extreme, a., adv., and n.
(ɛkˈstriːm)
Forms: 5–7 extream(e, (6 extreeme), 5– extreme.
[a. OF. extreme (F. extrême), ad. L. extrēmus, superl. of exterus outward (see exterior).
The L. extrēmus, like Eng. utmost, is scarcely to be found used in its strictly literal sense of ‘outermost’; the ordinary senses are ‘endmost’, ‘farthest’, ‘last’; and, with loss of the distinctively superlative signification, ‘very far advanced’, ‘excessive in degree’. In late L. the adj. was treated as a positive, with compar. and superl. degrees extrēmior, extrēmissimus. In Eng. extremer, extremest, and more freq. more, most extreme, are occasionally used, and (although condemned by Johnson) are justifiable on the ground that the adj. is not always equivalent to a superlative. In some instances the superlative form may be really pleonastic as in chiefest.]
1. Outermost, farthest from the centre (of any area); endmost, situated at either of the ends (of a line, series, or scale: opposed to mean). extreme parts (of the body): the ‘extremities’, hands, feet, fingers, toes, etc. (obs. or arch.).
| 1503 Act 19 Hen. VII, c. 24 Chichester is in the extream Part of the..Shire. 1557 Recorde Whetst. D iij, Beginnyng with the two extremeste [nombers] that is .2. and .30. thei will by multiplicacion make .60. 1683 Salmon Doron Med. i. 32 [Hermodacts] purges Flegm by stool from the extream parts. 1725 Pope Odyss. xiii. 281 The fruitful continent's extreamest bound. 1748 F. Smith Voy. Disc. N.-W. Pass. I. 165 The principal Care required being as to the extreme Parts, as to the Feet and Legs, Arms and Hands. 1831 Brewster Optics x. 89 The refrangibility of the extreme invisible ray which possessed the power of heating. 1871 Freeman Norm. Conq. IV. xvii. 72 These two extreme points of his province..Hereford on the West and Norwich on the East. |
b. Math. extreme and mean ratio (or † proportion): = Gr. ἀκρὸς καὶ µέσος λόγος (see quots.).
| 1570 Billingsley Euclid 153 b, A right line is sayd to be deuided by an extreme and meane proportion, when the whole is to the greater part, as the greater part is to the lesse. 1827 Hutton Course Math. I. 370 Let A B be the given line to be divided in extreme and mean ratio. |
c. Bell-ringing. extreme bells, extreme change: (see quots.).
| 1671 Tintinnalogia 8 On four Bells, there are Twenty four several Changes, in Ringing of which, there is one Bell called the Hunt and the other three are Extream Bells. 1677 F. S[teadman] Campanalogia 55 The extream changes may be made two ways, viz. either betwixt the two farthest extream bells from the hunt, or else betwixt the two nearest extream bells to it. |
2. Farthest, or very far advanced in any direction; utmost, uttermost.
| 1600 Shakes. A.Y.L. ii. i. 42 The hairie foole..Stood on th' extremest verge of the swift brooke. 1705 Addison Italy 250 Miseno's Cape and Bauli last he view'd, That on the Sea's extreamest Borders stood. 1774 J. Bryant Mythol. I. p. vi, Colonies..are to be found in the most extream parts of the east. 1784 Cowper Task ii. 92 From th' extremest point, Of elevation down into th' abyss. 1860 Baroness Bunsen in Hare Life II. v. 273 The extreme point supposed to have been reached. 1882 Proctor Fam. Sc. Stud. 2, The extremest possible range of Telescopic vision. |
3. Last, latest. Obs. or arch., exc. in extreme unction, in the Roman Catholic Church, ‘a sacrament in which the sick in danger of death are anointed by a priest for the health of soul and body, the anointing being accompanied by a set form of words’ (Catholic Dict.).
| c 1477 Caxton Jason 83 b, The extreme draughtes of deth. 1513 Bradshaw St. Werburge i. 3010 The extreme day. 1552 Abp. Hamilton Catech. (1884) 34 The daie of extreme jugement. 1579 Fulke Refut. Rastel 795 Other writers, ascribe the institution of this extreame unction to Felix the fourth. 1669 Penn No Cross viii. §8 The extream Moments of Life. 1821 Shelley Adonais vi, Thy extreme hope, the loveliest and the last. 1875 Manning Mission H. Ghost i. 17 Those who upon a dying bed receive the Sacrament of Extreme Unction. |
4. Going to great lengths; opposed to moderate. a. Of a quality, condition, or feeling: Existing in the utmost possible degree, or in an exceedingly high degree; exceedingly great or intense.
The phrase extreme old age is apprehended as belonging to this sense, though in the original L. extrema senectus the adj. has the sense 3.
| c 1460 Fortescue Abs. & Lim. Mon. (1714) 22 Lyvyn in the most extreme Povertie. 1526 Pilgr. Perf. (W. de W. 1531) 205 b, The moost extreme paynes. 1550 Coverdale Spir. Perle xii, He himself lieth not in any such extreme necessity. 1634 Sir T. Herbert Trav. 95 Winter colds, and..the parching Sunne..which in their seasons are there extreame. 1675 Traherne Chr. Ethics ix. 125 It is the extremest madness in the world. 1710 Hearne Collect. (Oxf. Hist. Soc.) II. 348 Having an extream desire to be a Bp. 1726 Chetwood Adv. Capt. R. Boyle 345 With the Day Reflection return'd, sharpen'd with the extreamest Hunger. 1828 Scott F.M. Perth xxiii, Their surprise at his escape was therefore extreme. 1868 Gladstone Juv. Mundi x. §1. (1869) 388 The extremest degree of guilt. 1891 E. Peacock N. Brendon II. 66 He knew that he was in extreme peril. |
b. Of a case, circumstance, supposition: Presenting in the utmost degree some particular characteristic.
| 1597 Hooker Eccl. Pol. v. §9. 16 Cases of necessitie being sometime but vrgent, sometime extreme. 1875 Jowett Plato (ed. 2) IV. 24 The nature of anything is best known from the examination of extreme cases. 1888 Bryce Amer. Commw. II. lx. 427 Party loyalty [is] strong enough..in all but extreme cases. |
c. Of actions, measures, etc.: Severe or violent in the utmost degree, or in an exceedingly great degree; stringent.
| 1512 Act 4 Hen. VIII, c. 20 Pream., Theire adherentes made extreme resistens. a 1533 Ld. Berners Huon lxxxii. 256 The doloures wepynges & teeres that they made were so extreme. 1538 Bale God's Promises iii. in Hazl. Dodsley I. 297 Neither kindness nor extreme handling can Make him to know me. 1607 Shakes. Timon iii. v. 54 To kill, I grant, is sinnes extreemest Gust. 1614 Bp. Hall Recoll. Treat. 975 Moderate exercise strengthens, extreame destroys nature. 1685 Dryden Thren. August. v. 9 Th' extreamest ways they first ordain. 1856 Froude Hist. Eng. (1858) II. vii. 130 Having been driven to so extreme a measure against his will. 1888 A. K. Green Behind Closed Doors ii, We never anticipated her taking any such extreme action as this. |
d. Of opinions, fashions, etc.: Going to the utmost extent; exceeding the limits of moderation.
| 1876 J. Saunders Lion in Path xi, A lady, dressed in the extremest fashion of the time. 1878 Morley Carlyle Crit. Misc. Ser. i. 200 Holding one or other of the rival creeds in its most extreme, exclusive and intolerant form. |
e. Of persons: Going to great lengths in any action, habit, disposition, or opinion; very ‘pronounced’. In early use often: † Strict, severe, harsh. Now chiefly with reference to opinions.
| a 1533 Frith Disput. Purgat. (1829) 154 The extreme enemies of God. a 1533 Ld. Berners Gold. Bk. M. Aurel. (1546) N vj, He shewed hymselfe as bolde in wordes, as extreme and base in his array. 1535 Coverdale Ps. cxxix. 3 Yf thou (Lorde) wilt be extreme to marcke what is done amysse. 1594 West Symbol. ii. Chancerie §139 A. B. accompted of him as of a verie extreame man. 1598 Shakes. Merry W. iv. iv. 11 Be not as extreme in submission, as in offence. 1602 Life T. Cromwell v. v. 127 Gardiner's the cause makes Cromwell so extreme. 1634 Sir T. Herbert Trav. 197 The greatest part are Heathens and extreme Idolaters. 1784 Cowper Task ii. 380 In conversation frivolous, in dress Extreme. 1860 Hook Lives Abps. (1869) I. i. 2 A Master who is not extreme to mark what is done amiss. 1889 Spectator 28 Dec., There will be a natural tendency in men who have this note of distinction to be..what is called ‘extreme’ men. |
† f. Of material agents, influences, etc.: Effective in the utmost degree; exceedingly intense or powerful in operation. Obs.
| c 1489 Caxton Blanchardyn liv. (1890) 212 Extreame contagion of dangerous sicknes. 1612 Drayton Poly-olb. xvi. 253 Those two extreamer Winds from hurting it to let. 1634 Sir T. Herbert Trav. 104 Supping a delighted Cup of extreame poyson. 1748 F. Smith Voy. Disc. N.-W. Pass. I. 158 The Wind..began to be extreme, or very intense. |
5. Music. a. In sense 1, as extreme parts, the highest and lowest parts in part music. b. extreme interval: = ‘augmented interval’; see augmented 2 b. c. extreme key: a key other than those related keys into which it is usual to modulate. † d. Formerly said of a key having more than three sharps or flats (obs.).
| 1731 G. Keller Rules for Playing Thorow-Bass in W. Holder Harmony 164 The extream Sharp second is the same distance as the Flat third. Ibid. 191 The extream Sharp 2d. and 4th. generally prepares a Cadence. The 5th. and 7th. and the Flat 5th. and extream Flat 7th. are generally the fore runners of a Cadence. 1876 Stainer & Barrett Mus. Terms, Chord of the extreme sixth, a chord of modern growth so called because the interval of an extreme or augmented sixth is contained in it, either directly or by inversion. 1880 Parry in Grove Dict. Mus. s.v. Interval, The interval of the augmented sixth is indifferently called ‘superfluous’ or ‘extreme sharp’ sixth; and the same terms are applied to the fifth. |
† B. adv. In an extreme degree; = extremely 2; formerly frequent with adjs., occasional with advbs., rare with vbs. Obs.
| 1593 H. Smith God's Arrowe B iij, Except they be extreame vnthankeful and dissolute. 1594 H. Willobie in Shaks. C. Praise 9 The smothered flame, too closely pent Burnes more extreame for want of vent. 1636 Earl of Strafford Lett. & Disp. (1739) II. 22 My Lord Marshal writes extream doubtfully of his Success with the Emperor. 1710 Hearne Collect. (Oxf. Hist. Soc.) III. 53 You have done extreme well in speaking to the Vice-Chancellor. 1796 Burney Metastasio II. 5 In the empty and extreme cold theatre. 1816 Keatinge Trav. (1817) I. 270 Articles..of an extreme costly description. |
C. n.
1. quasi-n. The adj. used absol.; only in phrases, in (the) extreme: in an extreme degree, extremely. † to be in extreme: to be at the extreme stage of some state or condition.
| 1604 Shakes. Oth. v. ii. 347 Of one..Perplex'd in the extreme. a 1711 Ken Sion Poet. Wks. 1721 IV. 390 Fond Love..Is ever in Extreme. 1780 Cowper Lett. 8 May, I am delighted..in the extreme. 1790 Norman & Bertha I. 67 Elevated, but not in extreme, by their bacchanalian offering [etc.]. 1823 in Cobbett Rur. Rides (1885) I. 321 The labourers' houses..beggarly in the extreme. 1847 Grote Greece ii. xlv. (1862) IV. 69 This dismissal, ungracious in the extreme..excited..exasperation. |
† 2. n. The utmost point or verge; that which terminates a body; an end, extremity. Obs.
| 1570 Billingsley Euclid i. Def. iv. 2 A right lyne is that, whose extremes abiding, cannot be altered. 1626 Bacon Sylva §749 Most of the hard substances fly to the extreams of the Body. 1660 Boyle New Exp. Phys. Mech. vi. 58 The open extream [of the pipe]. 1748 F. Smith Voy. Disc. N.-W. Pass. I. 28 Their Paddle being double bladed..and the Blades one at each Extreme. 1802 Playfair Illustr. Hutton. Th. 304 Plumbago is the extreme of a gradation of which fossil coal is the beginning. 1808 J. Barlow Columb. i. 573 Far in his vast extremes he swells and thaws. |
† b. in (the, his) extremes: in the last moments or stage of life. Obs.; = L. in extremis (which is now often used).
| 1546 Bale Eng. Votaries ii. (1551) C viij b, As he laye in extremes. 1558 Bp. Watson Sev. Sacram. xxx. 193 Sendynge for theym [Priestes] in the extremes when they can doo them least good. 1613 Purchas Pilgr. ix. iii. (1614) 833 In his extremes he vttered these things to his Confessor. [1767 Gooch Treat. Wounds I. 286 A person apparently in extremis, under a fit of the apoplexy. 1830 Scott Monast. Answ. Introd. Ep. note, Having sent for a Cameronian clergyman when he was in extremis.] |
3. That which occupies a place at either end of anything; one of two things removed as far as possible from each other, in position, nature, or condition. Also in proverb: Extremes meet.
| 1555 Eden Decades 175 Not accomptynge the extremes. 1605 Shakes. Lear v. iii. 198 Two extremes of passion, ioy and greefe. 1699 Burnet 39 Art. xxv. (1700) 268 The other Extream that we likewise avoid, is [etc.]. 1721 De Foe Mem. Cavalier (1840) 17 As the English were very much out of favour..so the Scots were on the other extreme with the French. 1800 Med. Jrnl. III. 251 The intermediate space between those extremes. 1816 Byron Parisina xiv, Now in laughter, now in tears, But madly still in each extreme. 1822 Hazlitt Table-t. I. xv. 360 Extremes meet..the most furious anarchists have since become the most barefaced apostates. |
b. Logic. Each of the extreme terms in a proposition or a syllogism; in a proposition the subject or predicate, as distinguished from the copula; in a syllogism, the major or minor term as distinguished from the middle.
| 1628 T. Spencer Logick 258 If the last extreame be affirmed of the middle terme, and the middle terme of the first extreame. 1655–60 Stanley Hist. Philos. (1701) 182/1 Extreams are the parts of a Proposition. 1837–8 Sir W. Hamilton Logic xvi. (1866) I. 295 The Major and Minor Terms [of a syllogism] are called Extremes. 1849 Hoblyn Dict. Sci. Terms, Extremes. In Logic, the subject and predicate of a proposition are called its extremes or terms. |
c. Math. The first or last term of a ratio, series, or set of numbers. † extremes conjunct and extremes disjunct, terms formerly in use in Spherical Trigonometry (see quot. 1796), for which adjacent parts and opposite parts are now employed.
| 1571 Digges Pantom. iv. Def. iv. T j b, When foure magnitudes are..in continual proportion, the first & the fourth are the extremes. 1616 Wright tr. Napier's Descr. Logarithmes i. iii. 8 Of the Logarithmes of three proportionals, the double of the second, or middle one, is equall to the summe of the extremes. 1753 Chambers Cycl. Supp., Extremes conjunct. 1796 Hutton Math. Dict. I. 463 Extremes Conjunct and Extremes Disjunct in Spherical Trigonometry, are the former the two circular parts that lie next the assumed middle part, and the latter the two that lie remote from the middle part. 1806 ― Course Math. I. 115 Subtract the less extreme from the greater. 1859 Barn. Smith Arith. & Algebra (ed. 6) 432 The terms a and d are called the Extremes. |
d. Music. the extremes of an interval: the two sounds most distant from each other.
e. Bell-ringing: = ‘extreme change’: see A. 1 c.
| 1684 R. H. Sch. Recreat. 96 You may make your extream at the first, second, or third single Bob. 1702 J. D. & C. M. Campanalogia Impr. 20 An Extream is a distinct Change from the rest, and made by the two farthest Extream Bells from the Half-hunt. |
4. The utmost imaginable or tolerable degree of anything; a very high degree. Also in phrases in, to an, the extreme; in extremes (cf. 1).
| 1593 Shakes. 3 Hen. VI, iii. ii. 115 By so much is the Wonder in extremes. a 1631 Capt. Smith True Trav. ii. 47 Here the Proverbe is true that no extreame long continueth. 1709 Pope Ess. Crit. 386 Avoid extreams; and shun the fault of such Who still are pleas'd too little, or too much. 1715 ― Iliad I. Ess. Homer i. ii, Nor do they [men] equally..bear that human Nature..Should be prais'd in an Extream without opposition. 1777 Burke Let. Sheriffs Bristol Wks. III. 185 The extreme of liberty..obtains no where. 1791 J. Lackington Mem. (1792) 228 She was enthusiastical to an extreme. 1846 Pope's Jrnl. Trade 109 A climate subject to great extremes. 1846 Greener Sc. Gunnery 117 Twisted..to such an extreme as to resemble the threads of a very fine screw. 1858 Emerson Lett. & Soc. Aims, Pers. Poetry Wks. (Bohn) III. 237 Life in the East is fierce, short, hazardous, and in extremes. 1883 F. M. Crawford Dr. Claudius ii, He was..dressed in the extreme of the English fashion. |
† b. pl. Extremities, straits, hardships. Obs.
| 1546–7 Paget Let. 2 Mar. in Tytler Edw. VI (1839) I. 24, I neuer loued extreams. 1594 Marlowe & Nashe Dido i. i. 196 Lighten our Extremes with this one boon. 1634 Sir T. Herbert Trav. 25 The Sea-men fell into great extreames. 1667 Dryden Ind. Emperor iv. ii, What now remains in these Extreams? |
5. An excessive degree; a ‘very great length’, in phrases to † break, carry, run to an extreme; also, something carried to excess, an extreme measure, a desperate step.
| 1588 Shakes. Tit. A. iii. i. 216 Do not breake into these deepe extreames. 1592 Nashe P. Penilesse (ed. 2) 26 b, If I prooue Playes to be no extreame. 1611 Shakes. Wint. T. iv. iv. 6 My gracious Lord, To chide at your extreames, it not becomes me. 1752 Young Brothers iv. i, On what Extremes extreme distress impels me? 1789 Belsham Ess. I. xii. 217 This would be running into a very absurd extreme. 1804 Med. Jrnl. XII. 329 The antiphlogistic regimen, carried into extremes..have been the causes. 1867 Mrs. H. Wood Life's Secret II. 11, I never thought the masters would go to the extreme of a lock-out. |
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▸ Sport (orig. N. Amer.). Designating or relating to (a version of) a sport or pastime performed in a hazardous environment or involving great physical risk; esp. in extreme sport. Also: participating in such a sport or pastime.
| 1974 R. Messner 7th Grade: Most Extreme Climbing 17 As technique improved, difficulties were overcome and every Alpine face was conquered; the extreme climbers..became non-competitive. 1989 Skiing Trade News (Nexis) Mar. 112 ‘Extreme’ sports like snowboarding, windsurfing, and heliskiing. 1995 Independent on Sunday 13 Aug. (Real Lives Suppl.) 6/5 Shaun Baker is an extreme kayaker, a masochist who chooses to ride his canoe over waterfalls. 1999 Courier-Mail (Brisbane) 30 July 13/2 Long-time participants in extreme sports, such as canyoner Tony Zimmerman, are a different breed. 2002 Observer 20 Jan. (Life Suppl.) 5/4 Waterfalling (motto: ‘to air is human, to freefall divine’) is admittedly an extreme branch of white-water rafting. |
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▸ extreme fighting n. orig. N. Amer. any of several similar forms of fighting (organized as a spectator sport), all of which incorporate aspects of boxing, wrestling, and martial arts, and feature few rules and minimal protection for the participants; esp. = ultimate fighting n. at ultimate adj. and n. Additions (though the two terms are also sometimes distinguished: see quot. 1999).
| 1995 Daily News (N.Y.) 10 Nov. 3/2 ‘No biting, no eye-gouging, no mercy,’ said promoter Donald Zuckerman in describing the nine-bout Battlecade *Extreme Fighting card Nov. 18 in Park Slope's Eighth Ave. Armory. 1999 D. T. Putnam Controversies of Sports World xii. 189 The American Medical Association..has a position against what it calls ‘blood-soaked spectacles’. The association condemns extreme fighting, which has more rules in the ring to distinguish it from Ultimate Fighting. 2000 Guardian 28 Feb. 8/2 Total fighting—known as extreme fighting in the US—is nothing more than a glamorised form of brawling. |
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▸ extreme skier n. a participant in extreme skiing.
| 1981 Sports Illustr. 30 Mar. 60/3 The combination of Landry's ski-racing talent and his..mountaineering skills has given him the unique mix required to produce a first-class *extreme skier. 1993 Ski Surv. Feb.–Mar. 45 (advt.) In Grand Targhee, Wyoming, extreme skiers cheat death as a 100 ton cornice falls from beneath them. 2000 N.Y. Times Mag. 14 May ii. 79/2 He's an extreme skier. He skis in the back country. He jumps off cliffs. |
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▸ extreme skiing n.probably after French ski êxtreme (P. Vallen{cced}ant & M. Ballerini Ski Êxtreme: ma Plenitude (1979)) a form of skiing in which participants undertake particularly difficult courses or dangerous terrains, esp. steep mountain descents.
| [1980 Ski Oct. 97 Skier Patrick Vallen{cced}ant..climbed up Yerupaja in the Peruvian Alps..then goosed it down slopes of up to 63 degrees, a record for ski êxtreme.] 1981 Ski Feb. 64/1 There remains a stubborn minority of..*extreme skiing fanatics who climb on skis..to find the ultimate downhill trip. 1985 Backpacker (Nexis) Jan. 41 The terrain ranges from easy slides up and down the valleys, up to high risk extreme skiing over the ridges. 1999 Time 8 Mar. 53/2 Wendy Fisher, two-time Extreme Skiing Champion and a notoriously fearless backcountry skier. |