florid, a.
(ˈflɒrɪd)
[ad. (directly or through Fr. floride, Cotgr. in sense 6) L. flōrid-us (related to flōrēre to bloom: see -id), f. flōr-, flōs flower.]
† 1. a. Blooming with flowers; abounding in or covered with flowers; flowery. Obs.
| 1656 Blount Glossogr., Florid, garnished with flowers. 1667 Milton P.L. vii. 90 The ambient Aire wide interfus'd Imbracing round this florid Earth. |
† b. Consisting of flowers, floral.
| 1665 Boyle Occas. Refl. iii. iv. (1675) 151 Those, who are wont to make Fires..have generally displac'd the florid, and the verdent Ornaments of their Chimneys. 1678 Vaughan Thalia Rediv., Daphnis 70 Bring here the florid glories of the Spring. a 1682 Sir T. Browne Tracts (1684) 91 Florid and purely ornamental Garlands..are of more free election. |
2. fig. Profusely adorned as with flowers; elaborately or luxuriantly ornate. Often in somewhat disparaging sense: Excessively ornate. a. Of composition, speech, etc.: Abounding in ornaments or flowers of rhetoric; full of fine words and phrases; flowery.
| 1656 Cowley Pindar. Odes Notes Wks. (1710) I. 238 Apollo is..the God of Poetry, and all kind of Florid Learning. 1658–9 Burton's Diary (1828) IV. 131 He made a very florid speech. 1712 Addison Spect. No. 321 ¶3 The Expressions are more florid and elaborate. 1782 V. Knox Ess. (1819) II. lxi. 17 Several of the poems..are florid to excess. 1814 Scott Wav. xiv, He possessed that flow of natural, and somewhat florid eloquence, which, [etc.] 1878 Morley Crit. Misc., Vauvenargues 6 The florid and declamatory style of youth. |
b. Of a person or his attributes: Addicted to the use of flowery language or rhetorical ornament.
| 1671 Gumble Life of Monck Ep. Ded., This Subject required a..more florid Pen than mine. 1691 Wood Ath. Oxon. I. 164 He took holy orders..and became a florid Preacher. 1735 Pope Prol. Sat. 317 In florid impotence he speaks. 1759 Robertson Hist. Scot. (1817) 211 A copious and florid writer. |
c. Of attire, manners, methods of procedure, etc.: Highly ornate; showy, ostentatious.
| 1816 J. Scott Vis. Paris (ed. 5) 172 Whole years of..florid and unnatural patronage. 1855 Thackeray Newcomes I. 231 A florid apparel becomes some men, as simple raiment suits others. 1876 C. M. Davies Unorth. Lond. 89 The ritual is altogether of a more florid character. |
3. spec. in technical use. a. Music. (See quots. 1879, 1888.)
| 1708 [see figurate a. 4.]. 1740 Grassineau Mus. Dict. 77 Florid Descant and Counterpoint. 1774 Burney Hist. Mus. (1789) I. vi. 80 Our florid-song..is not always sufficiently subservient to poetry. 1875 Ouseley Mus. Form ix. 49 Vary the accompaniments by introducing more florid figures. 1879 Grove Dict. Mus., Florid. Music in rapid figures, divisions, or passages, the stem of the simple melody bursting forth, as it were, into leaves and flowers. 1888 Stainer & Barrett Dict. Mus. Terms, Florid counterpoint, a counterpoint not confined to any special species, but in which notes of various lengths are used. |
b. Arch. Enriched with decorative details.
| a 1704 Evelyn Architects & Archit., Misc. Writings (1825) 422 How oddly would..the spruce and florid Corinthian [become] a Tuscan entablature. 1815 J. Smith Panorama Sc. & Art I. 151 The next [style] is often called florid, as if it were richer in ornament. 1838 Murray Hand-bk. N. Germ. 111 The exterior, in the most elegant florid Gothic. 1886 Willis & Clark Cambridge II. 526 A florid style of Jacobean architecture. |
† 4. Of blooming appearance; strikingly beautiful or attractive; brilliant. Of colour: Bright, resplendent. Obs.
| 1642 H. More Song of Soul ii. ii. i. v, Slight proofs cannot well fit In so great cause, no phansies florid wile. 1664 Bulteel Birinthea 133 The bewitching appearance of a florid beauty. 1677 Plot Oxfordsh. 58 It gave the skin so florid a whiteness, that, [etc.] 1725 Butler Serm. vi. 113 Florid and gaudy Prospects and Expectations. 1770 H. Walpole Vertue's Anecd. Paint. (1771) IV. 140 The weeping-willow and every florid shrub..are new tints in the composition of our gardens. |
5. a. Of the complexion (or the colour of a part of the body): Rosy or ruddy, flushed with red.
| 1650 Jer. Taylor Holy Living ii. §4. 101 When it [our beauty] is most florid and gay, three fits of an ague can change it into yellowness. 1665 Phil. Trans. I. 118 Of a very florid clear Complexion. 1707 Floyer Physic. Pulse-Watch 60 High florid Colour in the Cheeks. 1781 Gibbon Decline & Fall III. xlviii. 45 His complexion was fair and florid. 1800 Med. Jrnl. IV. 155 The gums..became florid on the third day. 1865 Trollope Belton Est. iii. 26 A decidedly handsome man with a florid face. |
† b. Of the blood: Bright red (i.e. arterial).
| 1650 tr. Bacon's Life & Death 64 The lively and floride bloud of the small Arteries. 1731 Arbuthnot Aliments 121 The Qualities of Blood in a healthy State are to be florid when let out of the Vessel. 1797 M. Baillie Morb. Anat. (1807) 40 A florid blood must have been always circulating between the lungs and the left side of the heart. |
6. Flourishing, lively, vigorous; in the bloom of health. Now rare.
| 1656 Artif. Handsom. 76 Like snow in summer, falling on green and florid trees. 1669 W. Simpson Hydrol. Chym. 31 The circulation of the blood and humours become thereby more florid. 1713 Steele Guardian No. 2. ¶1 I..attribute the florid old age I now enjoy, to my constant morning walks up Hedington-Hill. 1725 Pope Odyss. iv. 1096 With florid joy her heart dilating glows. 1748 Hume Hum. Und. i. 10 Bodies..endow'd with vigorous and florid Health. 1858 Carlyle Fredk. Gt. II. vi. ix. 128 Wilhelmina, formerly almost too florid, is gone to a shadow. |