Search results
In 1828, Noah Webster listed the only definition of fulsome in his dictionary as "disgusting or offensive," while The Oxford English Dictionary listed "excessively flattering" as the only current definition in 1897 — dating it to 1663 — labeling the others as obsolete.
When Samuel Johnson, working in England, made his entry for fulsome in his famous 1755 dictionary, he recorded only the meanings “nauseous; offensive” and “of a rank and odious smell.” Noah Webster’s entry in his 1828 American Dictionary is very similar, but he added a curious note:
The earliest known use of the word fulsome is in the Middle English period (1150—1500). OED's earliest evidence for fulsome is from before 1325, in Genesis & Exodus.
USAGE In the 13th century when it was first used, fulsome meant simply “abundant or copious.” It later developed additional senses of “offensive, gross” and “disgusting, sickening,” probably by association with foul, and still later a sense of excessiveness: a fulsome disease; a fulsome meal, replete with too much of everything.
Nov 3, 2014 · To begin at the beginning, the word “fulsome” meant simply “abundant” when it first appeared in writing back in 1250, according to the Oxford English Dictionary. Over the centuries, it came to mean overdone, cloying, gross, nauseating, disgusting, loathsome, foul, and so on.
Dec 11, 1977 · December 10, 1977 at 7:00 p.m. EST. ONE OF THE BEST indications of the way language changes is the word fulsome , which has for years meant "offensive to good taste, especially from...
Dec 10, 2020 · A ccording to The American Heritage Dictionary, the adjective fulsome means “excessively flattering or insincerely earnest,” “disgusting or offensive,” or “copious or abundant.” Fulsome dates to the 1200s, when its components (ful + som) gave it the meaning “abundant, full,” says the Online Etymology Dictionary.
People also ask
When did the word “fulsome” first come out?
Where did the word fulsome come from?
Is “fulsome” an informal word?
What does fulsome mean?
Is “foulsome” a bad word?
Is fulsome a negative etymology?
