different between spate vs plethora

English

Etymology

Of Celtic origin; compare Irish speid. (Can this⁽⁺⁾ etymology be sourced?)

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /spe?t/
• Rhymes: -e?t
• Homophone: speight

Noun

spate (plural spates)

1. A river flood; an overflow or inundation.
   • c.1856-1885, Alfred, Lord Tennyson, Gareth and Lynette, in Idylls of the King,

     The last tall son of Lot and Bellicent,

     And tallest, Gareth, in a showerful spring

     Stared at the spate. A slender-shafted Pine

     Lost footing, fell, and so was whirled away.

   • 1900, Arthur Conan Doyle, The Great Boer War,

     At Odendaal, where he had hoped to cross, the river was in spate, the British flag waved from a post upon the further side, and a strong force of expectant Guardsmen eagerly awaited him there.

   • 1902, Jack London, A Daughter of the Snows,

     The glacial drip was already in evidence, and every creek in roaring spate.

   • 1910, John Buchan, Prester John,

     At the edge of the burn, where the path turns downward, there is a patch of shingle washed up by some spate.

2. (by extension) A sudden rush or increase.
   • 17thC, Thomas Browne (translator), To a friend intending a difficult work, from a Latin original, published in Collected works of Sir Thomas Browne (1836),

     Only let your language match your subject, then it will be shapely and free; but take care all the time not to overwhelm your work in a spate of words to attain the fluency of Isaeus; and that it slip not out too freely, avoid the danger of Strada.

   • 1887, Robert Louis Stevenson, Thrawn Janet, in The Merry Men and Other Tales and Fables,

     He couldnae weel tell how - maybe it was the cauld to his feet - but it cam' in upon him wi' a spate that there was some connection between thir twa, an' that either or baith o' them were bogles.

   • 1964, United States Supreme Court, Reynolds v. Sims: Opinion of the Court,

     The spate of similar cases filed and decided by lower courts since our decision in Baker [v. Carr] amply shows that the problem of state legislative malapportionment is one that is perceived to exist in a large number of the States.

   • 2009 April, Australia Tibet Council, Australia Tibet Council report: Courting The Dragon,

     A recent spate of controversies, including Chinese mineral giant Chinalco’s Rio Tinto bid and revelations of hushed meetings between the Chinese propaganda chief and Australian media bosses, have once again brought the issue of our deepening relationship with China to the fore.

Translations

Further reading

• Douglas Harper (2001–2021) , “spate”, in Online Etymology Dictionary

Anagrams

• Pesta, aspet, paste, pates, peats, pâtés, sepat, septa, septa-, speat, stape, tapes, tepas

Italian

Noun

spate f

1. plural of spata

Romanian

Etymology

From Latin spathae, plural of spatha, from Ancient Greek ????? (spáth?).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?spate/

Noun

spate n (plural spate)

1. back (anatomy)
2. back (part, side) of something
3. shoulder

Declension

Synonyms

• (back): dos, spinare
• (shoulder): um?r

Derived terms

• în spate

Related terms

• spat?

English

Etymology

From Late Latin pl?th?ra, from Ancient Greek ??????? (pl?th?r?, “fullness, satiety”), from ????? (pl?th?, “to be full”) +? -? (-?, nominal suffix).

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) enPR: pl??th?r?, pl??dh?r?, pl?thô?r?, IPA^(key): /?pl?????/, /?pl?ð???/, /pl???????/
• (General American) enPR: pl??th?r?, IPA^(key): /?pl?????/
• Rhymes: -????

Noun

plethora (plural plethorae or plethoras)

1. (usually followed by of) An excessive amount or number; an abundance.
   • 1817, Francis Jeffrey, review of Lalla Rookh, in the Edinburgh Review

     He labours under a plethora of wit and imagination.

   • 1849, Herman Melville, Redburn. His First Voyage

     I pushed my seat right up before the most insolent gazer, a short fat man, with a plethora of cravat round his neck, and fixing my gaze on his, gave him more gazes than he sent.

   • 1927, H.P. Lovecraft, Supernatural Horror in Literature (The Aftermath of Gothic Fiction)

     Meanwhile other hands had not been idle, so that above the dreary plethora of trash like Marquis von Grosse's Horrid Mysteries..., there arose many memorable weird works both in English and German.

   • 1986, Lorne Michaels, Steve Martin, Randy Newman, ¡Three Amigos! (film)

     Jefe: We have many beautiful piñatas for your birthday celebration, each one filled with little surprises!

     El Guapo: How many piñatas?

     Jefe: Many piñatas, many!

     El Guapo: Jefe, would you say I have a plethora of piñatas?

     Jefe: A what?

     El Guapo: A plethora.

     Jefe: Oh yes, El Guapo. You have a plethora.

     El Guapo: Jefe, what is a plethora?

     Jefe: Why, El Guapo?

     El Guapo: Well, you just told me that I had a plethora, and I would just like to know if you know what it means to have a plethora. I would not like to think that someone would tell someone else he has a plethora, and then find out that that person has no idea what it means to have a plethora.

     Jefe: El Guapo, I know that I, Jefe, do not have your superior intellect and education, but could it be that once again, you are angry at something else, and are looking to take it out on me?
2. (medicine) Chronic excess of blood in the skin, usually in the face.

Synonyms

• (excess, abundance): glut, myriad, surfeit, superfluity, slew

Related terms

• plethoric

Translations

See also

• myriad

References

• “plethora” listed in the Oxford English Dictionary [2^nd Ed.; 1989]
  Pronounced: /?pl???r?/, /pl?????r?/.

Anagrams

• Althorpe, traphole, tropheal

Latin

Etymology

From Ancient Greek ??????? (pl?th?r?, “fullness, satiety”), from ????? (pl?th?, “to be full”) +? -? (-?, nominal suffix).

Pronunciation

(Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /ple?to.ra/, [pl??t?????]

Noun

pl?th?ra f (genitive pl?th?rae); first declension

1. (Late Latin) plethora

Inflection

First-declension noun.

Descendants

• ? English: plethora