a. Also 7 verdent. [f. verd- (as in verdure) + -ANT, perhaps partly after L. viridant-, viridans, pres. pple. of viridāre, f. viridis green. Cf. also OF. verdeant (virdeant), verdoiant (F. verdoyant).]
1. Of a green hue or color; green: a. Of vegetation.
1581. A. Hall, Iliad, I. 1. Chryses … With verdant crown, wherewith Apoll his seemely head had clad.
1590. Spenser, F. Q., I. ix. 13. The verdant gras my couch did goodly dight.
1633. Cowley, Constantia, 114. Th’ verdant grasse was dew’d with many a teare.
1662. J. Davies, trans. Mandelslo’s Trav., 267. Fruit-trees,… which keep on their verdant Liveries all the year long.
1698. Fryer, Acc. E. India & P., 64. The Walks which before were covered with Nature’s verdent awning … are now open to the Sun.
1764. R. Lloyd, Capricious Lovers, V. ii. When eve embrowns the verdant grove.
1796. H. Hunter, trans. St.-Pierre’s Stud. Nat. (1799), III. 334. We soon discovered the profound and verdant forests which cover Celtic Gaul.
1842. Loudon, Suburban Hort., 337. Where ornamental hedges and other verdant architectural structures are to be grown.
1853. Kane, Grinnell Exp., I. (1856), 474. Crowned each with its little verdant tuft,—ten radishes!
b. In other applications. rare.
1649. Lovelace, Grasshopper, Poems 35. Poore verdant foole [sc. a grasshopper], and now green Ice!
1667. Milton, P. L., IX. 501. [The] Serpent … With burnisht Neck of verdant Gold, erect Amidst his circling Spires.
1738. Gray, Tasso, 67. Here the soft emerald smiles of verdant hue.
2. Green with vegetation; characterized by abundance of verdure.
1590. Spenser, F. Q., I. ii. 17. Streames of purple bloud new dies the verdant fields.
1647. Ogilby, Virg. Georg., IV. 322. Gliding Streams … Which border nigh the Quiver’d Persian Land, And verdant Egypt Marl with fruitful Sand.
1667. Milton, P. L., VIII. 631. The parting Sun Beyond the Earth’s green Cape and verdant Isles Hesperian sets.
1738. Wesley, Ps. XXIII. ii. Where peaceful Rivers soft and slow Amid the verdant Landskip flow.
1784. Cowper, Task, VI. 70. As I tread The walk, still verdant, under oaks and elms.
1815. Elphinstone, Acc. Caubul (1842), I. 381. In the midst of a verdant and pleasing country, which enjoys a temperate climate.
1817. Moore, Lalla R., Fire-Worshippers, iv. 90. Like those verdant spots that bloom Around the crater’s burning lips.
1868. Miss Braddon, Dead-sea Fruit, ii. The verdant avenues and placid water.
3. fig. Of persons: Green, inexperienced, gullible.
1824. Byron, Juan, XV. xciii. Because my business is to dress society, and stuff with sage that very verdant goose.
1854. Poultry Chron., I. 269/2. I spoke of simple facts in my own experience, and with the … object of warning ‘verdant’ purchasers.
1859. Punch, 14 Aug., 57/1. Flush of his money and just as refreshingly verdant.
Hence Verdantness, verdancy. rare–0.
1727. Bailey (Vol. II.), Verdantness, a flourishing, bright, or lively Greenness.
