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Historically, it has also meant "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. By the mid-1300s, it had come to mean "plump, well-fed." It morphed again in the 1600s to mean "overgrown, overfed" and ...
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. fulsome is formed within English, by derivation. Etymons: full adj., ‑some suffix1.
The word has both positive and negative meanings, so context is key. Fulsome is a troublesome word. And it's also a word that represents the rare case in which dictionaries have made the word’s meaning more confusing rather than more clear. Fulsome seems like an emphatic way of saying “full” or “complete,” and indeed in its oldest use ...
Old English full "containing all that can be received; having eaten or drunk to repletion; filled; perfect, entire, utter," from Proto-Germanic *fullaz "full" (source also of Old Saxon full, Old Frisian ful, Dutch vol, Old High German fol, German voll, Old Norse fullr, Gothic fulls), from PIE root *pele- (1) "to fill." Related: Fuller; fullest.
offensive to good taste, esp. as being excessive; overdone or gross. fulsome praise that embarrassed her deeply. fulsome décor. 2. disgusting; sickening; repulsive. a table heaped with fulsome mounds of greasy foods. 3. excessively or insincerely lavish. fulsome admiration.
Jul 3, 2024 · fulsome (comparative fulsomer, superlative fulsomest) Offensive to good taste, tactless, overzealous, excessive. [T]he Weather exceeding hot, I entreated him to let me bathe in a River that was near. He conſented, and I immediately ſtripped myſelf ſtark naked, and went down ſoftly into the ſtream.
Jan 8, 2018 · My much-used 1984 Collins English Dictionary simply refers readers from fulsome (pronunciation here) to the definition for full, but the history of this word is far from simple. Merriam-Webster explains this word, whose first use was in the 1300s, was originally a Middle English version of itself – fulsom coming directly from compounding the words full and some .
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