different between large vs multitudinous

English

Etymology

From Middle English large, from Old French large, from Latin larga, feminine of largus (“abundant, plentiful, copious, large, much”). Mostly displaced Middle English stoor, stour (“large, great”) (from Old English st?r) and muchel (“large, great”) (from Old English my?el).

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /?l??d??/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /?l??d??/
• Rhymes: -??(?)d?

Adjective

large (comparative larger, superlative largest)

1. Of considerable or relatively great size or extent.

2. (obsolete) Abundant; ample.
3. (archaic) Full in statement; diffuse; profuse.
   • 1711, Henry Felton, Dissertation on Reading the Classics

     I might be very large upon the importance and advantages of education.

4. (obsolete) Free; unencumbered.

   • Of burdens all he set the Paynims large.

5. (obsolete) Unrestrained by decorum; said of language.
6. (nautical) Crossing the line of a ship's course in a favorable direction; said of the wind when it is abeam, or between the beam and the quarter.

Synonyms

• big, huge, giant, gigantic, enormous, stour, great, mickle, largeish
• See also Thesaurus:large

Antonyms

• small, tiny, minuscule

Derived terms

Translations

Noun

large (countable and uncountable, plural larges)

1. (music, obsolete) An old musical note, equal to two longas, four breves, or eight semibreves.
2. (obsolete) Liberality, generosity.
3. (slang, plural: large) A thousand dollars/pounds.

   Getting a car tricked out like that will cost you 50 large.
4. A large serving of something.

   One small coffee and two larges, please.

Derived terms

• at large

Adverb

large

1. (nautical) Before the wind.

Further reading

• large in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.
• large in The Century Dictionary, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911.

Anagrams

• Agler, Alger, Elgar, Ragle, ergal, glare, lager, regal

French

Etymology

From Old French large, from Latin largus, larga, largum (“abundant, plentiful, copious, large, much”). The feminine is inherited, but for the masculine, Latin largum (the masculine and neuter accusative) developed into Old French larc, which was discarded.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /la??/
• (Paris)
• Homophone: larges
• Hyphenation: large

Adjective

large (plural larges)

1. wide, broad
2. large
3. generous

Derived terms

• de long en large
• en long en large
• large d'esprit
• ratisser large

Related terms

• largesse

Noun

large m (plural larges)

1. open sea
2. width

Synonyms

• (open sea): haute mer
• (width): largeur

Derived terms

Descendants

• Antillean Creole: laj
• Haitian Creole: laj
• Karipúna Creole French: laj
• Louisiana Creole French: laj, larj

Anagrams

• Alger, grêla, régal, régla

Further reading

• “large” in Trésor de la langue française informatisé (The Digitized Treasury of the French Language).

Latin

Etymology 1

Adverb

larg? (comparative largius, superlative largissim?)

1. munificently, generously, liberally.
2. abundantly, copiously.
3. to a great extent.

Etymology 2

Adjective

large

1. vocative masculine singular of largus

References

• large in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• large in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers

Norman

Etymology

From Old French large, from Latin largus (“abundant, plentiful, copious, large, much”).

Adjective

large m or f

1. (Jersey) wide

Derived terms

Noun

large m (plural larges)

1. (Jersey, nautical) open sea, deep sea

   Synonym: plieine mé

Old French

Alternative forms

• larc (Roman de Renard, "wide")

Etymology

From Latin largus, larga.

Adjective

large m (oblique and nominative feminine singular large)

1. generous
2. large; big
3. wide (when used to differentiate between height, width and length)

Descendants

• ? Middle English: large
  • English: large
• Middle French: large
  • French: large
    • Antillean Creole: laj
    • Haitian Creole: laj
    • Karipúna Creole French: laj
    • Louisiana Creole French: laj, larj
• Norman: large (Guernsey, Jersey)

References

• Godefroy, Frédéric, Dictionnaire de l'ancienne langue française et de tous ses dialectes du IX^e au XV^e siècle (1881) (large, supplement)
• large on the Anglo-Norman On-Line Hub

English

Etymology

From (the stem of) Latin multit?d? +? -ous.

Adjective

multitudinous (comparative more multitudinous, superlative most multitudinous)

1. Existing in great numbers; innumerable. [from 17th c.]
   • 1876, John Quincy Adams, Diary entry dated 9 September, 1833 in Charles Francis Adams (editor), Memoirs of John Quincy Adams, Philadelphia: J.B. Lippincott, Volume 9, p. 14,^[1]

     In the multitudinous whimseys of a disabled mind and body, the thick-coming fancies often occur to me that the events which affect my life and adventures are specially shaped to disappoint my purposes.

   • 1934, George Orwell, Burmese Days, Chapter 14,^[2]

     Whichever way one looked one’s view was shut in by the multitudinous ranks of trees, and the tangled bushes and creepers that struggled round their bases like the sea round the piles of a pier.

2. Comprising a large number of parts.
   • 1625, Peter Heylin, Mikrokosmos: A Little Description of the Great World, Augmented and revised, Oxford, “The Grecian Iles,” p. 424,^[3]

     […] he feared no enemies but the Sea and the Earth; the one yeelding no safe harbour for such a Navie; the other not yeelding sufficient sustenance for so multitudinous an Armie.

   • 1882, Walt Whitman, Specimen Days & Collect, Philadelphia: Rees Welsh & Co., entry dated 26 August, 1879, p. 138,^[]

     […] looking up a long while at the grand high roof with its graceful and multitudinous work of iron rods, angles, gray colors, plays of light and shade, receding into dim outlines […]

   • 1916, Carl Sandburg, “Monotone” in Chicago Poems, New York: Henry Holt & Co., p. 118,^[4]

     The monotone of the rain is beautiful,

     And the sudden rise and slow relapse

     Of the long multitudinous rain.

3. Crowded with many people.
   • 1818, Percy Bysshe Shelley, The Revolt of Islam, London: C. & J. Ollier, Canto 12, Stanza I, p. 250,^[5]

     The transport of a fierce and monstrous gladness

     Spread thro’ the multitudinous streets, fast flying

     Upon the winds of fear […]

   • 1919, Max Beerbohm, “A. V. Laider” in Seven Men, London: William Heinemann, p. 142,^[6]

     In multitudinous London the memory of A. V. Laider and his trouble had soon passed from my mind.

4. Coming from or produced by a large number of beings or objects.
   • 1898, H. G. Wells, The War of the Worlds, Book One, Chapter 16,^[7]

     The multitudinous shouting confused his ears.

   • 1950, Mervyn Peake, Gormenghast, New York: Ballantine, 1968, Chapter 36, p. 261,^[8]

     […] she paused before she opened the doors of the salon, for a loud and confused noise came from within. It was of a kind that she had never heard before, so happy it was, so multitudinous, so abandoned—the sound of voices at play.

5. (obsolete) Of or relating to the multitude, of the common people.
   • c. 1607, William Shakespeare, Coriolanus, Act III, Scene 1,^[9]

     [you] that prefer

     A noble life before a long, and wish

     To jump a body with a dangerous physic

     That’s sure of death without it, at once pluck out

     The multitudinous tongue; let them not lick

     The sweet which is their poison […]

Synonyms

• myriad
• See also Thesaurus:manifold, Thesaurus:innumerable

Derived terms

• multitudinously

Related terms

• multitude

Translations