almighty, a.
(ɔːlˈmaɪtɪ)
Forms: 1 ælmeahtiᵹ, ealmihtiᵹ, 2 ælmihti, almihtiȝ, 2–3 almihti(e, (3 allmahhtiȝ), 3–4 almiȝti, -myȝti, myhti, 4 almihty, allmyghty, 4–5 almyghty, -myȝty, 6 allmighty, 7 -ie, 6–7 almightie, 4– almighty.
[f. all adv. + mighty. OE. ælmeahtiᵹ = OS. alomahtig, OHG. alamahtic: see the by-forms almight, -in, -end.]
All-powerful, omnipotent.
1. a. Orig. and in the strict sense used as an attribute of the Deity, and joined to God or other title.
| c 890 Cod. Dipl. 138 On Godes ealmihtiᵹes naman. a 1000 Psalm l. (Cotton) 85 ælmeahtiᵹ god. c 1175 Lamb. Hom. 7 Þenne wunet god almihti in us. Ibid. 97 Þe almihtiȝa godes sune. c 1200 Ormin 95 Biforenn Crist Allmahhtiȝ Godd. c 1300 Beket 1042 Ȝe honuryeth more an urthlich King than ȝe God almiȝti do. 1366 Mandeville i. 6 In the Name of God Glorious and Allemyghty. 1418 Abp. Chichele in Ellis Orig. Lett. i. 2 I. 4 Blessud be Almyȝty God. 1535 Coverdale Ecclus. l. 20 To geue thankes to Allmightie God. 1611 Bible Gen. xvii. 1, I am the almightie God, walke before me. 1732 Pope Ess. Man i. 145 The first Almighty Cause Acts not by partial, but by gen'ral Laws. 1864 Tennyson En. Ard. 783 O God Almighty, Blessed Saviour. |
b. absol. The Almighty; a title of God.
| a 1000 Beowulf 184 Cwæþ þæt se ælmihtiᵹa eorþan worhte. 1382 Wyclif Ruth i. 20 With bitternes mych the Almyȝti hath fulfillid me. 1535 Coverdale Job vi. 4 The allmighty hath shott at me with his arowes. 1611 Bible Job viii. 3 Doth the Almightie peruert iustice? 1667 Milton P.L. iv. 566 To know More of th' Almighties works. 1718 Pope Iliad vii. 215 Grant, thou Almighty! in whose hand is fate, A worthy champion. 1878 E. White Life in Christ 108 The same words are used by the Almighty in threatening Abimelech. Mod. If it should please the Almighty to spare him for a few years longer. |
c. rarely in superl.
| 1598 Sylvester Du Bartas i. vii. (1641) 60/2 Man (but Image of th' Almightiest) Without these gifts is not a Man, but Beast. |
2. All-powerful (in a general sense). spec. (chiefly U.S.) almighty dollar and similar phrases.
| c 1386 Chaucer Monk's T. 62 O noble almighty Sampson. 1588 Shakes. L.L.L. v. ii. 650 The Armipotent Mars, of Launces the almighty. 1606 ― Tr. & Cr. v. ii. 174 Constring'd in masse by the almighty Fenne [v.r. sunne]. 1782 Cowper Hope 655 Insensible of Truth's almighty charms. 1836 W. Irving in New Yorker 12 Nov. 115 The almighty dollar, that great object of universal devotion throughout our land. 1842 Dickens Amer. Notes I. iii. 63 The almighty dollar sinks into something comparatively insignificant. 1863 W. Phillips Speeches iii. 45, I hail the almighty power of the tongue. 1891 F. W. Bain Antichrist ii. 104 A mere conglomeration of fortune hunters, worshipping the Almighty Dollar. 1947 Time 16 June 33/1 There is a limit to the sacrifices some Britons would make for the sake of the almighty greenback. |
¶ slang. Mighty, great; exceedingly.
| 1824 De Quincey Wks. (1871) XVI. 261 Such rubbish, such ‘almighty’ nonsense (to speak transatlanticè), no eye has ever beheld. 1833 Marryat Pet. Simple (1863) 328 An almighty pretty French privateer lying in St. Pierre's. |