Monday, 8 April 2013

Plethoric


Word of the Day for Monday, April 8, 2013

Plethoric \ple-THAWR-ik, -THOR-, PLETH-uh-rik\, adjective:
1. overfull; turgid; inflated: a plethoric, pompous speech.
2. of, pertaining to, or characterised by plethora.

He is a plethoric sleeper: literally a sleeper having an excess of red corpuscles in the blood (the opposite of anaemic), suggesting "unhealthy repletion", but here a "heavy" sleeper.
-- Arthur Conan Doyle, The Return of Sherlock Holmes, 1903

And I did these things, not that I was an egotist, not that I was impervious to the critical glances of my fellows, but because of a certain hogskin belt, plethoric and sweat-bewrinkled, which buckled next the skin above the hips.
-- Jack London, "The Dignity of Dollars," Revolution and Other Essays, 1900

Plethoric came to English in the late 1300s from the Greek plethore meaning "fullness."

Thanks to: www.dictionary.com

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