plethoric
adjUK /ˈplɛθəɹɪk/
Etymology From Late Latin plethoricus, from Hellenistic Ancient Greek πληθωρικός (plēthōrikós), from πληθώρα (plēthṓra, “plethora”). By surface analysis, plethora + -ic.
1
Medicine, Sciences Suffering from plethora; ruddy in complexion, congested or swollen with blood.
- a horse-leech, whose deep maw The plethoric King Swellfoot could not fill, And who, till full, will cling for ever.1820, Percy Bysshe Shelley, Oedipus Tyrannus; Or, Swellfoot The Tyrant: A Tragedy in Two Acts:
- If the predisposition to the disease has arisen from a plethoric state of the system, or from a turgescence in the vessels of the head, this is to be obviated by bleeding, both generally and topically, but more particularly the latter; an abstemious diet and proper exercise; and by a seton in the neck.1842, Gibbons Merle, John Reitch, The Domestic Dictionary and Housekeeper’s Manual: Comprising Everything Related to Cookery, Diet, Economy and Medicine. By Gibbons Merle. The Medical Portion of the Work by John Reitch, M.D., London: William Strange, 21, Paternoster Row, →OCLC, page 360, column 2:
1 more example
- Harold Atkinson, her host, was a fine handsome grey-haired man, plethoric and somewhat corpulent, with an eye for a pretty woman […].1941, W Somerset Maugham, Up at the Villa, Vintage, published 2004, page 81:
2
Excessive, overabundant, rife; loosely, abundant, varied.
- the judges [...] were arranging their robes and coughing into their fists, the ebb and flow of their plethoric wigs like a flock of sheep on the run.1982, TC Boyle, Water Music, Penguin, published 2006, page 161:
3
Full or excessively full.
- Behold the Mansion reared by Dædal Jack! See the Malt stored in many a plethoric sack, In the proud cirque of Juan's bivouac!1977, K.M. Elizabeth Murray, Caught in the Web of Words, Oxford: Oxford University Press, page 63:
- Derived terms
- antiplethoric
- Related terms
- plethora