luxuriant, a.
(lʌkˈsjʊərɪənt, lʌgˈʒʊərɪənt)
Also 6 erron. luxurient.
[ad. L. luxuriant-em, pres. pple. of luxuriāre to grow rank, f. luxuria luxury.]
1. Producing abundantly, prolific. Now rare.
| c 1540 tr. Pol. Verg. Eng. Hist. (Camden) I. 19 The grownde is luxurient and frutefull. 1712 Pope Vertumnus 10 The growth of the luxuriant year. 1748 Anson's Voy. i. v. 44 The soil of the Island is truly luxuriant. 1756–7 tr. Keysler's Trav. (1760) III. 142 The country still retains a luxuriant fertility. 1794 S. Williams Vermont 131 The soil was..fertile and luxuriant. 1877 M. M. Grant Sun-Maid ii, It was luxuriant as the valleys of Devon. |
| † transf. 1650 Bulwer Anthropomet. Pref., Here the luxuriant Chin quite down is mown. |
2. Of plants, etc.: Growing profusely, exuberant, rank.
† Of flesh: Growing to excess (
obs.).
| 1661 Lovell Hist. Anim. & Min. 230 If stamped and applied they compresse luxuriant flesh. a 1667 Cowley Death Mrs. K. Philips iv., Wit's like a Luxuriant Vine. 1697 Dryden Virg. Georg. i. 166 [The Ploughman] Sends in his feeding Flocks betimes t' invade The rising bulk of the luxuriant Blade. 1749 Fielding Tom Jones iv. ii, Her hair..was so luxuriant, that it reached her middle. 1791 Cowper Iliad xvii. 64 The luxuriant olive by a swain Rear'd in some solitude. 1835 Miss Mitford in L'Estrange Life III. iii. 35 The dark nasturtium is a fine colour, and very luxuriant. 1846 J. Baxter Libr. Pract. Agric. (ed. 4) II. 365 The tops of white turnips are long and luxuriant at the commencement of the season. 1883 19th Cent. May 763 Strong and luxuriant hair is accompanied by regular and durable teeth. |
b. spec. in
Bot. (see
quots. 1760, 1852).
| 1760 J. Lee Introd. Bot. i. xx. (1765) 53 A flower is said to be luxuriant, when some of the Parts of Fructification are augmented in Number, and others thereby excluded. 1776–96 Withering Brit. Plants (ed. 3) I. 251 When of a luxuriant growth, the numbers often increase, especially the number of the pistils. 1852 Henslow Dict. Bot. Terms, Luxuriant... Generally applied where a superabundance of nutriment causes the organs of nutrition to be more developed than those of fructification. |
3. In immaterial applications.
a. Of invention, genius, fancy, etc.: Exuberantly productive. Of speech, action, etc.: Abundant, profuse, excessive. Of ornamentation: Excessively rich or florid.
| 1625 Bacon Ess. Youth & Age (Arb.) 263 A fluent and Luxuriant Speech..becomes Youth well, but not Age. 1641 ‘Smectymnuus’ Vind. Answ. iii. 53 If hee will give lesse scope to his luxuriant pen, speak more cautiously. 1675 Traherne Chr. Ethics 443 Mistake not these things for arbitrary flourishes of luxuriant fancy. 1689 Swift Ode to Temple Wks. 1755 IV. i. 244 How is the muse luxuriant grown. 1765 Blackstone Comm. I. 87 Restraining it [the common law] where it was too lax and luxuriant. 1780 A. Young Tour Irel. ii. xvii. 75 The irish jig, which they can dance with a most luxuriant expression. 1799 Med. Jrnl. I. 43 Brown was a luxuriant genius. 1848 A. Jameson Sacr. & Leg. Art (1850) 91 The vivid colour, the luxuriant architecture remind us of Paul Veronese. 1855 Bain Senses & Int. iii. i. §55 (1864) 425 A luxuriant imagination implies the facility of retaining scenes of every description. 1882–3 Schaff Encycl. Relig. Knowl. II. 1200 Rules were given with respect to the luxuriant ornamentation of the churches. |
† b. Excessively prosperous.
Obs.| 1654 tr. Scudery's Curia Pol. 76 Luxuriant and wanton times cause Princes like iron to rust for want of use. 1712 Steele Spect. No. 330 ¶3 By many Losses..reduced from a very luxuriant Trade and Credit to very narrow Circumstances. 1766 Goldsm. Vic. W. xxix, The luxuriant great ones of the world shall no more tread us to the earth. |
† c. Of a disease: Abundantly prevalent.
Obs.| 1656 J. Smith Pract. Physick 24 Arthritis that is vagrant is Scorbutical... The parts affected are the Nerves; because it is very luxuriant in the back and the loins. |
¶ 4. Misused for:
luxurious.
| 1671 Phil. Trans. VI. 2129 Being the most delicious and luxuriant Cider..that ever I knew. 1824 S. E. Ferrier Inher. lix, Uncle A...had been left..in a luxuriant apartment. 1885 C. Gibbon Hard Knot I. v. 69 It was a splendid apartment,..luxuriant to a degree. |
Hence
luˈxuriantly adv.,
† luˈxuriantness.
| 1725 C. Pitt Vida's Art Poet. iii. (1726) 66 In wide array luxuriantly he pours A crowd of words, and opens all his stores. 1775 Ash, Luxuriantness. 1786 Burns Ep. to a Young Friend vi, The sacred lowe o' weel-plac'd love, Luxuriantly indulge it. 1840 Browning Sordello i. 637 Round each new discovery wreathed Luxuriantly the fancies infantine. 1863 Lyell Antiq. Man 16 Nowhere..does this tree flourish more luxuriantly than in Denmark. |