a. Also 7 virt-. [ad. L. vertīginōsus one suffering from giddiness, f. vertīgin-, vertīgo VERTIGO. So F. vertigineux, Sp., Pg., It. vertiginoso.]
1. of persons, the head, etc.: Affected with, suffering from, vertigo or giddiness; giddy, dizzy.
1621. Burton, Anat. Mel., I. iii. I. i. Many phantasticall visions about their eyes, vertiginous, apt to tremble.
1653. Jer. Taylor, Serm. for Year, I. xix. 233. They grew vertiginous and fell from the battlements of heaven.
1695. Woodward, Nat. Hist. Earth, IV. 206. The former of these [damps] … makes the Workmen faint, and vertiginous.
1707. Reflex. upon Ridicule, 136. The Head turns and grows vertiginous.
1787. Best, Angling (ed. 2), 69. By these balls fishes are rendered vertiginous, and as it were intoxicated.
1808. Med. Jrnl., XIX. 299. The ocular spectra of objects … augment the disturbance of the eyes, and thereby add to the confusion of the vertiginous person.
1822–7. Good, Study Med. (1829), I. 170. I have never been able to raise it [the drug] above seven grains without making the head stupid and vertiginous.
1906. G. Tyrrell, in Life (1912), II. xi. 260. At first I was very vertiginous, but am slowly getting my nerves in hand.
fig. 1624. [Scott], Vox Regis, 41. The heighth of prosperitie so amazeth the eyes of men, as it makes them vertiginous.
1687. Norris, Misc., Disc. Rom. xii. 3. § 19. If they can stand there without growing vertiginous,… they are still within the Region of Humility.
b. fig. Giddy-minded; unstable or unsettled in opinions, etc.; inconstant; apt to change quickly; marked by inconstancy, instability, or rapid change.
Frequent in the 17th century.
1609. Bp. W. Barlow, Answ. Nameless Cath., 209. This vertiginous Vertumnus, whom Plato describes for an inartificiall disputant.
1632. Burton, Anat. Mel. (ed. 4), I. iii. I. ii. 185. Inconstant they are in all their actions, vertiginous, restlesse, vnapt to resolue of any businesse.
1681. Manton, Serm., Ps. cxix. 20, Wks. 1872, VI. 190. Therefore take heed of being given up to this vertiginous spirit, to be turned and ‘tossed up and down with every wind of doctrine.’
1789. Gouv. Morris, in Sparks, Life & Writ. (1832), II. 66. As all men and things are in the same vertiginous condition.
1841. Disraeli, Amen. Lit. (1859), II. 378. The sphere of publication widened, in this vertiginous era.
1898. J. E. C. Bodley, France, III. v. 271. When one thinks of the vicissitudes of those vertiginous days, it is not surprising that … sons of the Revolution [etc.].
2. Of the nature of, characterized by, vertigo.
1608. Topsell, Serpents, 76. Sluggish dulness, a giddy and vertiginous pace,… are sure arguments that Bees are not in good health.
1620. Venner, Via Recta, vii. 134. Fisticke Nuts … distemper the bloud, and being much eaten, oftentimes procure the vertiginous euill.
1699. Evelyn, Acetaria (1729), 133. Mustard … strengthening the Memory, expelling Heaviness, preventing the Vertiginous Palsey.
1733. Cheyne, Eng. Malady, III. iv. (1734), 327. I was suddenly seiz’d with a vertiginous Paroxysm.
1822–7. Good, Study Med. (1829), I. 460. That staggering or vertiginous disease which is provincially known by the name of Dunt.
1854. Gilfillan, Beattie, p. xvii. Beattie was troubled with a vertiginous complaint.
1876. Clin. Soc. Trans., IX. 183. He found that if he closed his eyes the vertiginous feeling was mitigated.
1901. Brit. Med. Jrnl., No. 2092. Epit. Anc. Lit. 18. Vertiginous attacks became troublesome at times.
fig. 1626. Ailesbury, Passion Serm., 13. Their theory was vertiginous, swom in the braine, there floating without anchor, and was of no credit with the will.
1642. H. More, Song of Soul, II. III. iii. 22. My strong-winged Muse feeble to slide Into false thoughts and dreams vertiginous.
3. Liable to cause vertigo or dizziness; inducing giddiness. Also fig.
1649. Jer. Taylor, Gt. Exemp., I. ix. 143. There … the station is least firm, the posture most uneasie, the prospect vertiginous.
1665. Sir T. Herbert, Trav. (1677), 326. The Dervis and other Santoons … express their zeal by turning round,… and others I have seen in this vertiginous exercise at the Cavalcades.
a. 1701. Maundrell, Journ. Jerus. (1721), 95. After they had by these vertiginous circulations and clamours turn’d their heads.
1865. W. Kay, Crisis Hupfeldiana, 78. If any one chooses to look further into this vertiginous subject, he may examine [etc.].
1874. Stevenson, Ess. Trav., Unpleasant Places (1905), 242. There is nothing more vertiginous than a wind like this among the woods, with all its sights and noises.
1899. Allbutt’s Syst. Med., VII. 796. It is generally necessary to avoid crowded rooms and the vertiginous influence of the dance.
4. Of motion: Having the character of rotation or revolution; rotatory.
In some cases prob. implying the preceding sense.
1663. Baxter, Div. Life, 215. The thoughts of earthly fleshly things have power to delude men, and mislead them, and hurry them about in a vertiginous motion.
1690. Leybourn, Curs. Math., 449. It is found to have a Vertiginous Motion about its own Axis.
1742. Blackmore, Creation, 251. So give the air impression from above, It in a whirl vertiginous would move.
1751. Johnson, Rambler, No. 117, ¶ 10. That vertiginous motion, with which we are carried round by the diurnal revolution of the earth.
1766. G. Canning, Anti-Lucretius, IV. 323. We see, with whirl vertiginous, the Sun From west to east around his axis run.
1832. Nat. Philos., Electro-Magn., xii. § 257. 80 (L.U.K.). The peculiar kind of movement … which Dr. Wollaston attributed to the electro-magnetic agent, and which he termed its vertiginous motion.
1837. Carlyle, Fr. Rev., I. III. vii. It is the centre whereon infinite contentions unite and clash. What new universal vertiginous movement is this?
1883. Salmon, in Contemp. Rev., Oct., 512. All the souls in hell and purgatory … who, in the earth’s vertiginous double motion, must roll about like grains of coffee in a grocer’s mill.
b. Of an axis: Revolving, rotating.
1680. Counter-plot, 6. Whirl’d about with perpetual Agitations upon the Vertiginous Axis of that Globe.
Hence Vertiginously adv., giddily, dizzily.
1766. G. Canning, Anti-Lucretius, V. 368. Which … to the centre of the cloud repair, And there … With furious rage vertiginously roll.
1868. Browning, Ring & Bk., XI. 2365. The smoothest safest of you all … Will rock vertiginously in turn, and reel, And, emulative, rush to death like me.
1886. Symonds, Renaiss. It., Cath. React. (1898), VII. ix. 45. A new philosophy occupied his brain, vertiginously big with incoherent births of modern thought.
