..scoop that gulphy bed. 1839 Stonehouse Axholme 309 A narrow, miry, and gulphy lane. 1871 G. Macdonald Wks. Fancy & Imag., Parable 106 The well-pleased stars Threw quivering smiles across the gulfy skies. |
| fig. 1879 G. Macdonald Sir Gibbie I. xi. 161 The cracks, crannies, and gulfy faults of our belief. |