Wealthy

a. [f. WEALTH + -Y¹.]

  † 1.  Possessing well-being, happy, prosperous. Of conditions of life: Comfortable, luxurious. Obs.

c. 1375.  Sc. Leg. Saints, xxxi. (Eugenia), 222. Quhen hyre chawmir wast saw he, quhare welthi wes scho wont to be.

1540.  Hyrde, trans. Vives’ Instr. Chr. Wom. (1592), X 2. If the wife have skill to rule an house … then shal al the mariage be more wealthy and fortunate.

1551.  Robinson, trans. More’s Utopia, II. ix. (1895), 301. A pleasaunt and a welthy lyuynge [lautam ac splendidam vitam]. Ibid. [They] lyue so wretched and miserable a lyfe, that the state and condition of the labouring beastes maye seme muche better and welthier.

1563.  Winȝet, Bk. Quest., Wks. (S.T.S.), I. 128. In our days the samin wes abusit amang mony in idilnes and welthy lyfe.

  † b.  Of the body: Thriving (in phr. healthy and wealthy). Obs.

1538.  Starkey, England, 179. You schal see veray few of sobur and temperat dyat, but they haue helthy and welthy bodys.

  c.  dial. Of cattle: Well-fed.

1829.  Brockett, N. C. Gloss. (ed. 2). Hence in recent Dicts.

  2.  Of persons: Having wealth or abundant means at command; rich, opulent.

a. 1430.  Hymns Virg. (1867), 115. Charite dooþ neuere wickidli … Ne blowen is with pride thouȝ sche be welþi.

1560.  Daus, trans. Sleidane’s Comm., 118. Ryche and welthy marchauntes.

1596.  Shaks., Tam. Shr., IV. ii. 37. I wil be married to a wealthy Widdow, Ere three dayes passe.

1703.  Dampier, Voy., III. 58. Besides Merchants and others that Trade by Sea from this Port, here are other pretty Wealthy Men.

1781.  Cowper, Expost., 419. The flocks and herds of wealthy Lot.

1807.  Crabbe, Par. Reg., III. 786. Come, surly John, thy Wealthy kinsman view.

1820.  Scott, Monast., i. The donations of land with which the King endowed these wealthy fraternities.

1825.  McCulloch, Pol. Econ. I. 7. He is said to be wealthy, according to the degree in which he can afford to command those necessaries, conveniences and luxuries, which are not the gifts of nature, but the products of human industry.

1848.  Mill, Pol. Econ., I. Prel. Rem. 8. To be wealthy is to have a large stock of useful articles, or the means of purchasing them.

1860.  Ruskin, Unto this Last, iv. (1862), 126. Many of the persons commonly considered wealthy, are in reality no more wealthy than the locks of their own strong boxes are.

1881.  ‘Rita,’ My Lady Coquette, i. The Mervyns are by no means a wealthy family.

  Prov.  1639.  J. Clarke, Parœm., 91. Earely to bed and earely to rise, makes a man healthy, wealthy, and wise.

  absol.  c. 1380.  Antecrist, in Todd, Three Treat. Wyclif (1851), 131. Crist fedde þe needy pore; & þei þe riche & welþi.

c. 1412.  Hoccleve, De Reg. Princ., 1288. He sparith her that vnwelthy heer ben, And to þe velthy dooth as þat ye seen.

1682.  Dryden, Medal, 183. The wise and wealthy love the surest way.

1784.  Cowper, Task, IV. 426. Meanwhile ye shall not want … what a wealthier than ourselves may send.

1890.  R. H. Wrightson, Sancta Respublica Romana, 12. The wealthy fled with their moveables.

  3.  Of a country, community, period, etc.: Prosperous, flourishing, thriving; commanding riches.

c. 1460.  Fortescue, Abs. & Lim. Mon., xvi. (1885), 149. Yff the kyng haue such a Counsell … his lande shall … be ryche and welthy.

1538.  Starkey, England, 88. Thys reame hath byn callyd euer rych, and of al Chrystundome one of the most welthys.

1539.  Bible (Great), Ps. lxvi. 12. Thou broughtest vs out in to a welthy place.

1596.  Dalrymple, trans. Leslie’s Hist. Scot., I. 38. A citie maist welthie to name Inverlouth.

1610.  Holland, Camden’s Brit. (1637), 700. The wealthy Abbay of Fountaines.

1653.  Milton, Hirelings (1659), 12. Thus we see that not only the excess of hire in wealthiest times, but also [etc.].

1827.  Southey, Penins. War, II. xvi. 26. The southern provinces, the most fertile and wealthiest of the kingdom.

  4.  In extended use: Rich in some possession or advantage; plentifully furnished with something; abundant, copious.

1601.  Shaks., All’s Well, II. iii. 72. I am a simple Maide, and therein wealthiest That I protest, I simply am a Maide. Ibid. (1607), Timon, II. ii. 193. I am wealthie in my Friends.

1608.  B. Jonson, Masque Ld. Haddington’s Marr., Wks. (1616), 943. Loues wealthy croppe of kisses. Ibid. (a. 1616), Epigr., lxxxi. To Proule, I will not show A line vnto thee, till … I’ haue by two good sufficient men, To be the wealthy witnesse of my pen [after L. testis locuples].

1635–56.  Cowley, Davideis, I. 27. The mighty Oceans wealthy Caves.

c. 1645.  Howell, Lett., I. V. xxvii. Upon Dr. Davies Brittish Grammer. Twas a tough task believe it, thus to tame A wilde and wealthy language.

1746.  Francis, trans. Horace, Epist., II. i. 184. And with glad Harvests crown the wealthy Year.

1830.  Tennyson, Madeline, 11. Revealings deep and clear are thine Of wealthy smiles.

1859.  Ht. Martineau, Biog. Sk., IV. ii. (1869), 283. The ‘Kosmos’ of Humboldt … is wealthy in its facts, and splendid in its generalizations.

1869.  Blackmore, Lorna D., iii. By her side was a little girl … with a wealthy softness on her, as if she must have her own way.

1887.  Athenæum, 31 Dec., 900/1. Mr. Foster … has rendered the wealthy coloration and tonality of Walker with great judgment.

1905.  Holman-Hunt, Pre-Raphael., I. 145. The language of the painter [Rossetti] was wealthy and polished.

  † 5.  Of great worth or value, valuable. Obs.

1565.  Cooper, Thesaurus, s.v. Copiosus, A great and wealthy heritage.

1589.  Greene, Menaphon (Arb.), 47. My food the pleasant Plaines of Arcadie and the wealthie riches of Flora.

1593.  Marlowe & Nashe, Dido, II. i. 360. Queene Dido … for Troyes sake, hath entertaind vs all, And clad vs in these wealthie robes we weare.

c. 1611.  Chapman, Iliad, XVIII. 313. Then they washt, and fild the mortall wound With wealthy oyle, of nine yeares old.

1612.  in Eng. Hist. Rev. (1914), April, 251. An assured trade that way … will … proove more wealthy and beneficiall for this state then any other.

1652–62.  Heylyn, Cosmogr., II. (1682), 160. A wealthy race of sheep, which bring forth young twice a year, and are shorn four times.

1660.  F. Brooke, trans. Le Blanc’s Trav., 382. In divers Islands they finde most wealthy Mines.

1715.  Pope, Iliad, I. 217. Thine in each Conquest is the wealthy Prey.

1746.  Francis, trans. Hor., Sat., II. iii. 335. An actor’s son dissolv’d a wealthy pearl … In vinegar.