请输入您要查询的英文单词：

　

单词 many
释义

manyadj.pron.n.adv.

Brit. /ˈmɛni/, U.S. /ˈmɛni/
Forms: Old English mæneg- (inflected form), Old English mæni- (inflected form), Old English mænig, Old English maneg- (inflected form), Old English mani- (inflected form), Old English manig, Old English meni- (inflected form), Old English menig, Old English moneg- (inflected form), Old English mong- (inflected form), Old English moni- (inflected form), Old English monig, early Middle English maniȝ, early Middle English maniȝe, early Middle English moniȝ, Middle English magnie (transmission error), Middle English mane, Middle English mani, Middle English manige, Middle English maynye, Middle English meni, Middle English mone, Middle English money, Middle English moni, Middle English monie, Middle English monye, Middle English moony, Middle English myny (transmission error), Middle English–1500s mayny, Middle English–1500s menie, Middle English–1500s meny, Middle English–1500s menye, Middle English–1500s meyne, Middle English–1500s mony, Middle English–1600s manie, Middle English–1600s manye, Middle English– many, 1500s maney, 1500s manny, 1500s maynie, 1500s meanie, 1500s meinie, 1500s menny, 1500s meyney, 1500s meyny, 1500s monye, 1600s mainie, 1600s manaye; English regional 1600s– monny (northern), 1800s minny (south-western), 1800s– mony (northern); Scottish pre-1700 manay, pre-1700 mane, pre-1700 maney, pre-1700 manie, pre-1700 manney, pre-1700 mannie, pre-1700 mayne, pre-1700 mayny, pre-1700 meanie, pre-1700 mone, pre-1700 monei, pre-1700 money, pre-1700 moneye, pre-1700 monnie, pre-1700 monye, pre-1700 1700s–1800s monie, pre-1700 1700s–1800s monny, pre-1700 1700s– many, pre-1700 1700s– mony, 1700s manny, 1800s– meny, 1900s– mauny, 1900s– minny, 1900s– miny, 1900s– monnie. Comparative Middle English manyer, Middle English manyere, Middle English monyare; Scottish pre-1700 monyare, pre-1700 monyer. Superlative (chiefly Scottish) pre-1700 manyest, pre-1700 moneast, pre-1700 moneist, pre-1700 monest, pre-1700 moniast, pre-1700 moniest, pre-1700 monyast, pre-1700 1700s–1800s maniest, pre-1700 1700s–1800s monyest.
Origin: A word inherited from Germanic.
Etymology: Cognate with Old Frisian manich , monich (West Frisian mannich , mennich ), Middle Dutch mēnich (Dutch menig ), Old Saxon manag (Middle Low German mannich ), Old High German manag , menig (Middle High German manec , maneg , German manch ), Gothic manags . The relationship of Old Icelandic margr (Icelandic margur , Faroese margur ) to these forms is unclear; the corresponding Old Icelandic noun is mengi (see below); Old Swedish margher (Swedish regional marg ) has the same -r- , whereas Old Swedish mangher (Swedish många : perhaps > Norwegian mang ) and Danish mange have -n- , perhaps after Middle Low German. For an important Germanic compound see manifold adj. and n.1 Other Indo-European cognates include Old Church Slavonic mŭnogŭ (compare Russian mnogij) and a Celtic group showing ablaut variation, e.g. Early Irish menic abundant, frequent (Irish minic often, frequent, Scottish Gaelic minig often), Welsh mynych frequent, often, Cornish menough often.Variation in Old English in the vowel of the first syllable, between e (occasional) and a or o (common), is due to the presence or absence of i-mutation, itself caused by the substitution of the suffix *-īg for *-æg in very early Old English (compare -y suffix1). The late West Saxon form mænig is probably due to low stress. In Middle English the form with a in the first syllable is recorded from most parts of England. The form with e comes from scattered locations throughout the south-west, southern counties, and Essex. The form with o is recorded in a broad band stretching from Lancashire, through the west midlands, and into the south-west as far as Somerset (roughly speaking the area in which rounding of Germanic a before nasals is preserved in Middle English), and also in the far north of England and southern Scotland (where rounding of a before n is regular: see A. J. Aitken & C. Macafee Older Sc. Vowels (2002) §14.18.(7)). Distribution in modern English is somewhat different. In J. Wright English Dialect Grammar (1905), e -forms are recorded from most parts of England. The region occupied by o -forms covers the west midlands, Lancashire, northern parts of Yorkshire, Durham, and Northumberland; E. Kolb Phonological Atlas of the Northern Region (1966), p. 38, indicates forms with /ɒ/ and /ɔ/ throughout most of north Yorkshire and the far north-east. The a -form is shown by the modern surveys to be recessive, although the corresponding spelling is universal in modern standard English ( /a/ and /æ/ are recorded only from a few northern and a few south-western localities, respectively). Forms with a long front vowel or diphthong ( /eː/, /eɪ/, and /iː/), recorded by Wright in the 19th cent. from the central midlands, are probably due to Middle English lengthening of short a and short e . Wright also recorded /ɪ/ and /ʊ/ from some localities. In Scots the o -form has been prevalent since 1700; besides /o/, the vowel /ʌ/ is found in some areas. Several orthoepists of the late 16th and 17th centuries record short a or a long front vowel (usually the reflex of Middle English long ā , but in Levins the reflex of Middle English long open ē ) in the first syllable of this word (E. J. Dobson Eng. Pronunc. 1500–1700 (ed. 2, 1968) II. §70). (The former pronunciation is reflected in the first syllable of manifold adj. and n.1; the formation of manyfold adv. in the mid 17th cent. as a lexical item distinct frommanifold seems to imply that in the usage of literate speakers the vowel of the first syllable of many was already by that date different from the short a of the latter.) The pronunciation with a long front vowel is probably the forerunner of the regional forms with a long vowel or diphthong recorded by Wright. It was probably due to the prevalence of this pronunciation that many coalesced with meinie n. in the 15th–16th centuries, when also the back-spellings maynie , meinie , etc., for many (in ordinary adjectival use) occur (for further details of the merger see senses B. 5 and B. 6). No orthoepist of that era mentions the use of a short e -sound (i.e. the standard modern one) in the first syllable of this word; this pronunciation, ‘as if written enny ’, is later described by Walker as ‘corrupt’ but ‘received’. Compare any adj., pron., n., and adv. Old English had a derivative noun, menigeo, menigu multitude, corresponding to Middle Dutch menige, menie, Old Saxon menigi, Old High German managī, menigī (Middle High German menege, Germanic Menge), Old Icelandic mengi, Gothic managei. The Old English noun, however, did not survive into Middle English, and the modern English use of many as a count noun, though agreeing in sense with it, originates in the 16th cent.
A. adj. (determiner). Designating a large (indefinite) number.The word retains a more generally adjectival character (‘numerous’) when used predicatively (senses A. 1c, A. 2c) or after another determiner (e.g. ‘my many lives’).
1. Used distributively with a singular noun or pronoun (formerly sometimes with plural agreement).
†a. With noun in singular without article. Scottish in later use. Obsolete.Superseded in general use by sense A. 1b. many time: see time n., int., and conj. Phrases 5a(a).
ΚΠ
eOE Anglo-Saxon Chron. (Parker) anno 853 Þær wearþ monig mon ofslægen.
OE Beowulf 838 Ða wæs..ymb þa gifhealle guðrinc monig.
OE Acct. Voy. Ohthere & Wulfstan in tr. Orosius Hist. (Tiber.) (1980) i. i. 17 Þæt Estland is swyðe mycel, & þær bið swyðe manig burh.
c1175 Ormulum (Burchfield transcript) l. 3076 Itt wass forrmaniȝ daȝȝ Ær cwiddedd þurrh prophetess.
c1300 Holy Cross (Laud) 512 in C. Horstmann Early S.-Eng. Legendary (1887) 16 (MED) Mani miracle þare feol a-day.
a1400 (a1325) Cursor Mundi (Vesp.) 2901 Mani man [a1400 Fairf. mony mon, a1400 Gött. Mani a man, a1400 Trin. Cambr. Mony men], for ouer-wele, Þam-self can noþer faand ne feil.
c1450 (?a1405) J. Lydgate Complaint Black Knight (Fairf.) 31 in Minor Poems (1934) ii. 384 The floures of mony dyuers hywe.
c1460 in A. Clark Eng. Reg. Oseney Abbey (1907) 139 John Duke..and moony other þenne þere Beyng present.
1488 (c1478) Hary Actis & Deidis Schir William Wallace (Adv.) (1968–9) ii. l. 26 Till mony Scot thai did full gret suppris.
1489 (a1380) J. Barbour Bruce (Adv.) i. 411 Thiddirwart went mony baroune.
1583 G. Babington Very Fruitfull Expos. Commaundem. viii. 397 Countenance beares out manie euill counseller till [etc.].
1728 A. Ramsay Poems (1953) II. 281 Farewell to Lochaber, and farewell, my Jean, Where heartsome with thee I've mony Day been.
1796 W. Duncan True Briton 26 For mony back and mony wime Depend on me.
1869 M. McLennan Peasant Life 240 Wi' heads jamlin wi' book pride and toum stomacks, as yers maun be mony day.
b. Preceding a or an in a noun phrase. (Sometimes reduplicated for emphasis, as many and many a, †many a many.) Cf. earlier many one adj. 1. Now literary.this many a (day, year): see this adj. 1e. many a time (and often): see time n., int., and conj. Phrases 5a.
ΚΠ
c1300 (?c1225) King Horn (Laud) (1901) 1215 (MED) Ich aue hy go mani amyle.
a1393 J. Gower Confessio Amantis (Fairf.) Prol. 75 Love, which doth many a wonder And many a wys man hath put under.
?a1400 (a1338) R. Mannyng Chron. (Petyt) (1996) i. 14776 Bledrik, Margadu, & Kadwan gadred oste of many a [a1450 Lamb. mania] man.
a1500 (?c1450) Merlin 56 Pendragon was ther deed, and many a-nother gode baron.
c1560 (a1500) Squyr Lowe Degre (Copland) 373 Many a page Have become men by mariage.
a1616 W. Shakespeare King John (1623) i. i. 183 A foot of Honor better then I was, But many a many foot of Land the worse. View more context for this quotation
1645 J. Milton L'Allegro in Poems 34 To many a youth, and many a maid.
1692 R. L'Estrange Fables xxxviii. 41 He's Beset with Enemies..the Meanest of which is not without Many and Many a Way to the Wreaking of a Malice.
1719 D. Defoe Life Robinson Crusoe 190 This Wall I was many a weary Month a finishing.
1804 R. Couper Poetry II. 67 Which for mony a mony year Hang on the reeky wa'.
1809 B. H. Malkin tr. A. R. Le Sage Adventures Gil Blas II. vi. ii. 444 Many a more unlikely thing has happened.
1853 M. Arnold Scholar Gipsy in Poems (new ed.) 206 When..many a scythe in sunshine flames.
1889 R. Browning Let. to Tennyson 5 Aug. In its hope that for many and many a year we may have your very self among us.
1928 Observer 12 Feb. 23 Such felts are..simple compared to many another which is complicated by endredeux.
1955 M. Wheeler Still Digging (1958) 163 Bowed shoulders and apprehensive glances showed an office working as it had not worked for many a long day.
1989 O. S. Card Prentice Alvin iii. 52 That road led through many a village and many a town.
c. In predicative use. Usually with inversion of subject. Now chiefly in many's the time (cf. time n. 18a). Now regional or colloquial.
ΚΠ
c1300 St. Nicholas (Harl.) 410 in C. D'Evelyn & A. J. Mill S. Eng. Legendary (1956) 563 (MED) Meni is þe faire miracle þat of seint Nicholas is.
c1325 (c1300) Chron. Robert of Gloucester (Calig.) 209 (MED) Mani was þat gode bodi þat aslawe was þere.
c1330 Horn Child 194 in J. Hall King Horn (1901) 181 (MED) Þe irise ost was mani & mo.
a1450–1509 (?a1300) Richard Coer de Lyon (A-version) (1913) 4967 (MED) Many was þe heþene man Wiþ Saladyn þat come þan.
1749 H. Fielding Tom Jones III. viii. ii. 157 Many's the Time hath she lain in this House. View more context for this quotation
a1774 O. Goldsmith tr. P. Scarron Comic Romance (1775) I. v. 29 Many's the time and oft.
1840 T. C. Haliburton Clockmaker 3rd Ser. xxi Many's the time I have danced ‘Possum up a gum tree’ at a quiltin' frolic or huskin' party.
1870 E. S. Phelps Hedged In xviii. 269 An' mony's the time I've warned him o' the consequences.
1908 in A. W. Johnston & A. Johnston Old-lore Misc. I. viii. 324 Puir Sibbie after bidan minnys da day her leevan lane, de'ed i' da voar i' a madhoos.
1953 J. Wain Hurry on Down 228 Many's the time if I'd had a packet of cigarettes on me I could have made enough to eat for two or three days.
1986 J. Nagenda Seasons Thomas Tebo ii. iv. 68 Many's the time I've asked myself, ‘Why me, why me?’
d. many a one n. (also †many an one) [perhaps < many one adj. and pron., after sense A. 1b] many a person, many a thing. Also (poetic), postmodifying a plural noun: †many (obsolete rare). N.E.D. (1905) labels this use ‘now chiefly colloq.’; it appears to be regional or literary in 20th-cent. texts.
ΚΠ
1509 A. Barclay Brant's Shyp of Folys (Pynson) f. cclviii Thy apparayle Aleyed gayly with perles many a one.
1542 N. Udall tr. Erasmus Apophthegmes f. 144v The selfe same woordes maye bee well spoken of many an one.
1548 N. Udall et al. tr. Erasmus Paraphr. Newe Test. I. Mark 88 This swete sauour..causeth many a one to desyer that they may be admitted.
1556 J. Olde tr. R. Gwalther Antichrist f. 167v The cause of the greatest wickednesse that can be the undoing to many a one.
1690 J. Locke Ess. Humane Understanding iv. vii. 302 Many a one knows that One and Two are equal to Three, without having heard, or thought on that, or any other Axiom.
1789 J. Bentham Introd. Princ. Morals & Legisl. ii. p. xviii The ground of quarrel between the Big-endians and the Little-endians..was not more frivolous than many an one which has laid empires desolate.
1847 R. W. Emerson Initial Love 75 Heralds high before him [sc. Cupid] run, He has ushers many a one.
1869 E. A. Freeman Hist. Norman Conquest III. xii. 156 Many an one carried off his two or three goodly steeds.
1911 J. Conrad Under Western Eyes i. ii. 27 Many a one he has driven who is clanking his chains.
1952 A. Wilson Hemlock & After ii. ii. 141 She dearly loved a scholar and a gentleman at her feet; and many a one..she'd had.
1981 S. McAughtry Belfast Stories i. 20 You would hear tell of many a one taking the bronze medal, and much less often somebody you knew would get the silver medal.
2. With plural noun.
a. (In Middle English often coupled with fele adj.2)In present-day colloquial usage, generally more common in negative and interrogative contexts, corresponding to a lot of or lots of in affirmative contexts.many times (also ways), (on) many wise: see the nouns. these (also this) many years (etc.): see this adj. 1e.
ΚΠ
eOE tr. Bede Eccl. Hist. (Tanner) i. xiii. 54 Ðæt he sende Agustinum & oðre monige munecas mid hine.
a1225 ( Ælfric's Homily In Die Sancto Pentecosten (Lamb. 487) in R. Morris Old Eng. Homilies (1868) 1st Ser. 97 Ealle þas þing and moniȝe oðre deð þe haliȝa gast.
c1225 (?c1200) St. Margaret (Bodl.) (1934) 2 Weren monie martyrs..to deaðes misliche idon.
1387–8 Petition London Mercers in R. W. Chambers & M. Daunt Bk. London Eng. (1931) 34 [T]o the..Lordes..compleynen..the folk of the Mercerye of London..of many wronges subtiles.
a1400 (a1325) Cursor Mundi (Fairf. 14) 19515 (MED) Miraclis dide he mani fele.
a1450 Seven Sages (Cambr. Dd.1.17) (1845) 1110 (MED) He..hadde..of the quene many gyftis fele.
c1450 (?a1400) Wars Alexander (Ashm.) 1005 (MED) We hafe farne to þe fiȝt..mony fele wynter.
a1500 (?c1450) Merlin 56 (MED) Merlin wente to his maister Blase..and tolde hym many thinges.
1556 tr. J. de Flores Histoire de Aurelio & Isabelle sig. N5 A litell courte, where the kinge helde menney Lions.
1582 J. Lyly Let. to Burleigh in Wks. (1902) I. 28 I will not troble your honorable eares with so meinie idle wordes.
1604 W. Shakespeare Hamlet iii. iii. 9 To keepe those many many bodies safe. View more context for this quotation
1631 J. Smith Advts. Planters New-Eng. 28 But we see many men many minds, and still new Lords, new lawes.
c1660 J. Evelyn Diary anno 1644 (1955) II. 235 That famous statue of the Gladiator..so much followed by all the rare Artists, as the many Copies..testifie.
a1715 Bp. G. Burnet Suppl. to Hist. Own Time (1902) ii. 474 I loved solitude..and so I avoided manny tentations.
1793 W. Roy Mil. Antiq. Romans in Brit. Introd. Many new lights concerning the Roman history and geography of Britain.
1839 C. Thirlwall Lett. (1881) I. 157 The translation which I made many years back.
1870 C. Dickens Edwin Drood ii. 7 We must drink many happy returns to her.
1882 I. Mayo Mrs. Raven's Temptation III. i. 7 Have many visitors called while I was away, Charity?
1882 Cent. Mag. July 345/1 We don't have many neighbors, we're so scattered in this part o' the Port.
1931 V. Woolf Waves 182 I have fused my many lives into one.
1960 J. F. Lehmann I am my Brother i. 9 Wild duck, curlews, snipe and many other kinds of bird I could not distinguish rose to left and right and vanished into the sky.
1987 D. Rowe Beyond Fear iv. 145 Regarding alcoholism as a disease has many disadvantages.
2011 N. Carey Epigenetics Revol. (2012) xii. 218 We didn't have many options for turning these genes back on.
†b. As postmodifier. Cf. many one adj. 2. Obsolete.Common in Old English, esp. in verse; in Old English prose often either as a literalism of translation or with partitive sense.
ΚΠ
OE (Northumbrian) Rushw. Gospels: Mark v. 21 Conuenit turba multa ad illum : efne-comun ðreatas monige to him.
OE Ælfric Lives of Saints (Julius) (1881) I. 186 Þa romaniscan mædenu manega eac ðurh-wunodon on clænum mægðhade for cristes lufe.
OE Christ & Satan 496 Me seredon ymb secgas monige dæges and nihtes, hu heo me deaðes cwealm..hrefnan mihten.
c1175 ( Ælfric Homily (Bodl. 343) in S. Irvine Old Eng. Homilies (1993) 24 Ða Iudeisce isæȝen hu he wrohte tacnæ mycele and moniȝæ him sylfe tomiddes.
c1225 (?c1200) St. Katherine (1973) 737 (MED) Stoden on an half þeos meistres so monie.
a1300 (c1275) Physiologus (1991) 391 In ðe se senden selcuðes manie.
c1425 J. Lydgate Troyyes Bk. (Augustus A.iv) iv. 3870 (MED) Oþer knyȝtes manye Folwed after with worþi Eneas.
1526 Bible (Tyndale) 1 Cor. viii. 5 As there be goddes many and lordes many. [So 1611.]
1871 R. Ellis tr. Catullus Poems lxii. 51 Many a wistful boy, and maidens many desire it.
c. In predicative use. Frequently with inversion of subject (cf. sense A. 1c).
ΚΠ
?c1225 (?a1200) Ancrene Riwle (Cleo. C.vi) (1972) 115 Vre good þet is swa þunne. vre sunnen þe beoþ swa monie.
a1400 (a1325) Cursor Mundi (Trin. Cambr.) 12577 (MED) Mony are his childehedes I of tolde Done ar he were twelue ȝeer olde.
a1513 W. Dunbar Tua Mariit Wemen in Poems (1998) I. 43 To..blaw my bewtie on breid quhair bernis war mony.
1598 M. Drayton Englands Heroicall Epist. (new ed.) f. 56 v And if thou know'st, they many were before, By time increasing, they must needs be more.
a1599 E. Spenser View State Ireland 37 in J. Ware Two Hist. Ireland (1633) The inconveniences which thereby doe arise, are much more many.
1611 Bible (King James) Psalms xxxiv. 19 Many are the afflictions of the righteous. View more context for this quotation
1642 T. Fuller Holy State iii. xii. 181 Many have been the wise speeches of fools, though not so many as the foolish speeches of wise men.
1776 W. Withering Bot. Arrangem. Veg. 445 Seeds. Many; roundish.
1846 R. C. Trench Notes Miracles Introd. i. 1 Where we have to do with anything which in many ways is significant, that will have inevitably many names, since no one will exhaust its meaning.
1851 H. W. Longfellow Golden Legend iv. 170 Between this cask and the Abbot's lips Many have been the sips and slips.
1914 H. W. Wiley 1001 Tests of Foods vi. 72 Many are the letters received in regard to the cereal breakfast foods.
1938 Life 4 Apr. 35/2 (advt.) Many are the instruments which RCA research engineers have developed to reproduce these new records.
1941 E. Bowen in Horizon 193 Though they were still many, the lamps were fewer; some had been put away with the bric-a-brac that used to be on the tables and in the alcoves.
1990 Scope Summer 21/1 Many were the descendants of Huguenot refugees..who..had come to Spitalfields to work in the silk-weaving industry.
†d. Followed by a possessive or a superlative. Obsolete.
ΚΠ
c1384 Bible (Wycliffite, E.V.) (Douce 369(2)) Gal. i. 14 I profitide in Jurye aboue many myn euene eeldis in my kyn.
1579 T. Lodge Protogenes 36 They presented the liues of Satyers, So that they might wiselye vnder the abuse of that name, discouer the follies of many theyr folish fellow citesens.
1606 G. W. tr. Justinus Hist. xvi. 66 Among manie their honorable actions, this one thing especiall, is woorthy to be recorded.
a1616 W. Shakespeare Antony & Cleopatra (1623) i. ii. 174 The Letters..Of many our contriuing Friends. View more context for this quotation
1646 H. Lawrence Of Communion & Warre with Angels 61 Many the best and most things were lost to them.
†e. In the comparative and superlative.
(a) superlative. Chiefly Scottish. Most, most numerous. Obsolete.
ΚΠ
?a1450 Agnus Castus (Stockh.) (1950) 190 (MED) Mistilto..is best þat growith on ookys, for þat beryth manyest bays.
1560 in W. Dunlop Coll. Confess. Faith (1722) II. 639 The maniest Votes, without Respect of Persone, hath the first Place in the Eldarschip.
1670 J. Ray Coll. Eng. Prov. 227 He is not the best wright that hewes the maniest speals.
1728 P. Walker Some Remarkable Passages Life A. Peden (ed. 3) Pref. This has had the maniest good Effects.
(b) comparative. More, more numerous. Obsolete. rare.
ΘΚΠ
the world > relative properties > number > plurality > great number, numerousness > [adjective]
feleOE
felefoldc1000
manifoldOE
unfewc1175
mucha1225
many one?a1300
greata1325
manyc1450
numerous1622
maint1706
right smart1825
c1450 Jacob's Well (1900) 111 Þe heremyte flytted his celle fyve myle ferthere fro þe welle, for to makyn þe manyere steppys to haue þe more mede.
a1500 ( J. Yonge tr. Secreta Secret. (Rawl.) (1898) 214 (MED) Yf thou seyste that they bene manyer, do thou that they bene ten.
a1513 J. Irland Meroure of Wyssdome f. 297v, in Dict. Older Sc. Tongue at Mony Powere abone monyare ore feware pepil.
3. Modified by the adverbs as, how, so, too. See also so many at so adv. and conj. 37.
a. With correlative as, interrogative how, etc. In a neutral sense, expressing number in the abstract, without the necessary implication of a large number.
ΚΠ
OE Ælfric Interrogationes Sigewulfi in Genesin (Corpus Cambr. 162) xvi, in Anglia (1884) 7 10 On hu manegum wisum is godes weorc?
lOE Anglo-Saxon Chron. (Laud) (Peterborough interpolation) anno 1070 Hi namen þære..swa manega gersumas on sceat & on scrud & on bokes swa nan man ne mæi oðer tællen.
a1225 (c1200) Vices & Virtues (1888) 43 (MED) Swo maniȝe litle dropes of maniȝes kennes ȝemeleastes mihten cumen in to ðe saule bote, ðat hie mihten sinken.
c1392 Equatorie of Planetis 42 (MED) Euer mo as many degres & minuta as the midel of thy thred lith in the meridional lyne fro centre aryn, so many gradus & minuta is the latitude of the mone fro the Ecliptik.
c1400 (?a1387) W. Langland Piers Plowman (Huntington HM 137) (1873) C. xix. 260 (MED) To me and to myn issue more he by-hihte, Mercy for oure mysdedes, as meny tymes As we wilnede.
c1450 (?a1400) Wars Alexander (Ashm.) 124 As many Besandis on his bake as he bere miȝt.
?1549 J. Hooper Declar. 10 Commandm. x. 167 They shalbe culpable and accomptable for as many faultes, as is donne by his familie throwghe his absence.
1584 A. Barlowe in R. Hakluyt Princ. Navigations (1589) iii. 730 The Kings brother alwaies kept this order, as many boates as he would come withall to the shippes, so many fires would he make on the shoare a farre off.
1638 F. Junius Painting of Ancients 25 So did he then consider..how many armed men..might be required.
1714 J. Swift Some Free Thoughts upon Present State Affairs (1741) 5 I have heard a Physician pronounce..that he had cured so many Patients of malignant Fevers.
1785 G. Crabbe News-paper 14 As many words as make an even line, As many lines as fill a row complete, As many rows as furnish up a sheet.
1789 J. Bentham Introd. Princ. Morals & Legisl. xvi. p. ccxcvi The logical whole..has been bisected in as many different directions as were necessary.
1869 W. J. M. Rankine Cycl. Machine & Hand-tools Pl. H4 The slide rest..is provided with as many holders as there are tools required.
1888 Cent. Mag. Jan. 447/2 Three wall tents..and twice as many ‘A’ or ‘wedge’ or common tents.
1940 Notes & Queries 30 Mar. 218/1 The ravages of the ‘Spanish influenza’ which, between 1918 and 1922, caused four times as many deaths as those caused by the last war.
1992 M. Blonsky Amer. Mythologies (1993) xiv. 336 Patrick Fowler, director of marketing research, treats me to a Byzantine study about how many angels are riding the subway system.
b. as many (without correlative as-clause): the same number of.
ΚΠ
c1540 (?a1400) Gest Historiale Destr. Troy 4125 Prothylus..put on the water ffyfte shippes fyn...King Sapmon..With alsmony abill shippes auntrid hym seluyn.
1602 E. Hayes in J. Brereton Briefe Relation Discouerie Virginia 19 After that we be once 200 men strong, victualled and fortified, we can not be remooued by as many thousands.
1748 T. Smollett Roderick Random I. viii. 50 He found means to cut me [when shaving] in three places, in as many strokes.
1801 W. Dupré Lexicographia-neologica Gallica 131 [The hectolitre] contains an hundred and five pintes, equal to as many english quarts.
1904 Brit. Med. Jrnl. 15 Oct. 965 In the union of egg and sperm we witness the joining together of but two sets of characters and not that of ‘x’ sets derived from as many ancestors.
1946 Liberty 25 May 78/1 The identical drink may have a dozen different names in as many cities.
1997 K. Reichs Déjà Dead xxi. 246 For the third time in as many days I saw daybreak.
c. one too many: one more than is wanted, needed, or beneficial; (colloquial) one more drink than is advisable.
ΘΚΠ
the world > relative properties > quantity > sufficient quantity, amount, or degree > excessive amount or degree > excessively [phrase] > that which is excessive > and superfluous
one too many1599
the world > food and drink > drink > thirst > excess in drinking > [adjective] > too much alcohol
one too many1941
1599 W. Shakespeare Romeo & Juliet i. i. 125 Being one too many by my wearie selfe. View more context for this quotation
a1616 W. Shakespeare Comedy of Errors (1623) iii. i. 35 When one is one too many, goe get thee from the dore. View more context for this quotation
1747 S. Richardson Clarissa II. v. 26 He believes he has, in me, one sister too many for his interest.
1849 E. Bulwer-Lytton Caxtons II. xii. vi. 288 (heading) The confession of a youth who, in the Old World, finds himself one too many.
1865 G. J. Whyte-Melville Cerise (1866) I. xv. 232 The Marquise was..left planted as one too many.
1937 D. Teilhet & H. Teilhet Feather Cloak Murders i. 20 You run off to bed like a good fellow. You've had one too many.
1941 H. L. Mencken Newspaper Days (1942) xii. 193 The poor old man..nursing a hangover from a Bar Association banquet, had thrown in one too many quick ones, and so got himself plastered.
1956 A. Wilson Anglo-Saxon Attitudes i. ii. 43 Some people have made one imaginative leap too many and show little sign of being able to return to the realm of reason.
1994 Daily Tel. 3 Jan. 1/5 He gave me a bit of an old-fashioned look as if not sure whether he had had one too many on New Year's Eve.
d. to be too many for: to be more than a match for (usually in humorous use with singular noun as subject).
ΘΚΠ
the world > action or operation > prosperity > success > mastery or superiority > have or gain mastery, superiority, or advantage [verb (intransitive)] > defeat completely
to break one's back or neck1579
to be too many for1692
to do for ——1740
to cook (rarely do) one's goose1835
to fix (another's) flint1836
to cut the ground from under one (or one's feet)1855
1692 R. L'Estrange Fables xxxv. 35 They come to Vie Power and Expence with Those that are too High and too many for them.
1708 Deplorable State of New-Eng. ii. 16 Your Governour..has been too many for you.
1723 D. Defoe Hist. Col. Jack (ed. 2) 378 We were too many for them, for we run out our Guns..and..they retir'd.
1787 ‘G. Gambado’ Acad. Horsemen 13 Should your horse prove, what is properly termed too many for you, and make off.
1863 J. C. Jeaffreson Sir Everard's Daughter 113 You can't rob me—I am too many for you..! You're a clever one—but you're no match for me.
1872 C. Hardwick Trad., Superstitions, & Folk-lore 189 On one occasion, however, the fiends were nearly ‘too many’ for the eternal toiler.
1894 W. E. Norris St. Ann's II. 237 I venture to prophesy that, between us, we shall be one too many for the Colonel.
B. pron. and n.
I. As pronoun.
†1. In singular. Many a person. Obsolete.
ΚΠ
OE Beowulf 857 Monig oft gecwæð, þætte suð ne norð be sæm tweonum..oþer nænig..selra nære.
a1225 (?OE) MS Lamb. in R. Morris Old Eng. Homilies (1868) 1st Ser. 15 Moni hit for-let for drihtenes eye.
c1390 Gregorius (Vernon) (1914) 184 (MED) Monie was glad of þat come.
a1475 (?a1350) Seege Troye (Harl.) (1927) 1791j (MED) Many les þe hede in his Iren hatte.
2. In plural.
a. Many individuals of the kind specified (either anaphorically or with of and noun phrase (in Old English also with noun in the genitive)). Also: without anaphora: many people.The noun phrase following many of is generally modified by the definite article, a determiner, or a possessive phrase; in Middle English it could occur without article or other definite modifier.
ΚΠ
eOE tr. Bede Eccl. Hist. (Tanner) iii. xix. 240 Wæron þær in þa tiid monige of Ongelþeode [L. multi de gente Anglorum].
eOE tr. Bede Eccl. Hist. (Tanner) iii. vi. 174 Monige þara broðra þæs ylcan mynstres.
OE Beowulf 2091 He mec þær on innan unsynnigne dior dædfruma gedon wolde manigra sumne.
OE King Ælfred tr. Psalms (Paris) (2001) iii. 1 Monige cweðað to minum mode þæt hit næbbe nane hæle æt his Gode.
a1225 ( Ælfric's Homily De Initio Creaturae (Vesp. A.xxii) in R. Morris Old Eng. Homilies (1868) 1st Ser. 225 And were swiðe maneȝe on yfele awende.
c1325 (c1300) Chron. Robert of Gloucester (Calig.) 11392 Manie flowe in to þe water & some toward þe see.
c1450 (?a1400) Wars Alexander (Ashm.) 3644 Þar was þe Medis martird, & many of Perses..grysely woundid.
c1540 (?a1400) Gest Historiale Destr. Troy 12264 Þai keppit hom in company with knightes enarmit, And Vlixes also with angardly mone.
1567 J. Maplet Greene Forest f. 9v We be many of us cut off before we come to olde age.
1580 T. Lupton Siuqila 120 Many with vs spends their goods, and leaues their lands scantly to such good vses.
1645 J. Winthrop Declar. Former Passages 1 The Narrowgansets..have..injuriously broken & violated the same [treaties] by entertaining and keeping amongst them..many of the Pequot nation.
1738 J. Swift Compl. Coll. Genteel Conversat. 39 I see, one Fool makes many.
1845 M. Pattison in Christian Remembrancer Jan. 81 He had but one voice amongst many.
1872 J. Morley Voltaire i. 6 Many of his ideas..did not belong to him peculiarly.
1911 J. Conrad Under Western Eyes i. i. 19 There aren't many like you.
1962 O. Manning Spoilt City ix. 107 To most people he was only one knave of many.
1985 L. Griffiths Arthur Daley's Guide to doing it Right 8 Many would say that I was a sensitive youth.
†b. With a(n) for of. Obsolete. [Perhaps influenced by many a (sense A. 1b); but formerly many of could be followed by a noun phrase without definite modifier (see note to sense A. 2a and compare quot. a1450 at sense A. 2a).]
ΚΠ
?a1425 (c1400) Mandeville's Trav. (Titus C.xvi) (1919) 185 Þere weren in þat place many a dyuerse thinges.
1523 Ld. Berners tr. J. Froissart Cronycles I. ccxv. 271 They..defoyled many a damoselles.
c. Chiefly Scottish. In the superlative: the most, the greatest number. Now rare.
ΚΠ
a1513 W. Dunbar Poems (1998) I. 140 Off benefice..Quha monyast hes makis maist requeist.
1548 W. Turner Names of Herbes sig. E.vjv The maniest that I haue sene was in Kent.
1583 in D. Masson Reg. Privy Council Scotl. (1880) 1st Ser. III. 576 With sax horsmen at the monyast.
1597 T. Morley Plaine & Easie Introd. Musicke 119 Hee who could bring in maniest of them was counted the iollyest fellowe.
a1698 W. Row Suppl. in R. Blair Life (1848) (modernized text) xii. 437 The Prelates are now busied to fill the places of outed ministers especially in the west where maniest were outed.
1794 Hope's New Method Fencing Law x. 232–3 Whoever..shall..have beat maniest, shall be declared..to have gain'd the Prize.
1848 R. Davidson Leaves from Peasant's Cottage Drawer 47 Sure whisky best deserves the prize, For he has monyest tumbled.
1929 in Sc. National Dict. at Monie Puir body, she's amang ther moniest noo.
†d. In the genitive: of many people, many a person's. Obsolete.
ΚΠ
1580 J. Lyly Euphues & his Eng. (new ed.) f. 10 Nor trauailing to be condemned by yours or manies vnlucky successe.
1598 R. Grenewey tr. Tacitus Annales iv. xiii. 110 Which was cause of manies ouerthrow.
1609 W. Shakespeare Sonnets xciii. sig. F4 In manies lookes, the falce hearts history Is writ.
†3.
a. Old English on mænig: into many parts. Obsolete.
ΚΠ
eOE King Ælfred tr. Boethius De Consol. Philos. (Otho) xxxiii. 74 God is anfeald & untodælendlic, þeah hine dysige men on mænig todælen.
b. in many: many times. Obsolete.
ΚΠ
1402 Reply Friar Daw Topias in T. Wright Polit. Poems & Songs (1861) II. 47 As the prophetes of Achab wer multiplied in many.
4.
a. Modified by the adverbs as, how, so, too: see senses A. 3a and A. 3b.
ΚΠ
eOE Laws of Ælfred (Corpus Cambr. 173) xxxiv. 68 Gerecce hu manige þara sien.
c1380 Sir Ferumbras (1879) 5236 (MED) Þanne hym askede þe Amerel: ‘Wyþ how many comeþ þe fauterel Wyþ þe hore berde?’
c1384 Bible (Wycliffite, E.V.) (Douce 369(2)) (1850) Luke xi. 8 He schal..ȝyue to hym, how manye [a1425 L.V. as many as] he hath nedeful.
1471 in Paston Lett. & Papers (2004) II. 592 Ye shall send me..asse mone of my men asse can com.
1543 T. Basil in J. Strype Eccl. Memorials (1721) I. i. l. 383 How many amplexed Christ for their sufficient Mediator and Advocate?
1605 J. Stow Annales 1436 The Castell discharged fiftie canon, and the king of Englands ship lying before the Castell, reported as many.
1725 D. Defoe New Voy. round World ii. 183 They killed Eleven or Twelve..and lamed as many.
1794 Ld. Nelson Let. 8 July in Dispatches & Lett. (1844) I. 429 They will from using as many again as is necessary be soon short of that article.
1869 A. Trollope Phineas Finn II. lxxiv. 308 ‘There are forty or fifty men on his side of the House, and as many perhaps on ours,’ said Mr. Monk, ‘who have no idea of any kind on any bill.’
1900 W. W. Skeat Malay Magic vi. 403 In the case of a Sultan as many as possible bear a hand in sending him to the grave.
1932 A. Powell Venusberg xxxiii. 235 How many of us will make the grade?
1990 F. Weldon Darcy's Utopia (1991) (BNC) 106 How many died..in that particular disgraceful military episode, so that the workers should be duped yet again in the name of the Empire?
b. as many as (in biblical translation and usage which echoes this): all who. Now archaic. [After ancient Greek and Hellenistic Greek ὅσοι ‘as many as’, how many, in Tyndale's and subsequent versions of the Bible; one earlier instance occurs in the second Wycliffite version in Acts 13:48, where the Vulgate has the narrow translation quotquot ‘however many’ instead of the more idiomatic quicumque ‘whoever’ (the use of quotquot and ‘as many as’ in versions of Luke 11:8 is not relevant, because there ὅσοι does not mean ‘all who’ but ‘the full number which’).]
ΚΠ
1526 Bible (Tyndale) Rom. ii. 12 And as many as haue synned vnder the lawe shalbe iudged by the lawe.
1552 Bk. Common Prayer (STC 16279) Morninge Prayer sig. .iv Wherfore I praye and beseche you, as many as be here present, to accompanye me.
1667 J. Milton Paradise Lost iii. 289 So in thee..shall be restor'd, As many as are restor'd. View more context for this quotation
1865 C. Dickens Our Mutual Friend II. iv. xvii. 304 As many as are of that opinion, say Aye,—contrary, No—the Ayes have it.
1950 M. Peake Gormenghast xxiv. 159 This poem..shall be addressed to as many as are here present in all the variance of their receptivity.
1976 S. Lloyd Mr Speaker, Sir 179 He then ‘collects the voices’ by saying, ‘As many as are of that opinion say aye: of the contrary noe’.
II. As noun. [It appears that the phonological identity in late Middle English of many and meinie n. in some regions led to a virtual merger of the two words. Hence many occurs from the 15th cent. onwards as a noun (used both independently and with a following partitive construction introduced by of ) in most of the senses of meinie that were then current. Subsequently the independent use (sense B. 5) became obsolete; the partitive use (sense B. 6a), together with the premodifying and absolute uses developed from this (senses B. 6b and B. 6c), continued to be spelt and pronounced many, while the equivalent uses of meinie became obsolete, except in Scottish English.]
†5. A company, host, or flock; (one's) retinue or following; = meinie n. 1, 2b, 5a, 7. Obsolete.The form in quot. c1400 is unusual, the normal spelling of both many and meinie in this text being meny.
ΘΚΠ
society > authority > subjection > service > servant > retainer or follower > [noun] > collective or retinue
hirdc888
douthOE
gingc1175
folkc1275
hirdfolcc1275
tail1297
meiniec1300
meiniec1300
routc1325
suitc1325
peoplec1330
leading1382
retinuea1387
repairc1390
retenancea1393
farneta1400
to-draughta1400
sembly14..
sequelc1420
manya1425
followingc1429
affinity?1435
family1438
train1489
estatec1500
port1545
retain1548
equipage1579
suite1579
attendancy1586
attendance1607
tendancea1616
sequacesa1660
cortège1679
the world > space > relative position > arrangement or fact of being arranged > state of being gathered together > an assemblage or collection > [noun] > of people or animals > regarded as a whole or a body of people gathered
weredc725
trumec893
thrumOE
wharfOE
flockOE
farec1275
lithc1275
ferd1297
companyc1300
flotec1300
routc1300
rowc1300
turbc1330
body1340
numberc1350
congregation1382
presencec1390
meiniec1400
storec1400
sum1400
manya1425
collegec1430
peoplec1449
schoola1450
turm1483
catervea1492
garrison?a1513
shoal1579
troop1584
bevy1604
roast1608
horde1613
gross1617
rhapsody1654
sortment1710
tribe1715
the world > animals > animals collectively > [noun] > herd or flock
herda1000
flockc1200
routc1300
flowinga1382
rabblec1400
meinie1481
many1579
school?1590
plump1591
charm1801
band1824
mob1828
c1400 Brut (Rawl. B. 171) 257 Þe Quene Isabel and þe Mortymer had a grete manie of her retenue þat folwede euermore þe Kyngus courte.]
a1425 Medulla Gram. (Stonyhurst) f. 27a/a Familia, a many of hous.
c1475 Gregory's Chron. in J. Gairdner Hist. Coll. Citizen London (1876) 209 For she hadde a fulle esy many a-boute hyr, the nombyr of iiij personnys.
c1475 Gregory's Chron. in J. Gairdner Hist. Coll. Citizen London (1876) 211 Alle soo the same day that the Erle of Marche shulde take hys jornaye towarde Mortymer ys Crosse fro Herforde este, he mousterd hys many with owte the towne wallys.
1579 E. Spenser Shepheardes Cal. May 23 Before them yode a lusty Tabrere, That to the many a Horne pype playd.
1586 W. Warner Albions Eng. i. v. 14 Those cruel Lions..which haue deuourd those Heards I had, and with my Manies blood Imbrud their fierce deuouring chappes.
1700 J. Dryden Chaucer's Palamon & Arcite iii, in Fables 69 The chiefs divide, And wheeling East and West, before their Many ride.
6. Preceded by the indefinite article and frequently (now always exc. English regional) an adjective, as in a †considerable (also good, great, †pretty, †jolly) many: a (great) number; also †no small many. [a meinie is already found with a following partitive construction in the 15th cent. (see meinie n. 4, 5a, 6, 7). After the mid 16th cent. the form many is regular (but compare quots. 1556 at sense B. 6c, 1564 at sense B. 6c). The transference from meinie to many was probably assisted by the analogy of a few (see few adj. 2a): the parallel between a many of + noun phrase and a few of + noun phrase is likely to have led to the emergence of a many + noun phrase parallel with a few + noun phrase.]
a. With of and a noun phrase (now only one consisting of a noun modified by the definite article, a demonstrative, or a possessive, or of a pronoun).
ΘΚΠ
the world > relative properties > number > plurality > great number, numerousness > [noun] > a large number or multitude
sandc825
thousandc1000
un-i-rimeOE
legiona1325
fernc1325
multitudec1350
hundred1362
abundancec1384
quantityc1390
sight1390
felec1394
manyheada1400
lastc1405
sortc1475
infinityc1480
multiplie1488
numbers1488
power1489
many1525
flock1535
heapa1547
multitudine1547
sort1548
myriads1555
myriads1559
infinite1563
tot-quot1565
dickera1586
multiplea1595
troop1596
multitudes1598
myriad1611
sea-sands1656
plurality1657
a vast many1695
dozen1734
a good few1756
nation1762
vast1793
a wheen (of)1814
swad1828
lot1833
tribe1833
slew1839
such a many1841
right smart1842
a million and one1856
horde1860
a good several1865
sheaf1865
a (bad, good, etc.) sortc1869
immense1872
dunnamuch1875
telephone number1880
umpty1905
dunnamany1906
skit1913
umpteen1919
zillion1922
gang1928
scrillion1935
jillion1942
900 number1977
gazillion1978
fuckload1984
1525 Ld. Berners tr. J. Froissart Cronycles II. xxiv. 64 Beneth in the courte he sawe a great many of asses.
1562 P. Whitehorne tr. N. Machiavelli Arte of Warre iv. f. lx Caius Sulpitius..set a greate many of sackes vpon Mules.
1584 R. Scot Discouerie Witchcraft xii. iii. 219 If Incubus could beget Merlins among vs, we should haue a iollie manie of cold prophets.
1652 J. Gaule Πυς-μαντια 352 He..had invited..a many of his kindred and friends.
1656 Earl of Monmouth tr. T. Boccalini Ragguagli di Parnasso ii. xxiv. 262 An infinite many of men.
1711 J. Addison Spectator No. 37. ¶1 I had an Opportunity of turning over a great many of her Books.
1716 B. Church Entertaining Passages Philip's War i. 38 He pick'd up a considerable many of their Women and Children.
1852 W. M. Thackeray Henry Esmond I. iii. 77 This was chiefly of the Catholic gentry, of whom there were a pretty many in the country.
1860 W. Collins Woman in White (new ed.) II. 349 She had winded a many of them in her time.
1905 Daily Chron. 13 July 5/6 A great many of these are obviously of the ‘stagging’ order.
1935 E. Pyle Maria Pyle in D. Nichols Ernie's Amer. (1990) 15 A good many of our neighbours have deservedly felt the whip of her tongue.
1962 Sunday Times 10 June (Colour Suppl.) 7 This is also true of American records, a great many of which are only released because companies have to take them to get some really lucrative artist.
1997 Church Times 12 Dec. 12/1 Primitive Christianity..was the heir to a great many of the apocalyptic concepts found in the Scrolls.
b. Immediately premodifying a plural noun or noun phrase.a many alone is virtually identical with sense A. 2a, but is now Obsolete N.E.D. (1905) says that it is ‘now somewhat rare in literary use, though a good many, a great many, are common colloquially.’
ΚΠ
a1580 G. Harvey Story Mercy Harvey in Wks. (1885) III. 89 Swearing that she should..vse him as familiarly..as her owne brother; with a many sutch goodly supplicamussis.
a1593 C. Marlowe Edward II (1594) sig. H1 Though a many friends Are made a way.
1615 J. Day Festivals 300 There are in this Israel, the Sacred Scriptures of God, a many, many Widowes.
a1643 J. Shute Judgem. & Mercy (1645) 180 Hee were a mad man that to Secure himselfe from the Fire, would pile a many Billets betweene him and the flame.
1653 H. More Antidote Atheism (1662) 97 A many such miracles.
1690 N. Luttrell Diary in Brief Hist. Relation State Affairs (1857) II. 126 And great many men were at work upon the fortifications.
1776 Trial Maha Rajah Nundocomar for Forgery 23/2 A great many people have seen him besides.
1813 Sketches of Character (ed. 2) I. 205 It is a good many years since I have seen him.
1832 Ld. Tennyson Miller's Daughter xxiii, in Poems (new ed.) 46 They have not shed a many tears, Dear eyes!
1841 G. Catlin Lett. N. Amer. Indians II. xlix. 122 They use a vast many beads.
1884 Manch. Examiner 17 May 4/8 There are a great many schools..of technicology scattered over the Continent.
1931 H. S. Williams Bk. Marvels 67 One theory has it that there is a layer of atmosphere a good many miles above the earth's surface that has its atoms ‘ionized’ by the action of electrons coming from the sun.
1952 C. E. L. Phillips Small Garden xi. 106 A great many herbaceous plants will go on and on if dead-headed.
1988 S. E. McKay New Child Safety Handbk. vi. 89/1 A great many fire fighters believe that smokers can actually sleep-smoke without waking up.
1992 F. Markmiller in C. Blank Lang. & Civilization I. 290 The establishment of the seminary guaranteed at least the continued existence of the monastery for a good many decades.
c. Without construction, as head of its noun phrase.
ΚΠ
1556 J. Olde tr. R. Gwalther Antichrist f. 6 To the undoing of a great meanye.
1564 T. Becon Displayeng Popishe Masse f. xlvii, in Wks. iii Ye praye for Philippe and Chenye, mo than a good meany.]
1604 S. Hieron Preachers Plea in Wks. (1620) I. 507 These and the like are the thoughts and speeches of no small many.
1611 B. Jonson Catiline To Rdr. sig. A3 The commendation of good things may fall within a many, their approbation but in a few.
a1616 W. Shakespeare Henry V (1623) iii. vii. 73 Const. And yet my Sky shall not want [stars]. Dolph. That may be, for you beare a many superfluously. View more context for this quotation
1705 Boston News-let. 23 Apr. 2/2 The Undertaker..is willing to try it for another year, unless some generous Soul (out of the many far better qualified, especially of those that are so apt & ready to carp at his weakness) will please to undertake it.
1788 T. Taylor Diss. Platonic Doctr. Ideas in tr. Proclus Philos. & Math. Comm. I. p. xcv Plato is ignorantly accused by a many, for affirming that [etc.].
1875 T. W. Higginson Young Folks' Hist. U.S. viii. 64 A good many died of hardship and fatigue.
1880 Millikin in Punch's Almanack Feb. Crab your enemies,—I've got a many, You can pot 'em proper for a penny.
1957 R. Hoggart Uses of Literacy vi. 167 Though few people take the trouble thoroughly to understand any problem, a great many assume that their opinions on almost every general issue will have weight.
1984 in C. Kightly Country Voices i. 20 There ain't a-many liked it, but they hed to goo!
1986 J. Huxley Leaves of Tulip Tree v. 96 It has been found that a good many were separated at birth from their mothers for health or other reasons.
7. [equivalent to, and sometimes (e.g. in quot. 1879) translating, ancient Greek οἱ πολλοί hoi polloi n.] With the and plural agreement: the great body of people, the multitude; the majority. Cf. few pron. and n. 3a.
ΘΚΠ
society > society and the community > social class > the common people > [noun]
folkc888
peoplea1325
frapec1330
commona1350
common peoplea1382
commonsa1382
commontya1387
communityc1400
meiniec1400
commonaltya1425
commonsa1500
vulgarsa1513
many1526
meinie1532
multitude1535
the many-headed beast (also monster)1537
number1542
ignobility1546
commonitya1550
popular1554
populace1572
popularya1578
vulgarity?1577
populacya1583
rout1589
the vulgar1590
plebs1591
mobile vulgusc1599
popularity1599
ignoble1603
the million1604
plebe1612
plebeity1614
the common filea1616
the herda1616
civils1644
commonality1649
democracy1656
menu1658
mobile1676
crowd1683
vulgusa1687
mob1691
Pimlico parliament?1774
citizenry1795
polloi1803
demos1831
many-headed1836
hoi polloi1837
the masses1837
citizenhood1843
John Q.1922
wimble-wamble1937
1526 W. Bonde Pylgrimage of Perfection iii. sig. EEEi How that many for lacke of mortifyeng, tasteth nat of this feest.
1646 J. Gaule Select Cases Conscience 41 Lord! how many are the sorcerous superstitions of the Many?
1688 J. Norris Theory & Regulation Love ii. ii. 76 An old Rule, that we may talk with the Many, but must think with the Few.
1734 S. Richardson Apprentice's Vade Mecum iii. 70 These hopeful Doctrines are spread among the ungovernable Many.
1790 E. Burke Refl. Revol. in France 75 The many are not capable of making this calculation. View more context for this quotation
1809 S. T. Coleridge Friend 21 Sept. 89 The Folly and foolish Self-opinion of the half-instructed Many.
1842 Ld. Tennyson Day-dream in Poems (new ed.) II. 154 The many fail: the one succeeds.
1879 M. Arnold Democracy in Mixed Ess. 39 It was the many who relished those arts [of ancient Athens].
1903 T. B. Aldrich Ponkapog Papers in Writings (1907) 38 There is ragtime literature as well as ragtime music for the many.
1962 Listener 22 Nov. 863/1 British broadcasting..has favoured what Dwight Macdonald has called ‘midcult’, something which is neither for the few nor for the many.
1974 Listener 24 Oct. 545/1 These authors retain the romantic scorn for the many, and for things like work, love and acquisitiveness.
1983 N.Y. Times 28 Mar. a11 A pro-Western nation devoted to the self-enrichment of the few at the expense of the many.
8. Philosophy. A multitude, plurality. Opposed to one.
ΘΚΠ
the world > relative properties > number > plurality > [noun]
pluralitya1398
multiplicityc1454
moreness1611
manya1620
plural1655
multeity1814
several-fold1892
a1620 M. Fotherby Atheomastix (1622) ii. x. §4. 309 All Ones, and all Manyes, all wholes, all parts.
1788 T. Taylor Diss. Platonic Doctr. Ideas in tr. Proclus Philos. & Math. Comm. I. p. xxiv One idea, throughout all manys, wrapt up in one.
1864 F. C. Bowen Treat. Logic i. 4 The Understanding has been called the unifying faculty, by which the many is reduced to unity.
1882 R. Adamson in Encycl. Brit. XIV. 784/2 The Eleatic doctrine that only unity has real being, the Heraclitic counter-doctrine that only in change, in the many, is truth to be found.
1936 W. F. R. Hardie Study of Plato §30 The argument is..that referred to by Aristotle as ‘the One over Many’.
1946 H. Renard Philos. of Being i. 30 The problem of change and becoming is..only an aspect of the fundamental question of the one and the many.
1978 Philos. Q. 28 190 Step (A) [of the Third Man argument] tells us what it is like with the many which are named after a One.
C. adv.
Modifying a comparative adjective of indefinite quantity (esp. more): by a great or considerable number. [This use probably arose as an appositive collocation of adjectival many with more (Middle English mo), e.g. ‘there were many, more than..’.]
ΚΠ
c1225 (?c1200) St. Margaret (Bodl.) (1934) 2 (MED) Þe ȝet weren monie ma þene nu beon mis-bileuede men.
a1375 (c1350) William of Palerne (1867) 1162 (MED) Þe duk hade þe douȝtiere men..& mani mo þan þemperour.
1559 W. Cuningham Cosmogr. Glasse 3 We should have left many more errours to our posteritie, then they have in their writynges vnto vs.
1588 A. Marten Exhort. Faithfull Subiects sig. D2 There be many more great houses alredy, then there be men of liuing able to vphold.
1646 Sir T. Browne Pseudodoxia Epidemica iv. v. 187 Did not institution, but Nature determine dextrality, there would be many more Scevolaes then [sic] are delivered in story. View more context for this quotation
1726 Boston News-let. 3 Mar. Valuable books, many more than a thousand, to be sold at auction.
1791 Philos. Trans. (Royal Soc.) 81 151 Many more propositions concerning infinite series and their convergency are given.
1859 F. L. M'Clintock Voy. ‘Fox’ x. 176 It is to be hoped the poor ‘Fox’ has many more lives to spare.
1894 Blackwood's Edinb. Mag. Sept. 472/1 Fishing with an ordinary two-hook paternoster will catch many more fish.
1908 Daily Mail 10 Aug. 5/4 Safety would reside in high flight; it would always be possible to ‘plane’ to earth, and in ‘planing’ the machine would progress many more feet than it would fall.
1937 Discovery Nov. 360/1 Amateur telescope-making is a hobby that has found many more enthusiasts in the United States than in the British Isles.
1989 Independent 29 Nov. 8 One third of parents feel left out by their children's expertise with new technology... Many fewer parents say that the children's use of computers has made them take an interest as well.
1991 G. Ehrlich Islands, Universe, Home x. 167 It takes one teaspoon of bacteria to infect a thousand cows; we have many less than that.

Compounds

Only about one-sixth of compounds with many- listed below coincide, in their second element, with compounds of multi-. Most of the former belong to an open-ended set of parasynthetic adjectives (a type dating back to the 16th cent.) and a smaller set of participial compounds (attested from the 18th cent. onwards), mostly of infrequent occurrence and belonging to the literary register. Only two of these, many-headed adj. and n. and many-sided adj., have attained notable frequency or semantic complexity. Corresponding parasynthetic compounds of multi- date from the 18th cent. (earlier formations being based mainly on Latin second elements), and several are prominent items of vocabulary owing to their frequency and semantic development: cf. many-coloured, many-faceted with multicoloured adj., multifaceted adj. Compounds with a noun used attributively (rarely attested before the 20th cent.) are few and uncommon in the case of many, whereas parallel compounds of multi- are numerous and of common occurrence: cf. many-volume with multivolume adj.
C1.
a. Parasynthetic (virtually unlimited in number).
(a)
many-acred adj.
ΚΠ
1812 G. Colman Poet. Vagaries 121 A many-acred..Ass, the Squire.
1896 Overland Monthly Mar. 770/1 ‘Wonderful fellow, Uncle Rufus’, said the many-acred Brown Mavis to a friend.
1969 V. Nabokov Ada ii. iii. 351 Whether nestling in woodland dells or surrounded by a many-acred park, or overlooking terraced groves and gardens.
many-angled adj.
ΚΠ
a1631 J. Donne Elegies xi, in Poet. Wks. (1929) 86 Which negligently left unrounded, looke Like many angled figures, in the booke Of some great Conjurer.
1892 W. B. Yeats Countess Kathleen iii. 57 Heaven's many-angled star reversed.
1993 Toronto Life Apr. rg14/3 Dependable tandoor cooking in a pretty, many-angled room.
many-antlered adj.
ΚΠ
1905 J. London in Cent. Mag. Nov. 117/1 Knee-deep in the water, with drooping head and half-shut eyes, drowsed a red-coated, many-antlered buck.
1930 E. Blunden Poems 48 Bronze noonlight domes the dim blue gloom Where many-antlered oaks immure A hush.
many-arched adj.
ΚΠ
1845 R. S. Surtees Hillingdon Hall I. x. 133 The massive, deeply-ribbed, many-arched bridge.
1992 Time 14 Dec. 64/3 Mexican-American artist Martín Ramírez (1885–1960), whose landscape drawings featuring..many-arched, organic tunnels and cliffs have the epic character that can only arise from intense experience.
many-belled adj.
ΚΠ
1850 W. M. Thackeray Pendennis II. iv. 33 The doors are many-belled.
many-blossomed adj.
ΚΠ
1835 R. Mant Brit. Months I. v. 179 Plantain's many-blossom'd wreaths Succinct in imbricated rows.
1869 W. Davies Songs of Wayfarer 25 Deep in your pearlèd heart aglow Bright many-blossomed Joy shall blow.
many-branched adj.
ΚΠ
1598 W. Lisle tr. G. de S. Du Bartas Colonies 1 I toyle to spread and twine Fro th'one to th'other sea the many-branched vine.
1830 Withering's Arrangem. Brit. Plants (ed. 7) IV. 76 Bristle-shaped Many-branched Fucus. F. fibrosus.
1993 D. Coyle Hardball ii. ii. 65 A many-branched organization whose name he did not recognize, filled with young, confident suits.
many-breasted adj.
ΚΠ
1844 H. Ellison Poetry of Real Life 9 The many-breasted Venus.
1959 S. Plath Beekeeper's Daughter in Coll. Poems (1981) 118 You move among the many-breasted hives.
many-buttoned adj.
ΚΠ
1823 W. Scott Quentin Durward II. ii. 36 Two stout Flemings, in their trunk-hose, fur caps, and many-buttoned jerkins.
1885 ‘Mrs. Alexander’ Valerie's Fate i A many-buttoned, tawny Swedish glove.
many-celled adj.
ΚΠ
1793 T. Martyn Lang. Bot. sig. M4v Multiloculare pericarpium, a many-celled pericarp.
1861 R. Bentley Man. Bot. ii. ii. 424 Many-celled spore-cases.
1992 Earth July 30/1 Of all metazoans (many-celled animals), brachiopods have one of the best represented fossil records.
many-centuried adj.
ΚΠ
1838 E. S. Wortley Queen Berengaria's Courtesy III. 478 The old proud Ocean lifts up, in amaze, His many-centuried head on her to gaze!
1931 E. Blunden To Themis 53 Beneath the accustomed dome Of this chance-planted, many-centuried tree.
many-chambered adj.
ΚΠ
1814 W. Wordsworth Excursion iv. 168 Let him be at once..enrolled A Pupil in the many-chambered school. View more context for this quotation
1875 C. C. Blake Zoology 244 A shell which is external, many-chambered, and siphunculate.
1994 Callaloo 17 63 Many-chambered heavens still and singing.
many-coated adj.
ΚΠ
1676 tr. H. C. Agrippa Vanity Arts & Sci. lxii. 184 Vary-colour'd, many-coated, canvas-wearing cloak-carriers.
1856 E. K. Kane Arctic Explor. II. i. 22 His many-coated panoply against King Death.
1997 Daily Tel. 22 Oct. 7/2 Jock Gallagher..described Lee as a ‘many-coated man’ who had more talent than one man should be entitled to.
many-cobwebbed adj.
ΚΠ
1859 Ld. Tennyson Enid in Idylls of King 20 The dusky-rafter'd many-cobweb'd Hall.
many-coloured adj.
ΚΠ
a1616 W. Shakespeare Tempest (1623) iv. i. 76 Haile, many-coloured Messenger, that nere Do'st disobey the wife of Iupiter. View more context for this quotation
1747 S. Johnson Prol. Opening of Theatre 2 Each Change of many-colour'd Life he drew.
1821 P. B. Shelley Adonais lii. 24 Like a dome of many-coloured glass.
1981 T. Morrison Tar Baby ii. 42 The woman walked down the aisle as if her many-coloured sandals were pressing gold tracks on the floor.
many-cornered adj.
ΚΠ
1651 J. Mayne in W. Cartwright Comedies sig. b5 As rich Jewels..in Angles cut, Do with their darted Lightnings strike from far The Eye, like some new many-corner'd Star.
1667 J. Dryden Indian Emperour ii. i. 16 Those many corner'd minds, Where Womans crooked fancie, turns, and winds.
1865 E. C. Gaskell Cousin Phillis i. 30 A strange, many-cornered room.
1969 Jrnl. Money, Credit, & Banking 1 472 It may be impossible to reconcile stabilization policy ... In the process of many-cornered bargaining.., the stabilization objective will suffer.
many-corridored adj.
ΚΠ
1859 Ld. Tennyson Vivien in Idylls of King 132 The myriad-room'd And many-corridor'd complexities Of Arthur's palace.
† many-coultered adj. Obsolete
ΚΠ
1731 J. Tull New Horse-houghing Husbandry 130 The many-coulter'd Ploughs.
1753 R. Dodsley Public Virtue 34 Thus taught the Shalborne Swain; who first with skill Led through his fields the many-coulter'd plough.
many-eared adj.
ΚΠ
1749 H. Fielding Tom Jones III. viii. ix. 216 That many-eyed, many-tongued, many-mouthed, many-eared Monster of Virgil. View more context for this quotation
1766 Compl. Farmer at Seed Each plant of the many eared wheat.
1916 E. Pound Let. 17 Nov. (1971) 99 That many-eared monster with no sense, the reading public.
1969 H. Cutler & L. Blake in M. L. Fowler Explor. in Cahokia Archaeol. 134 Occasional eight-rowed ears are frequently borne on the upper parts of many-eared maize plants.
many-eyed adj.
ΚΠ
1600 R. Kittowe Loues Load-starre sig. C3v Being orecome with drowsinesse (as was that many eyed Heardsman of the Goddesse Iuno, by the melody of bewitching Mercurie).
1655 T. Moffett & C. Bennet Healths Improvem. i. 3 Many-eide Osiris.
1889 A. R. Wallace Darwinism (1890) 15 The potato..so well adapted to spread by means of its many-eyed tubers.
1992 C. P. Estés Women who run with Wolves 12 We see, not through two eyes, but through the eyes of intuition which is many-eyed.
many-faceted adj.
ΘΚΠ
the world > relative properties > relationship > variety > [adjective] > many-sided or having parts
many-headed1537
many-sided1570
fertile-headed1632
versatile1656
multilateral1784
multilineala1800
polycephalic1850
multipolar1855
faceted1862
multicentral1864
arborescent1867
multisegmented1879
multisegmentate1880
multilinear1886
polycentric1887
many-faceted1890
the world > space > relative position > condition of being external > surface > [adjective] > having many
many-faceted1890
1890 Harper's Mag. Oct. 799/2 It is a many-faceted diamond of the purest lustre.
1947 Mind 56 291 The many-faceted problem of perception soon came to dominate the epistemological scene.
1992 M. Gelling in C. Blank Lang. & Civilization I. 79 Since..multi-disciplinary and interdisciplinary studies are highly regarded, the many-faceted nature of toponymical research should be seen as a strength rather than a weakness.
many-fingered adj.
ΚΠ
1828 Blackwood's Edinb. Mag. 23 412 Struggling in the many-fingered grasp of the strangulating heather.
1909 E. Pound Personae 36 All tremulous beneath the many-fingered breath.
1942 National Geographic Mag. June 771/1 Great breadfruit giants whose many-fingered leaves throw grotesque clutching shadows on the moonlit paths.
many-flowered adj.
ΚΠ
1648 J. Bobart Catalogus Plantarum Horti Medici Oxoniensis 48 Scor. multi flo. Boelii, Many flowr'd scorpion Gras.
1731 P. Miller Gardeners Dict. I. at Vicia Common Vetch or Tare... White Vetch... Many-flower'd Vetch.
1789 J. Pilkington View Derbyshire I. viii. 386 Erica multiflora, Many-flowered Heath.
1878 J. B. Killebrew Grasses Tennessee 101 [The] Many Flowered Darnel, Lolium Multiflora,..surpasses all other in showiness.
1952 A. G. L. Hellyer Sanders' Encycl. Gardening (ed. 22) 364 P. Elata should be placed in a pot as the many-flowered spike is erect.
many-folded adj.
ΚΠ
1590 E. Spenser Faerie Queene ii. iii. sig. O6v His..Many-folded shield he bound about his wrest.
1885 W. B. Yeats in Dublin Univ. Rev. May Vast greenness, where eternal Rumour dwells, And hath her home by many-folded dells.
1992 Rev. in Amer. Hist. 20 185 The relationship between established German-Americans and the escapees from racism..in Nazi Germany in all their many-folded aspects have not yet been satisfactorily studied.
many-forked adj.
ΚΠ
1697 C. Leslie Snake in Grass (ed. 2) 66 A many-forked and involved Infallibility.
1857 G. B. Cheever God against Slavery 171 The literature of all nations is as a shrine of many-forked lightnings against it [sc. personal slavery].
1958 Jrnl. Philos. 55 785 When Professor Brandt visited the Hopis he paved a many-forked road.
many-formed adj.
ΚΠ
c1595 Countess of Pembroke Psalme lxxii. 23 in Coll. Wks. (1998) II. 90 While of sad night the many-formed queene Decreas'd shall grow.
1866 ‘G. Eliot’ Felix Holt III. xxxiv. 5 The many-formed leaves of the evergreens.
1899 M. J. Cawein Myth & Romance 22 An opal spirit, various and many formed,—In whose clear heart reverberant fire stormed.
many-fountained adj.
ΚΠ
1832 Ld. Tennyson Œnone in Poems (new ed.) 53 O mother Ida, manyfountained Ida.
1919 H. Trench Napoleon iii. iii. 93 But is then Europe's many-fountained forest..To be controll'd from one centre?
many-gabled adj.
ΚΠ
1855 N. Hawthorne Jrnl. 1 July in Eng. Notebks. (1997) I. ii. 207 The old house built by Philip English, in Salem,..was in this style, many gabled and impending.
1991 E. Rhodes Cara's Land ii. 22 An old house, many-gabled, curiously shaped, as if succeeding generations had added whatever took their fancy.
many-gifted adj.
ΚΠ
a1823 A. Radcliffe December's Eve in Gaston de Blondeville (1826) IV. 213 When books, with converse sweet combined, And music's many-gifted power Exalt, or soothe th' awakened mind.
1938 R. Graves Coll. Poems 131 Will many-gifted Beauty come Bowing to your bald rule of thumb?
many-handed adj.
ΚΠ
a1657 G. Daniel Trinarchodia: Henry IV clii, in Poems (1878) IV. 39 This Many-handed bodie moe hands lost Then [etc.].
1852 C. Kingsley Andromeda 58 Twyformed, many-handed, terrible, shapeless.
1984 Jrnl. Asian Stud. 43 599 This report is the most complete and widely available analysis of the results of..a massive and many-handed research effort.
many-hearted adj.
ΚΠ
1869 T. T. Lynch Memorials Theophilus Trinal (ed. 3) vii. 152 To the city, labyrinth of homes, Where the people many-hearted dwells; Various winter pleasure comes.
1882 in Eng. Dial. Dict. (1903) IV. 33/1 (s. Devon) He was always many-hearted [= ‘soft-hearted’].
1904 W. de la Mare Henry Brocken 193 Yonder fine many-hearted poplar.
many-horned adj.
ΚΠ
1635 J. Shirley Traytor iii. sig. E2 They are a lousie impudent multitude, a many-headed, and many horned generation.
1842 J. Bischoff Comprehensive Hist. Woollen Manuf. II. 290 The many-horned sheep.
1915 Polit. Sci. Q. 30 122 Now consider the serious and many-horned dilemma before the before the commission.
many-hued adj.
ΚΠ
1812 Ld. Byron Childe Harold: Cantos I & II ii. lvi. 89 The Turk, the Greek, the Albanian, and the Moor Here mingl'd in their many-hued array.
1882 Ballou's Monthly Mag. Sept. 277/1 She tapped him lightly on the arm with her many-hued feathery fan.
1984 Jrnl. Philos. 81 670 World culture is many-hued and in an often riotous arrangement.
many-jointed adj.
ΚΠ
1832 G. Don Gen. Syst. Gardening & Bot. II. 100/1 Legume compressed, many-jointed.
1856 P. H. Gosse Tenby iii. 31 The Acorns..throw out..that exquisite array of many-jointed limbs, which..acts like a hand of sensitive fingers.
1997 N.Y. Times (Nexis) 12 Jan. vi. 54/1 Getting ourselves from house to cab, cab to airport cart, we resembled a clumsy, many-jointed animal.
many-knotted adj.
ΚΠ
1840 B. H. Smart Walker's Crit. Pronouncing Dict. Multinodate, or Multinodous (many-knotted).
1842 Ld. Tennyson Morte d'Arthur in Poems (new ed.) II. 7 The many-knotted waterflags.
1880 R. H. Stoddard Poems 35 Thy many-knotted threads of softest song.
many-languaged adj.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > language > a language > using or speaking languages > [adjective] > multilingual
polyglot1650
many-languaged1655
pantoglossical1716
polyglottic1801
polyglottal1837
multilingual1838
polylingual1857
polyglottous1861
polyglotted1868
omnilingual1893
tongue-speaking1902
plurilingual1930
1655 T. Fuller Hist. Univ. Cambr. vii. 123 in Church-hist. Brit. The many Languaged-Bible.
1798 Anti-Jacobin 9 July 283/1 The stream of verse, and many-languaged prose.
1865 D. W. Thompson Wayside Thoughts of Asophophilosopher i. 5 The many-languaged harbour.
1983 Amer. Notes & Queries 21 122/2 The novel presents readers with difficulties of length, erudition, and a many-languaged style.
many-layered adj.
ΚΠ
1884 F. O. Bower & D. H. Scott tr. H. A. de Bary Compar. Anat. Phanerogams & Ferns 33 A much stronger many-layered epidermis.
1980 W. G. Lawrence Psychic & Polit. Dimensions Work Experience (BNC) 9 These supervisors need supervisors, and so on ad infinitum until the enterprise is organized in a many-layered hierarchy.
many-leaved adj.
ΚΠ
1606 J. Sylvester tr. G. de S. Du Bartas Deuine Weekes & Wks. (new ed.) ii. iii. 56 The many-leaved locks Of thriving Charvel.
1750 G. Hughes Nat. Hist. Barbados 226 From which Place rise several many-leav'd Flowers, of a Maiden's-blush.
1868 F. E. Tripp Brit. Mosses 124 Ptychomitrium polyphyllum, Many-leaved Fringe Moss.
1985 Trans. Amer. Math. Soc. 291 687 Before turning to the existence of many-leaved trees, we prove that the amount of leaves of a given depth is not important.
many-legged adj.
ΚΠ
1611 R. Cotgrave Dict. French & Eng. Tongues Scolopendre, the Scolopendria, a reddish, many-legd, and venomous worme.
1833 Lady Morgan Manor Sackville ii, in Dramatic Scenes I. 36 (stage direct.) The gentlemen have just drawn back from a large, many-legged table.
1991 D. McBain Art Roebuck 109 The black rafters and stallboards swallowed the slow light of the hanging bulb, a magnet for moths and many-legged crawlers.
many-lived adj.
ΚΠ
1876 ‘G. Eliot’ Daniel Deronda III. vi. xlviii. 386 The poor ship with its many-lived anguish.
1996 T. Moore Re-enchantment Everyday Life 176 We are multiple, multilayered, many-mythed and many-lived.
many-lobed adj.
ΚΠ
1830 J. Lindley Introd. Nat. Syst. Bot. 180 A plaited many-lobed corolla.
1997 J. Updike Toward End of Time 163 Even the oaks, the last to leaf, have augmented their drooping yellow catskins with red-tinged miniature leaves, jagged and many-lobed.
many-mooded adj.
ΚΠ
1885 R. W. Gilder Lyrics 41 She is a poet's daughter, And many-mooded as a poet's day.
1904 J. London Sea-wolf xxviii. 271 And ever I loved Maud with an increasing love. She was so many-sided, so many-mooded—‘protean-mooded’ I called her.
1920 19th Cent. Aug. 272 To know him [sc. Stephen Phillips] was to realise how many-mooded and complex a man he was.
1935 C. Day Lewis Time to Dance & Other Poems 50 You shall recall one open as the day, Many-mooded as the light above English hills.
many-mouthed adj.
ΚΠ
1600 B. Jonson Every Man out of his Humor i. iii. sig. Div That many-mouthed vulgar Dog. View more context for this quotation
1749 H. Fielding Tom Jones III. viii. ix. 216 That many-eyed, many-tongued, many-mouthed, many-eared Monster of Virgil. View more context for this quotation
1854 J. D. Hooker Himalayan Jrnls. I. 82 The many-mouthed Ganges.
1937 Econ. Jrnl. 47 332 He may be pardoned for feeling that his statistically-expert colleagues have not..succeeded, any more than has the many-mouthed chorus of theorists.
many-named adj.
ΚΠ
1605 J. Sylvester tr. G. de S. Du Bartas Deuine Weekes & Wks. ii. i. 338 Many-nam'd poyson, minister of Death.
1872 ‘G. Eliot’ Middlemarch I. xv. 250 Fresh as starlight's aged truth—Many-namèd Nature!
1948 Harvard Jrnl. Asiatic Stud. 11 394 Evidently Li K'an regarded this many-named bamboo [sc. sha-ma-chu] as identical with the su-ma-chu.
many-nationed adj.
ΚΠ
?1611 G. Chapman tr. Homer Iliads ii. 25 These many nation'd men.
1856 R. W. Emerson Eng. Traits xviii. 302 They [sc. the English]..are many-nationed: their colonization annexes archipelagoes and continents, and their speech seems destined to be the universal language of men.
1925 Jrnl. Philos. 22 713 Multiplying the testimony of Americans..can not ‘open a way’ toward determining whether this many-nationed world is exclusively peopled by republicans.
many-parted adj.
ΚΠ
1793 T. Martyn Lang. Bot. sig. M4v Multipartitum..folium, a many-parted leaf.
1830 J. Lindley Introd. Nat. Syst. Bot. 176 Solitary flowers,..and many-parted calyx.
many-peopled adj.
ΚΠ
1638 G. Sandys Paraphr. Divine Poems sig. *2 The Muse, who from your Influence tooke her Birth, First wandred through the many-peopled Earth.
1736 J. Thomson Britain: 4th Pt. Liberty 1177 Exalted as the cope That swells immense o'er many-peopled earth.
1828 W. S. Landor Imaginary Conversat. III. xiii. 366 He waves his paternal blessing over the many-peopled world.
1922 E. Blunden Shepherd (ed. 2) 21 Else what but vision dares intrude That many-peopled solitude?
many-petalled adj.
ΚΠ
1783 tr. J. Elmgren Bot. Terms in Syst. Veg. xxxiv Claw,..the inferior part of a many-petal'd corol fix'd to the receptacle.
1991 Shepherd's Garden Seeds Catal. 78/1 The subtle shading of immortelle's silky, many-petaled one-inch blossoms makes each handful of cut blooms seems like a bouquet in itself.
many-pillared adj.
ΚΠ
1740 J. Dyer Ruins of Rome 10 The many-pillar'd Portal.
1874 C. King Mountaineering in Sierra Nevada (new ed.) 71 By contrast with the darkness outside, we seemed to be in a vast, many-pillared hall.
many-pleated adj.
ΚΠ
1927 D. H. Lawrence Mornings in Mexico 81 The many-pleated, noiseless mountains of Mexico.
1931 V. Woolf Waves 119 Flocks of shadow were driven before it and conglomerated and hung in many-pleated folds in the background.
many-pocketed adj.
ΚΠ
1833 T. Carlyle in Foreign Q. Rev. 11 280 Eliciting..some fractional contribution from the thick-skinned, many-pocketed million.
1994 Minnesota Monthly May 14/1 I am wearing my many-pocketed fishing vest, with tissues stuffed in the twin chest pockets.
many-pointed adj.
ΚΠ
a1618 J. Sylvester Lacrymæ Lacrymarum in tr. G. de S. Du Bartas Diuine Weekes & Wks. (1621) 1150 Our many-pointed proud Ingratitude.
?a1656 J. Poole Eng. Parnassus (1657) 500 The wandering armies of the skies,..Tilting at ours their many-pointed eyes.
1835–6 Todd's Cycl. Anat. & Physiol. I. 472 The teeth [of Seals], sharp and many-pointed.
1991 G. Ehrlich Islands, Universe, Home iii. 30 Wildness has no conditions... It cannot be stripped to its complexity by CAT scan or telescope. Rather, it is a many-pointed truth.
many-pronged adj.
ΚΠ
1890 Cent. Dict. at Piggle A many-pronged hook, with a handle like that of a hoe.
1942 Amer. Observer 9 Feb. 5/1 Conquest in the Southwest Pacific..would enable Tokyo to throw its entire Malayan forces into a sweeping, many-pronged offensive against the Netherlands East Indies.
many-rooted adj.
ΚΠ
1611 R. Cotgrave Dict. French & Eng. Tongues at Fendu Radis fendu, the..many-rooted Raddish.
1862 ‘G. Eliot’ Romola in Cornhill Mag. July 34 An old Florentine family was many-rooted.
1957 M. Rukeyser One Life 25 We want our many-rooted heart.
many-rowed adj.
ΚΠ
1875 A. W. Bennett & W. T. T. Dyer tr. J. von Sachs Text-bk. Bot. 176 The many-rowed [Ger. vielreihigen] flower-heads of the sunflower.
many-seated adj.
ΚΠ
1808 J. Bentham Sc. Reform 36 The many-seated has given place to single seated judicature.
many-seatedness n.
ΚΠ
1830 J. Bentham Corr. in Wks. (1843) XI. 40 Many-seatedness.
many-seeded adj.
ΚΠ
1796 W. Withering Arrangem. Brit. Plants (ed. 3) II. 246 Lonicera.. many-seeded.
1861 R. Bentley Man. Bot. i. iv. 323 The Pepo is an inferior, one- or spuriously three-celled, many-seeded, fleshy or pulpy fruit.
1977 J. L. Harper Population Biol. Plants 71 Seed size polymorphisms are found in the Cruciferae, e.g. Aethionema which produces indehiscent 1-seeded and dehiscent many-seeded siliquas.
many-spangled adj.
ΚΠ
1743 R. Blair Grave 9 Where hast thou hid thy many-spangled Head?
2003 www.widdershins.org 24 July (O.E.D. Archive) This many-spangled complex of fecundity intertwined with death provided deep and meaningful symbols for the societies that conceived it.
many-steepled adj.
ΚΠ
1628 G. Wither Britain's Remembrancer i. 35 What have their Temples, of more worth in them Then Shilo, Bethel, or Ierusalem, That we should spare their many steepled Towres.
1800 S. T. Coleridge This Lime-tree Bower in Ann. Anthol. 2 141 The many-steepled tract magnificent Of hilly fields.
1852 Ladies' Repository Aug. 301/1 To watch the receding shore, with its many-steepled city..dissolving in the hazy horizon of the north.
many-stemmed adj.
ΚΠ
1948 Cape Times 5 Aug. 8/7 The safer and more effective plants are reeds and many-stemmed shrubs, such as taaibos.
1996 Chiltern Seeds Catal. 136 An attractive, small, shrubby, slow-growing, usually many-stemmed tree with aromatic grey-green to dark green foliage.
many-storeyed adj.
ΚΠ
1841 E. Rigby Resid. Shores Baltic II. xviii. 85 The irregular, many-storied houses—with the ample garret above and the spacious hall beneath.
1993 Sunday Times (Singapore) 7 Nov. (Sunday Review section) 9/3 Despite the rise of the many-storeyed residential blocks, there are few facilities in the area.
many-stringed adj.
ΚΠ
1620 F. Quarles Hymne to God in Feast for Wormes sig. L3 Praise him with Trump victorious, shrill, and sharp, With Psaltry lowd, and many-stringed Harp.
1852 H. Rogers Eclipse of Faith 37 A many-stringed lyre.
1911 E. Pound Canzoni 7 Behold with music's many-stringed charms The silence groweth thou.
many-syllabled adj.
ΚΠ
1635 T. Heywood Hierarchie Blessed Angells vi. 355 Words Many-syllabl'd, of obscure sence.
1899 Mod. Lang. Notes 14 78 Most of the words are brief and saturated with feeling, but..many-syllabled terms are employed with exquisite taste.
1978 William & Mary Q. 35 564 The many-syllabled cultural transformations associated with mid- and late nineteenth-century modernization.
many-tailed adj.
ΚΠ
1768 Philos. Trans. 1767 (Royal Soc.) 57 85 The many-tailed bandage.
1825 Lancet 5 Feb. 135/1 The fracture was secured..by a many-tailed bandage.
1964 S. Duke-Elder Parsons' Dis. Eye (ed. 14) xxvii. 416 When both eyes are covered a many-tailed or ‘Moorfields’ bandage..saves manipulation in dressing and is cooler and lighter.
many-tinted adj.
ΚΠ
1793 W. Wordsworth Descr. Sketches 35 Far stretch'd beneath the many-tinted hills.
1885 ‘Mrs. Alexander’ Valerie's Fate i The bright..autumnal sunshine was vivifying the many-tinted trees of the Bois de Boulogne.
1913 H. Tucker Our Beautiful Peninsula 92 The many-tinted evertrevers, like fairy aloes, fringe the pinewoods.
many-toned adj.
ΚΠ
1791 E. Darwin Bot. Garden: Pt. I i. 181 Or wake the loud tumultuous sounds, that dwell In Echo's many-toned diurnal shell.
1812 Ld. Byron Tambourgi vii, in Childe Harold: Cantos I & II ii. 99 Let her bring from her chamber her many-ton'd lyre.
1991 S. Mitchell Parables & Portraits 83 Serene as a clear sky, luminous in her blue dress and many-toned cotton wimple.
many-tongued adj.
ΚΠ
1593 G. Harvey Pierces Supererogation Aunsw. Lett. sig. **3v Be thou Iohn, the many-tongued Linguist, like Andrewes, or the curious Intelligencer, like Bodley.
1749 H. Fielding Tom Jones III. viii. ix. 216 That many-eyed, many-tongued, many-mouthed, many-eared Monster of Virgil. View more context for this quotation
1908 Westm. Gaz. 18 Aug. 5/3 So remarkable a congregation—so many-tongued, yet..uniting to praise God in one language.
1997 Spy (N.Y.) May 22/2 Sister Concepcion..administers the viscous sacrament to the many-tongued girlhood of Andalusia.
many-towered adj.
ΚΠ
1605 J. Sylvester tr. G. de S. Du Bartas Deuine Weekes & Wks. ii. ii. 439 And Niniue..Aboue them [might] raise her manie-towered Crest.
1832 Ld. Tennyson Lady of Shalott i, in Poems (new ed.) 8 To manytowered Camelot.
many-tribed adj.
ΚΠ
1768 A. Tucker Light of Nature Pursued II. iii. xxvi. 258 The many-tribed weeds of the field.
1949 E. Blunden After Bombing 5 And Flora's realm, the many-tribed.
many-tubed adj.
ΚΠ
1866 ‘G. Eliot’ Felix Holt I. Introd. 4 The many-tubed honeysuckle.
many-twined adj.
ΚΠ
1850 Ladies' Repository Feb. 62/2 The long grass of many a year's growth has become matted with many-twined roots.
1909 E. Pound Personae 35 What should avail me the many-twined bracelets?
many-valved adj.
ΚΠ
1793 T. Martyn Lang. Bot. sig. M5 Multivalvis gluma, a multivalve or many-valved glume.
1851 Richardson's Geol. (1855) viii. 259 The Balanidæ have a complicated, many-valved shell.
many-voiced adj.
ΚΠ
1816 P. B. Shelley Alastor 46 A bright stream Once fed with many-voiced waves.
1989 R. Alter Pleasures of Reading vii. 238 That many-voiced conversation, with which..we shall never have done, is one of the most gratifying responses to literary creation, second only to reading itself.
many-volumed adj.
ΚΠ
1857 J. R. Lowell Orig. Didactic Poetry in Atlantic Monthly Nov. 112 Many-volumed thunder.
1927 W. B. Yeats Senate Speeches (1961) 138 This many-volumed ancient history.
many-weathered adj.
ΚΠ
1797 R. Southey Poems 113 The day, Changeful and many-weather'd.
1956 H. Gold Man who was not with It ii. 18 Maybe he was busy blushing under the many-weathered reddish-brown grimace.
many-windowed adj.
ΚΠ
1814 W. Wordsworth Excursion viii. 367 An unnatural light..Breaks from a many-windowed Fabric huge. View more context for this quotation
1832 J. P. Kennedy Swallow Barn (1860) 16 A plain, many-windowed edifice of brick.
1904 E. Wharton Ital. Villas i. 19 The many-windowed maison de plaisance in which the luxurious nobles of the seventeenth century spent the gambling and chocolate-drinking weeks of the vintage season.
1987 G. De Nie (title) Views from a many-windowed tower.
many-wintered adj.
ΚΠ
1842 Ld. Tennyson Locksley Hall in Poems (new ed.) II. 99 The many-winter'd crow.
1859 Ld. Tennyson Vivien in Idylls of King 137 The..many-winter'd fleece of throat and chin.
many-yeared adj.
ΚΠ
a1618 J. Sylvester Iob Triumphant in tr. G. de S. Du Bartas Diuine Weekes & Wks. (1621) 910 So, Wisedom should be to the Many-year'd.
1898 T. Hardy Wessex Poems 122 When told that some too mighty strain For one so many-yeared Had burst her bosom's master-vein, His doubts remained unstirred.
1983 Nous 17 312 I cannot tell..whether Haksar regards a form of life as a many-yeared thing, [or] a short-term thing.
(b)
many-dimensional adj.
ΚΠ
1905 W. James in Mind 14 196 Satisfaction is a many-dimensional term that can be realized in various ways.
1933 A. N. Whitehead Adventures of Ideas xi. 242 And space is many-dimensional.
1981 Sci. Amer. June 116/2 Many-dimensional problems in linear programming.
b. poetic. [Probably sometimes after ancient Greek compounds in which πολυ- has a similar adverbial sense; but quots. a1822 for many-beaming adj. and 1827 for many-twinkling adj. both translate Greek verses in which no such compound is used.] With present participles (and occasionally past participles) with adverbial sense = ‘in many ways, many times, much’.
† many-beaming adj. Obsolete rare
ΚΠ
a1822 P. B. Shelley To Moon in Poet. Wks. (?1840) 338/2 Where'er she spreads her many-beaming wings.
† many-bleating adj. Obsolete rare
ΚΠ
1728 J. Thomson Spring 42 Around Him feeds his many-bleating Flock.
many-blossoming adj.
ΚΠ
1864 Ld. Tennyson Boadicea 43 Many-blossoming Paradises.
1878 E. Fawcett Fantasy & Passion 33 How brightly spread your many-blossoming seas, Rippled whichever way the warm winds please!
many-meaning adj.
ΚΠ
?1798 T. J. Mathias Grove (ed. 2) 19 (note) He should certainly think himself justified in giving more of his time to his own private concerns than he had hitherto done, and less of it to fruitless (a many meaning word) exertions in that house.
1825 S. T. Coleridge Aids Refl. 51 That many-meaning and too commonly misapplied expression.
many-mingled adj.
ΚΠ
1811 W. R. Spencer Beth Gélert in Poems (1835) 151 The many-mingled cries.
1821 P. B. Shelley Epipsychidion 21 Their many-mingled influence.
1886 W. Alexander St. Augustine's Holiday i. 127 The music of the immortal song lives after, A many mingled tune.
many-mingling adj.
ΚΠ
1802 G. Dyer Poems I. i. 39 The willing muse Her flowers of many-mingling hues Might here entwine.
1813 P. B. Shelley Queen Mab viii. 103 The sweet and many mingling sounds Of kindliest human impulses.
1934 E. Pound Eleven New Cantos xl. 50 With great soft smell from the trees All perfumes many-mingling.
many-sounding adj.
ΚΠ
1747 T. Warton Pleasures of Melancholy 16 The many-sounding organ peals on high.
1839 T. Carlyle Let. 8 Feb. in Corr. Emerson & Carlyle (1964) 211 I will..walk silent by the shore of the many-sounding Babel-tumult.
many-turning adj.
ΚΠ
1905 N.E.D. at Many Many-turning.
many-twinkling adj.
ΚΠ
1728 J. Thomson Spring 11 The many-twinkling Leaves Of Aspin tall.
1827 J. Keble Christian Year II. lii. 4 The many twinkling smile of ocean.
1891 A. J. Munby Vulgar Verses 14 It was Trade Who offer'd both her many-twinkling cup Of profit and renown.
many-wandering adj.
ΚΠ
a1822 P. B. Shelley Let. to — in Posthumous Poems (1824) 67 Clouds..Piloted by the many wandering blast.
1876 J. S. Blackie Songs Relig. & Life 118 Guthrie, MˋKail, strong hearts that scorned control, The soldier Wallace, many-wandering Veitch.
many-winding adj.
ΚΠ
a1800 M. Robinson Poet. Wks. (1806) I. 34 Thy nerve shoots forth a light ineffable, That marks the fount of science, and reveals The many-winding paths of wisdom's maze!
1812 Ld. Byron Childe Harold: Cantos I & II i. xx. 18 Then slowly climb the many-winding way.
1868 E. Bulwer-Lytton Chrons. & Characters I. 299 His standards float And flash athwart Pamphylian shores remote, Throng all Meander's many-winding stream.
c. attributive phrases consisting of many with a noun with the sense ‘having, consisting of, many of the things named’.
many-course adj.
ΚΠ
1900 J. London in Atlantic Monthly Jan. 86 She teased them with tantalizing details of many-course dinners.
1955 D. Chapman Home & Social Status xi. 172 The many-course dinner with wines.
many-electron adj.
ΚΠ
1929 Trans. Faraday Soc. 25 672 We use this system of energy levels for the many-electron problem just as was done in atoms.
1970 G. K. Woodgate Elem. Atomic Struct. i. 5 In many-electron atoms the electrostatic interaction with the nucleus is summed over all the electrons.
many-interest adj. rare
ΚΠ
1955 M. Gluckman Custom & Confl. Afr. v. 135 They [sc. rituals] are inappropriate in the family, our single many-interest group.
many-particle adj.
ΚΠ
1937 E. C. Kemble Fund. Princ. Quantum Math. vi. 196 When we pass from the two-particle problem to the many-particle problem..we pass from a domain in which there is a well-developed basic mathematical theory to a domain of mathematical ignorance.
1955 F. L. Friedman & V. F. Weisskopf in W. Pauli Niels Bohr & Devel. Physics 135 The states formed in the reaction are states of a many-particle system.
1993 Philos. Q. 43 31 The immensely complicated dynamics of many-particle systems.
many-volume adj.
ΚΠ
1941 Mind 50 141 That these naïve beliefs [about ambiguity] are false is easy to realise in this age of many-volume dictionaries.
many-word adj.
ΚΠ
1924 R. M. Ogden tr. K. Koffka Growth of Mind v. 329 Transference from a one-word to a many-word sentence [Ger. Mehrwort Satz] is carried out.
1940 A. H. Gardiner Theory of Proper Names ix. 29 In some of my many-word names (e.g. Edgar Allan Poe) the coherence of the parts is much slighter than in others.
1973 A. Quinton Nature of Things v. 127 Many-word sentences have to be used to guard against the misunderstandings.
C2.
many-berry n. = hackberry n. 2a.
ΚΠ
1859 W. Darlington & G. Thurber Amer. Weeds & Useful Plants 294 Hack-berry. Many-berry.
1890 Cent. Dict. Manyberry, same as hackberry.
many-body adj. relating to or involving three or more bodies or particles; spec. with reference to the problem of predicting their positions and motions at any future time given their present values and the way the bodies interact (through collision, gravitational attraction, etc.).
ΘΚΠ
the world > matter > physics > atomic physics > particle physics > [adjective] > relating to number of particles
many-body1927
three-body1936
two-body1956
1927 J. W. Fisher & D. R. Hartree tr. M. Born Mech. Atom iv. 248 The analytical difficulties of the many-body problem.
1962 W. B. Thompson Introd. Plasma Physics i. 2 The microscopic dynamics of a plasma must be understood as a study in many-body physics.
1988 T. Ferris Coming of Age in Milky Way (1989) i. vi. 121 The ‘many body problem’..remains unsolved, just as Newton foresaw.
† many-foot n. Obsolete (a) = polyp n. 2a; (b) a centipede, woodlouse, or similar animal.
ΘΚΠ
the world > animals > invertebrates > phylum Arthropoda > [noun] > member of
crabc1000
crab-fisha1400
crayfish1509
insect1601
many-foot1601
insectile1615
condylope1835
condylopod1855
arthropod1861
the world > animals > invertebrates > subkingdom Metazoa > grade Triploblastica or Coelomata > class Cephalopoda > [noun] > order Dibranchiata > member of
cuttlec1000
polyp1590
cuttlefish1591
many-foot1601
poulp1601
sea-tree1601
1601 P. Holland tr. Pliny Hist. World I. 351 Some sea-fishes,..haue eight legs: namely, Manyfeet, Pourcuttles, Cuttles.
1605 J. Sylvester tr. G. de S. Du Bartas Deuine Weekes & Wks. i. v. 148 Th' inkie Cuttles, and the Many-feet.
1605 J. Sylvester tr. G. de S. Du Bartas Deuine Weekes & Wks. i. v. 153 The suttle Smell-strong-Many-foote that faine A dainty feast of Oyster-flesh would gaine.
1658 J. Rowland tr. T. Moffett Theater of Insects in Topsell's Hist. Four-footed Beasts (rev. ed.) 1045 The Scolopendræ, and Juli, and Cheeselips..are called Many-feet.
1706 Phillips's New World of Words (new ed.) at Ozæna A sort of the Fish Pourcontrel or Many-feet.
many-mansioned adj. having many rooms, apartments, divisions, etc. (cf. mansion n. 5a).
ΚΠ
1847 Ladies' Repository May 151/2 I see the city out of sight—my Father's many-mansioned house.
1875 Overland Monthly May 475/1 Very fair to look upon should have been the many-mansioned houses when completed.
1938 Jrnl. Philos. 35 390 The many-mansioned discipline known as ‘symbolic logic’ has for a long time ceased to be a simple affair.
1958 Speculum 33 Apr. 254 Milet was writing..as a typically mediaeval dramatist using the familiar mise-en-scène of a many-mansioned stage which included ship, towers, and many blazoned banners.
many–many adj. designating or relating to a correspondence or relation between two sets such that each member of either set may be associated with or related to two or more members of the other.
ΘΚΠ
the world > relative properties > relationship > correlation > [adjective] > one-to-one, etc.
one-to-one1873
multivalent1891
one–many1901
one-for-one1908
many–one1910
one-to-many1916
many–many1922
many-to-one1964
many-to-many1981
1922 W. E. Johnson Logic II. vii. 156 Here the denominating correlation is not one–one but many–many, and yet the names and the things happen to be numerically equal.
1933 Mind 42 53 In this third use of ‘term’ the total situation located by ‘Tom fears Francois’ is not two-termed but many-termed, and the total situation located by ‘England fears France’ many–many-termed.
1965 Language 41 44 Transformational relations are one–one, but expansion relations are many–many.
many-minded adj. having many different opinions; fickle, given to changes of mind or mood.
ΚΠ
1640 G. Sandys tr. H. Grotius Christs Passion iv. 52 How did the many-minded People look At these Portents?
1869 Ladies' Repository Aug. 110/1 Little does it matter how good a thing is in itself, if the many-minded empress says, ‘That is out of fashion’, it is at once under the ban.
1895 I. K. Funk et al. Standard Dict. Eng. Lang. II. Many-minded, showing changes of mind; changeable in opinion; fickle; versatile.
1932 W. B. Yeats Words for Music 37 Even Cicero And many-minded Homer were Mad as the mist and snow.
many–one adj. designating or relating to a correspondence or relation such that two or more members of one set are associated with or related to each member of a second set, many-to-one.
ΘΚΠ
the world > relative properties > relationship > correlation > [adjective] > one-to-one, etc.
one-to-one1873
multivalent1891
one–many1901
one-for-one1908
many–one1910
one-to-many1916
many–many1922
many-to-one1964
many-to-many1981
1910 A. N. Whitehead & B. Russell Principia Mathematica I. ii. 575 The transition from series generated by one–one or many–one relations of consecutive terms to series generated by transitive relations of before and after.
1936 Jrnl. Philos. 17 Dec. 706 The relation of tokens to their type..is consistently many–one: a type can have many tokens, but a token only one type. But the relation of type to word is many–many. A word can be represented by many types; but so can a type represent many words.
1955 A. N. Prior Formal Logic 279 A ‘many–one’ relation, Cls→1, is an R such that if x is an R of any given thing then it is not an R of anything else...The null relation is many–one for the same sort of reason as it is one–many.
1971 Language 47 8 This overwhelming predominance of many–one mapping over one–many, as we move from semantics to phonetics, can then be seen as further evidence of language's directionality.
many–oneness n. a many–one correspondence or relation.
ΘΚΠ
the world > relative properties > relationship > correlation > [noun] > types of correlation
cross-correlation1920
autocorrelation1933
many–oneness1966
1966 S. Beer Decision & Control xvii. 441 The effect of that Act..was to provide a richer mapping, to reduce the many–oneness of the homomorphic transformation.
1985 Philos. Rev. 94 261 Many–oneness may be viewed as a second-order relation between a first-order relation and one of its argument places.
† Many Saints' Day n. Obsolete rare Pentecost.
ΚΠ
1655 T. Fuller Church-hist. Brit. iii. Ded. sig. Aa2v Those three thousand gained, (on Many-Saints-day) by Saint Peter, at Jerusalem.
many-seed n. Caribbean a tropical shrubby herb with yellow flowers, Ludwigia octovalvis, of the family Onagraceae.
ΘΚΠ
the world > plants > particular plants > plants and herbs > non-British plants or herbs > [noun] > American or West Indian
masterwort1523
hogweed1707
black root1709
many-seed1750
Martynia1753
Maranta1754
hog meat1756
iron1756
Evolvulus1764
zebra plant1826
turkey-flower1843
vriesia1843
Spanish needles1846
turkey-blossom1849
horse poison1851
St Martin's herb1860
goatweed1864
wake-robin1864
frog-bit1866
herb of St. Martin1866
pipi1866
goatweed1869
cigar-plant1961
1750 G. Hughes Nat. Hist. Barbados 212 Many-Seed. I have given this Plant a name from its many Seeds.
1848 R. H. Schomburgk Hist. Barbados iii. iv. 618 The Evening Primrose... Jussiaea octonervia, Lam... Many-seed, Hughes.
1993 S. Carrington Wild Plants of Barbados 75/1 Ludwigia octovalvis (Jacq.) Raven, many-seed.
many-splendoured adj. full of wonders or marvels; magnificent, glorious, etc., in many ways.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > attention and judgement > beauty > splendour > [adjective]
orgulousa1450
splendidious?a1475
splendiferousa1500
splendent1517
transplendent1557
splendant1590
splendorous1604
splendidous1607
splendious1609
florid1642
splendid1815
splendescent1848
many-splendoured1859
nifty1865
ducky1897
1859 Southern Literary Messenger Jan. 7 In the night-time, come the spirits, yet if the night be many-splendoured they come not.
a1907 F. Thompson Kingdom of God in Sel. Poems (1908) 131 'Tis ye, 'tis your estrangèd faces, That miss the many-splendoured thing.
1962 Sunday Times 25 Nov. (Colour Suppl.) 29 (title) The many-splendoured fisherman.
1980 S. Trott When your Lover Leaves (1981) 65 My life seemed so boring to describe and yet to me it was rich and many-splendoured.
many-to-many adj. = many–many adj.
ΚΠ
1981 Electronics 17 Nov. 130/1 A given member can be associated with only one owner, so that a many-to-many relationship has to be implemented by two one-to-many sets involving the usage of a dummy intermediate record.
1985 Computerworld 18 Feb. 80/3 According to the vendor, it [sc. MDBS III] allows direct representation of many-to-many and recursive relationships.
1991 Whole Earth Rev. Summer 8/3 A BBS makes ‘many-to-many’ communication possible, just the way a bulletin board in the town square does.
many-to-one adj. = many–one adj.
ΘΚΠ
the world > relative properties > relationship > correlation > [adjective] > one-to-one, etc.
one-to-one1873
multivalent1891
one–many1901
one-for-one1908
many–one1910
one-to-many1916
many–many1922
many-to-one1964
many-to-many1981
1964 D. Crystal & R. Quirk Syst. Prosodic & Paraling. Features Eng. ii. 22 The..implication that the relationship between a given vocal qualifier and its context is in a one-to-one relation, when in fact it is in a one-to-many (or many-to-one) relation.
1980 Dædalus Spring 26 Their proposal for a ‘degenerative’ (a many-to-one mapping) model in which feedback becomes a secondary rather than a primary constituent.
1982 J. Campbell Grammatical Man iv. xvi. 191 Some connections between neurons are ‘many-to-one’, as if several different words in a language had the same meaning.
many-universes n. = many-worlds n.
ΚΠ
1971 B. S. DeWitt in B. S. DeWitt & N. Graham Many-worlds Interpretation Quantum Mech. (1973) 167 The Many-Universes Interpretation of Quantum Mechanics... My main purpose..is to describe..one of the most straightforward interpretations of quantum mechanics... This interpretation..is due to Everett.
1983 P. Davis God & New Physics xii. 173 The many-universe theorists concede that the ‘other worlds’ of their theory can never, even in principle, be inspected.
many-valued adj. (a) Mathematics (of a function) having more than one value for some or all of its arguments; that maps to more than one point, number, etc.; (b) Logic designating a logic in which a proposition can be assigned any of three or more values, rather than being restricted to those of truth and falsity.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > mental capacity > philosophy > logic > logical truth > [adjective] > characterized by truth values
many-valued1893
multiform1893
two-valued1918
three-valued1932
pluri-valued1937
1893 J. Harkness & F. Morley Treat. Theory Functions i. 36 (heading) Examples of many-valued functions.
1934 Philos. Sci. 1 118 A many-valued system of logic is a code of inference which endows propositions with truth values intermediate between true and false.
1936 Mind 45 273 His probability logic is a many-valued logic.
1963 R. Dickerson in H. W. Baade Jurimetrics 63 The potential usefulness of many-valued logic for building mathematical models helpful in dealing with problems of vagueness.
1989 W. Gellert et al. VNR Conc. Encycl. Math. (ed. 2) 79 In the domain of complex numbers the symbol n√z is not restricted to a single value, but is many-valued.
many-worded adj. (of a term or description) involving the use of, or consisting of, several words (spec. in Philosophy).
ΘΚΠ
the mind > language > linguistics > linguistic unit > word > [adjective] > having or relating to specific number of words
many-worded1798
triverbal1817
diverbal1826
monepica1832
1798 H. Brand Huniades iv. iv. 84 What means this many-worded mystery?
1817 J. Bentham Chrestomathia Pt. II 209 Having for their collective denomination the many-worded appellative parts of speech.
1843 J. S. Mill Syst. Logic I. i. ii. 30 A mixed term belongs to the class of what have been called many-worded names.
1901 A. Sidgwick Use of Words v. 143 Description..is more often than not many-worded.
1957 G. Ryle in C. A. Mace Brit. Philos. 243 I am still not quite sure why..every possible grammatical subject of a sentence, one-worded or many-worded, stands to something as the proper name ‘Fido’ stands to the dog Fido.
many-worlds n. an interpretation of quantum theory which states that all possible quantum worlds are realized and coexist in parallel with each other.
ΚΠ
1973 B. S. De Witt & N. Graham (title) The many-worlds interpretation of quantum mechanics.
1992 L. Tuttle Lost Futures 92 You probably haven't heard of the many-worlds theory in quantum mechanics, but a lot of people consider the idea of parallel universes.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, September 2000; most recently modified version published online June 2022).
<
adj.pron.n.adv.eOE
随便看

　

英语词典包含1132095条英英释义在线翻译词条，基本涵盖了全部常用单词的英英翻译及用法，是英语学习的有利工具。

　

Copyright © 2004-2022 Newdu.com All Rights Reserved
更新时间：2025/1/9 8:51:52