hollownessn.
/ˈhɒləʊnɪs/ 1. The quality or condition of being hollow; concavity; internal emptiness; sunken condition.
ΘΚΠ
the world > space > shape > unevenness > condition or fact of receding > hollowness > [noun]
hollness1483
hollowness1560
hownessa1605
cavitya1680
14.. in T. Wright & R. P. Wülcker Anglo-Saxon & Old Eng. Vocab. (1884) I. 571/32 Cavitas, holwnehse.
c1440 Promptorium Parvulorum 244/1 Holownesse of a vesselle..concavitas.
1560 tr. E. Roesslin Byrth of Mankynde (new ed.) i. sig. D.iiiv The..Matrix..a stronge bladder, hauynge in it but one vniuersall holones.
1597 W. Shakespeare Richard II i. ii. 59 Griefe boundeth where is fals, Not with the emptie hollownes, but weight. View more context for this quotation
1664 J. Evelyn Pomona iii. 9 in Sylva Old Trees (quite decay'd with an inward hollowness).
1812 P. B. Shelley Mother & Son in Poet. Wks. (1870) II. 527 Within her ghastly hollowness of eye.
ΘΚΠ
the world > space > shape > unevenness > condition or fact of receding > hollowness > [noun] > a cavity or hollow
hollowc897
wombOE
holkc1000
dalkc1325
hollownessc1374
spaciosity?a1425
pitc1480
concavitya1513
doupa1522
capacity?1541
cavity?1541
concave?1541
vacuation?1541
vacuity?1541
sound1603
cave1605
ferme1612
ventriclea1631
core1663
want1664
uterus1692
excavation1781
hog trough1807
c1374 G. Chaucer Troilus & Criseyde v. 1809 His lighte gost ful blysfully is went Vp to þe holwghnesse of þe seuenþe spere.
1480 W. Caxton Descr. Brit. 6 Atte cherdhoke there is a grete holownes vnder erthe.
1611 G. Markham Countrey Contentm. i. xii. 65 The Perch..abideth most in Creeks and hollownesses, which are about the bank.
1716 T. Molyneux in Philos. Trans. 1714–16 (Royal Soc.) 29 375 There are Nine of these Hollownesses and as many Eminences, undulated as they paint Sea Waves.
3. Of a sound or voice: see hollow adj. 4.
ΘΚΠ
the world > physical sensation > hearing and noise > degree, kind, or quality of sound > non-resonance > [noun] > hollowness
hollowness1398
boxiness1882
1398 J. Trevisa tr. Bartholomew de Glanville De Proprietatibus Rerum (1495) vii. xxvii. 242 Yf holownesse comyth of drynesse, it is knowen by drye coughe.
1608 W. Shakespeare King Lear i. 146 Whose low, sound Reuerbs no hollownes . View more context for this quotation
1884 R. C. Praed Zéro II. 64 Helena was shocked at the hollowness of her voice.
4. Emptiness, vanity; insincerity, falseness.
ΘΚΠ
the world > existence and causation > existence > substantiality or concreteness > unsubstantiality or abstractness > [noun] > unsubstantiality or lack of substance
airiness1535
slightnessa1616
wanzingness1642
hollowness1648
insubsistence1651
emptiness1695
dreaminess1796
unsubstantiality1838
insubstantiality1848
aeriality1854
vapourishness1860
tenuousness1901
shimmeriness1913
the mind > mental capacity > knowledge > conformity with what is known, truth > deceit, deception, trickery > dissimulation, pretence > insincerity > [noun]
hollow-heartedness1549
bias drawinga1616
unsincerity1646
hollowness1648
unsincereness1683
insinceritya1699
phoniness1910
1648 Bp. J. Hall Breathings Devout Soul §xlv. 78 Dissect this close heart of mine..and if thou findest any hollowness, fill it up.
1790 G. Walker Serm. Var. Subj. II. xxi. 118 A thorough man of the world, who knows it in all its hollownesses.
1886 Manch. Examiner 13 Jan. 5/7 The hollowness of his professions.
This entry has not yet been fully updated (first published 1899; most recently modified version published online December 2019).
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n.c1374