abundance
Definition from Wiktionary, the free dictionary
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English [edit]
Alternative forms [edit]
- (obsolete) abundaunce
- (obsolete) habundance
- (obsolete) boundance
- (card games) abondance
Etymology [edit]
- From Middle English abundaunce, habaundance,[1] from Old French habundance[2], abondance, from Latin abundantia (“fullness, plenty”), from abundō (“to overflow”).
- See abound.
Pronunciation [edit]
Noun [edit]
abundance (plural abundances)
- A large quantity; many. [First attested around 1150 to 1350.][2]
- An overflowing fullness or ample sufficiency; profusion; copious supply; superfluity; plentifulness. [First attested around 1350 to 1470.][2]
- (Can we date this quote?) Sir Walter Raleigh
- It is lamentable to remember what abundance of noble blood hath been shed with small benefit to the Christian state.
- (Can we date this quote?) Sir Walter Raleigh
- Wealth; affluence; plentiful amount of resources. [First attested around 1350 to 1470.][2]
- Frequency, amount, ratio of something within a given environment or sample. [First attested in the late 19th century.][2]
- (card games) A bid to take nine or more tricks in solo whist. [First attested in the late 19th century.][2]
Usage notes [edit]
- Synonym notes: Abundance, Plenty, Exuberance. These words rise upon each other in expressing the idea of fullness.
- Plenty denotes a sufficiency to supply every want; as, plenty of food, plenty of money, etc.
- Abundance express more, and gives the idea of superfluity or excess; as, abundance of riches, an abundance of wit and humor; often, however, it only denotes plenty in a high degree.
- Exuberance rises still higher, and implies a bursting forth on every side, producing great superfluity or redundance; as, an exuberance of mirth, an exuberance of animal spirits, etc.
Synonyms [edit]
Related terms [edit]
Translations [edit]
ample sufficiency
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References [edit]
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1976 [1909], Gove, Philip Babcock editor, Webster's Third International Dictionary of the English Language Unabridged, Springfield, MA: G. & C. Merriam Co., ISBN 0-87779-101-5, page 8:
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 2.5 2003 [1933], Brown, Lesley editor, The Shorter Oxford English Dictionary, edition 5th, Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press, ISBN 978-0-19-860575-7, page 10:
- abundance in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913
