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19th century
- And evidence shows that by the 19th century fulsome was established as a literary term chiefly expressing disapproval of excessive and obsequious praise and flattery—that is, exactly as Webster had defined it.
www.merriam-webster.com/grammar/fulsome
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.
In the United States, the compound fullsome takes its signification from full, in the sense of cloying or satiating, and in England, fulsome takes its predominant sense from foulness. Webster’s assertion that full and foul share an etymological root is incorrect.
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.
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.
Via the sense of "causing nausea" it came to be used of language, "offensive to taste or good manners" (early 15c.); especially "excessively flattering" (1660s). Since the 1960s, however, it commonly has been used in its original, favorable sense, especially in fulsome praise. Related: Fulsomely; fulsomeness.
Jul 3, 2024 · Excessively flattering (connoting insincerity). [pseudonym; Samuel Langhorne Clemens], “The Yankee and the King Sold as Slaves”, in. And by hideous contrast, a redundant orator was making a speech to another gathering not thirty steps away, in laudation of "our glorious British liberties!"
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Does the word fulsome have a positive connotation or negative? Depends on whom you ask. The word started out in mid 13th century as a straightforward, unambiguous word to describe abundance. By the 17th century, it had acquired a deprecatory sense, as in the second sense listed above.
