redoubtableadj.n.

1421 H. Luttrell in H. Ellis Orig. Lett. Eng. Hist. (1827) 2nd Ser. I. 84 Redoubtabel and souverain Lord.

?c1425 (c1380) G. Chaucer tr. Boethius De Consol. Philos. (Cambr. Ii.3.21) (1886) iv. pr. v. l. 12 No wyse man hath leuere ben exiled..than for to..flowren of Rychesses, and be redowtable by honour [L. honore reuerendus].

1481 W. Caxton tr. Myrrour of Worlde i. viii For the evyll was helle maad..whiche is horryble stynking and redoubtable.

1530 J. Palsgrave Lesclarcissement 383 He was wont to be so redoubtable to them.

1593 G. Harvey Pierces Supererogation 143 Where such an other Rodomont, so furious, so valorous, so redoutable?

1621 J. Molle tr. P. Camerarius Liuing Libr. v. xiv. 377 Ridiculous redoubtable rellicks which the ancient Pagans were wont to carrie.

1685 tr. B. Gracián y Morales Courtiers Oracle 53 By one word he rendred himself more redoubtable, than by all his power.

1716 A. Pope Corr. Nov. (1956) I. 372 The enterprizing Mr. Lintott, the redoutable rival of Mr. Tonson.

a1796 R. Burns Poems & Songs (1968) I. 341 Revers'd [is] that spear, redoubtable in war.

1816 W. Kirby & W. Spence Introd. Entomol. (1818) II. xxiii. 358 A spider-wasp..whose sting is redoubtable.

1825 J. Neal Brother Jonathan II. 163 A little to their left was a female.., a redoubtable speaker of the society.

1889 Spectator 14 Sept. As a fighting race, they will always be redoubtable.

1907 J. Conrad Secret Agent viii. 216 She dreaded and admired the calm, self-contained character of her daughter Winnie, whose displeasure was made redoubtable by a diversity of dreadful silences.

1919 Outing Mar. 295/1 I wondered what the upper half of the man would look like; a pair of redoubtable number nines failed to tell much.

1977 H. O'Hagan School-marm Tree xvi. 220 He had shown himself to be a redoubtable opponent, nose to his purpose like that of a horse snubbed to a tree.

2006 Brantford (Ont.) Expositor (Nexis) 27 May d8 She was gutsy, brave, talented and skilled beyond measure in the art of self-promotion. She was, in a word, redoubtable.

1808 J. Biggs Hist. Miranda's Attempt Revol. S. Amer. xxiii. 203 The quarter master general thought it merciful not to behead his redoubtables.

1849 R. Browning Colombe's Birthday iii, in Poems I. 337 Had you sought the lady's court..Faced the redoubtables composing it [etc.].

1929 Kingsport (Tennessee) Times 4 Mar. 4/2 The monarchists have been..demanding a ‘sterner’ attitude to foreign affairs. This is a reminder of the attitude of some of these same redoubtables at the time of the formation of the Dawes plan.

1996 Guardian (Nexis) 13 Nov. t13 Two redoubtables of the British theatre (Eleanor Bron, Prunella Scales) go to India in Terence McNally's new play.

1672 W. Penn Spirit of Truth Vindicated 67 Behold then the redoubtableness of this Adversary.

1847 R. W. Hamilton Rewards & Punishm. ii. 131 His intuition of the most difficult relations,..his grasp of the chain which binds the universe,..render his well-known disquisition a masterpiece of ratiocinative redoubtableness.

1993 Independent (Nexis) 3 Oct. 40 Mrs Nabokov is the only woman he has a conversation with; her redoubtableness is well caught.

1593 G. Harvey Pierces Supererogation 115* Were that faire body of the sweetest Venus in Print, as it is redoubtably armed with the compleat harnesse of the brauest Minerua.

1796 G. D. Harley Poems 277 Here then redoubtably my stand I take And challenge e'en dislodgement from my post.

1818 N. Amer. Rev. Mar. 369 The writer sets his face redoubtably against all imitation.

1979 Washington Post 29 Apr. a3/4 A..redoubtably powerful woman.

2004 Sunday Times (Nexis) 25 Apr. (Sport section) 9 Though Woodgate performed redoubtably, it took the woodwork to stop Drogba scoring.