innumerable, a.
(ɪˈnjuːmərəb(ə)l)
[ad. L. innumerābil-is, f. in- (in-3) + numerābil-is numerable.]
Incapable of being numbered or reckoned; not to be counted for multitude; numberless, countless. Often with exaggerative force. a. With singular n.; now only with host, multitude, and similar collectives.
| 1340 Ayenb. 267 Þe innumerable uelaȝrede of þe holy martires. 1432–50 tr. Higden (Rolls) I. 391 Then Vnguste..was compassede abowte with a innumerable hoste of Briteynes at a felde callede Merc. c 1485 Digby Myst. (1882) ii. 1100 Itt is In-nvmerabyll to expresse,..of my loye how myche itt es. 1509 Hawes Past. Pleas. xxxvii. (Percy Soc.) 193 He blew out so much fyre innumerable. 1526 Tindale Heb. xii. 22 But ye are come vnto the mounte Sion..and to an innumerable sight [1611 companie, 1881 innumerable hosts] of angels. 1535 Coverdale 2 Macc. iii. 6 The treasury in Ierusalem was full of innumerable money. 1590 Spenser F.Q. ii. xii. 35 An innumerable flight Of harmefull fowles. 1606 G. W[oodcocke] tr. Hist. Ivstine 24 a, By reason of their innumerable greedines. 1613 Shakes. Hen. VIII, iii. ii. 326 That you haue sent inumerable substance. a 1654 Selden Table-t., King (Arb.) 62 Twenty pound of Diamonds, which is a sum innumerable. 1718 Watts Hymn, ‘Not to the terrors of the Lord’ iii, Behold the innumerable host Of Angels cloth'd in light! 1719 De Foe Crusoe i. xiv, The innumerable crowd of thoughts. 1816 Bryant Thanatopsis 74 So live, that when thy summons comes to join The innumerable caravan [etc.]. |
| transf. 1877 L. Morris Epic Hades ii. 127 The innumerable laughter of the sea [lit. rendering of æschylus' ἀνήριθµον γέλασµα, the ‘many-twinkling smile of Ocean’]. 1889 Harper's Mag. Apr. 822/2 The grasshoppers spin into mine ear A small innumerable sound. |
b. Now usually with
pl. n. (which it often follows).
| c 1450 Craft of Louers (R.), Precious stones reckened innumerable. 1482 Monk of Evesham (Arb.) 76 Eueryche on of hem were ponyshte in peynys innumerable. 1535 Coverdale Ps. xxxix. [xl.] 12 Innumerable troubles are come aboute me. 1563 W. Fulke Meteors (1640) 38 b, The milke way..Democritus..sayd, that it was nothing else but innumerable little Starres. 1667 Milton P.L. ix. 1089 Ye Cedars, with innumerable boughs. 1725 De Foe Voy. round World (1840) 108 We were sure to meet with islands innumerable. 1836 W. Irving Astoria I. 246 He fell..pierced with innumerable arrows. 1847 Tennyson Princ. vii. 207 Murmuring of innumerable bees. |
c. absol. † Formerly sometimes followed by
of.
| 1535 Tindale Tracy's Test. 11 Likewise..did innumerable more. 1535 Fisher Wks. (1876) 382 When innumerable of soules haue..receyued as much the loue of Christ Iesu. 1545 Brinklow Lament. (1874) 90 London..hath..innumerable of poore people. 1561 J. Daus tr. Bullinger on Apoc. (1573) 103 b, I beleeue that innumerable..haue at length seene the filthines of Papistrie. 1691 Ray Collect. Words, Acc. Err. 155 In the words God, Rod, Horn, and innumerable the like. 1830 Pusey Hist. Inquiry II. 244 While innumerable profess this religion, only few observe it. |
† d. absol. with
pl. form.
Obs. rare.
| 1796 Mod. Gulliver's Trav. 207 There are almost innumerables who say, wish, and hope so. 1807 Southey Lett. (1856) I. 426 He wrote sonnets—a class of poems in which there must be innumerables which are good for nothing. |
Hence
iˈnnumerably adv.;
iˈnnumerableness.
| 1561 J. Daus tr. Bullinger on Apoc. (1573) 80 To esteme the power of kings by the greatnes, hugenes, and innumerablenes of their armyes. 1574 Whitgift Def. Aunsw. ii. Wks. 1851 I. 241 St. Augustine speaketh of the unreasonable multitude of ceremonies, using these words, innumerabiliter variantur, ‘are varied innumerably’. 1580 Hollyband Treas. Fr. Tong, Innumerableté, innumerablenesse. 1653 Walton Angler viii. 162 Where they will breed, they breed innumerably. 1787 Glover Athenaid xxix. Poems (1810) 178/2 The light Of sparkling brands, innumerably wav'd. |