A word used once by Shakespeare, whence Johnson’s only quotation; not appearing otherwise in our quots. till after Johnson.]
1. Full of events; rich in striking occurrences.
1600. Shaks., A. Y. L., II. vii. 164. Last Scene of all, That ends this strange euentfull historie.
1781. Gibbon, Decl. & F., III. 252. The eventful story of her [Placidia’s] life.
1848. Macaulay, Hist. Eng., I. 173. The changes which fourteen eventful years had produced in the national character and feelings.
1874. Motley, Barneveld, I. i. 5. The last decade of Barneveld’s eventful life.
2. Fraught with important issues; momentous.
1773. Langhorne, Orig. Veil, 43 (R.). The man of faith thro’ Gerar doom’d to stray, A nation waiting his eventful way.
1797. Mrs. Radcliffe, Italian, II. i. 10. A thousand times she turned about the eventful paper.
1801. Southey, Thalaba, VII. xiii. Thalaba … waited calmly for the eventful day.
1849. Macaulay, Hist. Eng., II. 591. The interval between the sitting of Saturday and the sitting of Monday was anxious and eventful.
3. = EVENTUAL 5.
1826. Bentham, in Westminst. Rev., VI. 474. To levy … any part … not exceeding … for any child, a moiety of such his, her, or their then eventful portion or portions.
Hence Eventfulness, eventful quality.
1831. Freeman’s Jrnl., 17 June, 2/3. The eventfulness of the debates, of which the functionary was to be the moderator.
1866. Contemp. Rev., II. 592. What we miss in eventfulness is made up in descriptions and conversations.
1884. R. W. Church, Bacon, iv. 93. Bacon … saw … the critical eventfulness of the moment.
