a. Forms: 3–5 fulsum, 4–8 fulsom, 5– fulsome; also 5 folsome, 6 fulsoom, 7 fullsome, (9 foulsome), 6 Sc. fowsum, 7, 9 Sc. fousome. [f. FULL a. + -SOME.

1

  It is possible that there may have been a ME. fūlsum (f. fūl, FOUL a.) which has coalesced with this; but the supposition is not absolutely necessary to account for the development of senses.]

2

  † 1.  Characterized by abundance, possessing or affording copious supply; abundant, plentiful, full.

3

c. 1250.  Gen. & Ex., 2153. Ðe .vii. fulsum ȝeres faren.

4

a. 1412[?].  Lydg., Lyfe our Ladye (Caxton), A v. For alwey God gaf hyr to her presence So fulsom lyght of heuenly influence. Ibid., B v b. Like as a fulsum welle Shedyth his stremys in to the ryuere.

            Ibid. (c. 1440), Secrees, 723.
Nevirtheles, at Ellyconys welle,
  This philisoffre by fulsom habundaunce,
Drank grettest plente which hym lyst nat telle.

5

1481.  Earl Worcester, Tulle on Friendsh., B vii b. Though he … were sette in moost folsom plente.

6

c. 1510.  Barclay, The Mirrour of Good Manners (1570), C ii j.

        If thou wilt be counted gentle and liberall,
Folowe fulsome fieldes habundaunt of frument.
    Ibid. (1515), Egloges, IV. (1570), C iij a. Suche fulsome pasture made him a double chin.

7

1571.  Golding, Calvin on Ps. lxxiii. 26. Much more fulsome is Davids confession [orig. Longè plenior est Dauidis coufessio]. Ibid. (1583), Calvin on Deut. xcii. 571. Likewise of their firstfruites instede of making good fulsome sheaues and bundels vnto God, they gelded them, and made them verie thinne and lanke.

8

[1868.  Helps, Realmah, II. xi. 80. My complaint of the world, which I beg leave to make very loudly, is this—that there is too much of everything. A conservatory is always too full of flowers to please me; a city, of inhabitants; a dinner, of dishes; a speech, of words; a concert, of songs; a museum, of curiosities; a picture-gallery, of pictures; a sermon, of texts; an evening party, of guests: and so I could go on enumerating, for an hour at least, all the things which are too full in this fulsome world. I use fulsome in the original sense.]

9

  † b.  Growing abundantly, rank in growth. Obs.

10

1633.  Costlie Whore, IV. i., in Bullen, O. Pl., IV.

          Mon.  Plucke up the fulsome thistle in the prime:
Young trees bend lightly but grow strong in time.

11

  † 2.  Of the body, etc.: Full and plump, fat, well-grown; in a bad sense, over-grown. Obs.

12

1340–70.  Alex. & Dind., 497.

                        Wiþ þe siht clene
We ben as fulsom i-founde · as þouȝ we fed were.

13

c. 1400.  Destr. Troy, 3068. With a necke … Nawþer fulsom, ne fat, but fetis & round.

14

1565.  Golding, Ovid’s Met., VII. (1567), 85 a. His leane, pale, hore, and withered corse grew fulsome, faire, and fresh.

15

1593.  Rich, Greene’s Newes, G iij b. A chuffe-headed Cardinall with a paire of fulsome cheekes.

16

1628.  Wither, Brit. Rememb., VI. 637. For either arme in such a mould is cast As makes it full as fulsome as their waste.

17

1664.  H. More, Myst. Iniq., 238. A fulsome and over-grown and unwholesome Flesh.

18

1678.  Otway, Friendship in F., II. i. ’Tis such a fulsom overgrown Rogue!

19

  † b.  Overfed, surfeited. Also fig. Obs.

20

1642.  Rogers, Naaman, 24. Lazy, Laodicean temper of a fulsome, carelesse, surfeted spirit. Ibid., 346. Doth he not deserve at our hands more then a faint fulsome grant with Martha, thou canst doe all things.

21

1805.  A. Scott, Poems, 40 (Jam.). Nor fall their [? read they] victims to a fulsome rift.

22

  † c.  App. used for: Lustful, ‘rank.’ Obs.

23

1596.  Shaks., Merch. V., I. iii. 87.

        He stucke them vp before the fulsome Ewes [Cf. rancke in line 81],
Who then conceauing, did in eaning time
Fall party-colour’d lambs.

24

  † 3.  Of food: Satiating, ‘filling,’ tending to cloy or surfeit; also, coarse, gross, unsuited to a dainty palate. Obs.

25

c. 1410.  Love, Bonavent. Mirr., lxiii. It shulde so soone be fulsome and not comfortable deynte.

26

1555.  Watreman, Fardle Facions, I. vi. 94. This kinde of meate onely, serueth them all their life tyme … and neuer waxeth fulsome vnto theim.

27

1587.  Harrison, England, II. vi. (1877), I. 160. Our ale … is more thicke, fulsome and of no continuance.

28

1594.  Carew, Huarte’s Exam. Wits, xii. (1596), 198. All this, Manna had euen from the beginning, for though the same were a meat of such delicasie and pleasing relish, yet in the end, the people of Israell found it fulsome.

29

1614.  Bp. Hall, A Recollection of such Treatises, 488. Her insinuations are so cunning, that you shall not perceiue your excesse, till you be sicke of a surfet: A little honie is sweet; much, fulsome.

30

1655.  Moufet & Bennet, Health’s Improv. (1746), 229. A gross and fulsome Nourishment, unless they meet with a strong and good Stomach.

31

a. 1668.  Davenant, News fr. Plym. (1673), 3. Their gross feedings On fulsome Butter, Essex Cheese.

32

1735.  Pope, Donne Sat., II. 11.8 Carthusian fasts, and fulsome Bacchanals.

33

1742.  Young, Nt. Th., VII. 263. Why starv’d, on earth, our angel-appetites; While brutal are indulg’d their fulsome fill?

34

1770.  Wilkes, Lett., 29 July, in Corr. (1805), IV. 76. I dined with the lord-mayor … We had two turtles, and a fulsome great dinner.

35

  † b.  Having a sickly or sickening taste; tending to cause nausea. Obs.

36

1601.  Holland, Pliny, I. 434. The oile, which is very fulsome and naught to be eaten, good only for lamps.

37

1614.  Bp. Hall, A Recollection of such Treatises, 248. The very sight of that cup, wherein such a fulsome potion was brought him, turnes his stomacke.

38

1694.  Westmacott, Scripture Herbal, 6. The common Anise-Seed-Water … is the most fulsom and insalubrious of Strong-waters.

39

1743.  Lond. & Country Brew., II. (ed. 2), 107. A certain sour, fulsome Quality that the former Wort left behind.

40

  † c.  fig. Cloying, satiating, wearisome from excess or repetition. (Cf. sense 7.) Obs.

41

1531.  Elyot, The Boke Named the Gouernour, I. xxi. Lest in repetyng a thinge so frequent and commune, my boke shulde be … fastidious or fulsome to the reders.

42

1601.  Shaks., Twel. N., V. i. 112.

          Ol.  If it be ought to the old tune, my Lord,
It is as fat and fulsome to mine eare
As howling after Musicke.

43

1605.  Camden, Rem. (1637), 43. The Spanish majesticall, but fulsome, running too much on the O.

44

1633.  D. Rogers, Treat. Sacraments, I. 163. Who then wonders if the Supper of Christ, and that offer of welfare which he makes therein to his, be as a fulsome thing unto you?

45

1694.  Addison, Eng. Greatest Poets, Misc. Wks. 1726, I. 36. The long-spun allegories fulsom grow, While the dull moral lyes too plain below.

46

1709.  Steele, Tatler, No. 70, ¶ 4. As too little Action is cold, so too much is fulsome.

47

  † 4.  Offensive to the sense of smell: a. Strong-smelling, of strong, rank, or overpowering odor. b. Foul-smelling, stinking. Obs.

48

1583.  Stanyhurst, Æneis, II. (Arb.), 66. Eech path was fulsoom with sent of sulphurus orpyn.

49

1606.  Sir G. Goosecappe, I. ii. in Bullen, O. Pl., III. 14. Heres such a fulsome Aire comes into this Chamber.

50

1626.  Bacon, Sylva, § 507. If the Plant bee of Nature, to put forth White Flowers onely, and those not thinne, or dry, they are commonly of rancke and fulsome Smell; as May-Flowers, and White Lillies.

51

1683.  Tryon, Way to Health, 119. That is the reason why fryed, baked and stewed Food does send forth a stronger and fulsomer scent than other Preparations.

52

1725.  Bradley, Fam. Dict., s.v. Malt, The Kiln ought to have convenient Windows, that your gross Steams, fulsom Damps, and stupifying Vapours may pass freely away.

53

  † 5.  Offensive to the senses generally; physically disgusting, foul, or loathsome. Obs.

54

1507[?].  Communyc. (W. de W.), A ij.

        For thoughe the soule haue thy lykenesse
Man is but fulsome erthe and claye
In synne conceyued and wretchednesse
And to the soule rebell alwaye.

55

1579.  Lyly, Euphues (Arb.), 130. Whereby they noted the great dislyking they had of their fulsome feedinge.

56

1595.  Shaks., John, III. iv. 32.

        And I will kisse they detestable bones,
And put my eye-balls in they vaultie browes,
And ring these fingers with thy houshold wormes,
And stop this gap of breath with fulsome dust,
And be a Carrion Monster like thy selfe.

57

1621.  Burton, Anat. Mel., I. ii. I. ii. (1651), 53. She vomited some 24 pounds of fulsome stuffe of all colours. Ibid., II. ii. I. i. 232. Calis … would use no Vulgar water; but she died … of so fulsome a disease that no water could wash her clean.

58

1627.  Drayton, Agincourt, etc., 199.

        A thousand silken Puppets should haue died,
And in their fulsome Coffins putrified,
Ere in my lines, you of their names should heare
To tell the world that such there euer were.

59

1642.  Davenant, Unfort. Lovers, IV. Who once departed, know this fulsome world So much unfit to mingle with their pure Refined ayre, that they will returne.

60

1720.  T. Boston, Hum. Nat. in Fourfold St. (1797), 152. They cleave fondly to these fulsome breasts.

61

[1849.  Tait’s Mag., XVI. 120/2. Hundreds of dogs … are annually committed to the abysses of these foulsome waters.]

62

  6.  Offensive to normal tastes or sensibilities; exciting aversion or repugnance; disgusting, repulsive, odious. ? Obs. exc. as in sense 7.

63

c. 1375.  Sc. Leg. Saints, Julian, 496. Of his wykytnes Þat fulsume til al gud-men wes.

64

a. 1400[?].  Morte Arth., 1061. There thow lygges, ffor the fulsomeste freke that fourmede was euere!

65

1532.  More, Confut. Tindale, Wks. 713/2. Tindall … with hys fulsome feeling fayth.

66

1579.  Tomson, Calvin’s Serm. Tim., 464/2. For if she will stand gasing, in the ayre, and occupie herselfe in pratling, and vsing faire countenances and ceremonies, there is nothing but toyes in it, it is a foule and fulsome thing, whiche shee must leaue off.

67

1611.  Cotgr., s.v. Robin, A filthie knaue with a fulsome queane.

68

1635.  Quarles, Embl., III. ii. (1718), 133. Seest thou this fulsom ideot?

69

c. 1645.  Howell, Lett. (1650), I. 188. A phlegmatic dull wife is fulsome and fastidious.

70

1680.  Otway, Orphan, I. i. (1691), 3. Now half the Youth of Europe are in Arms, How fulsome must it be to stay behind, And dye of rank diseases here at home?

71

1684.  Sir C. Scrope, Misc. Poems, 112. Let not his fulsome armes embrace your waste.

72

1702.  Pope, Wife of Bath, 173. Fulsom love for gain we can endure.

73

1780.  Cowper, Progr. Err., 291. And lest the fulsome artifice should fail. Themselves will hide its coarseness with a veil.

74

1819.  W. Tennant, Papistry Storm’d (1827), 29. Have at a fousome kirk, and batter Her lustfu’ banes untill they clatter!

75

1826.  Scott, Woodst., iii. In a booth at the fulsome fair.

76

  † b.  Morally foul, filthy, obscene. Obs.

77

1604.  Shaks., Oth., IV. i. 37. Lye with her: that’s fullsome.

78

1680.  Dryden, Pref. to Ovid’s Epist. (1683), A iij b. A certain Epigram, which is ascrib’d to him [the emperour] … is more fulsome than any passage I have met with in our Poet.

79

1682.  Shadwell, Medal, 3. Thy Mirth by foolish Bawdry is exprest; And so debauch’d, so fulsome, and so odd.

80

1719.  D’Urfey, Pills (1872), I. 327. And earn a hated living in an odious Fulsome way.

81

1726.  Amherst, Terræ Fil., xxvi. 155. What followed was too fulsome for the eyes of my chaste readers.

82

  7.  Of language, style, behavior, etc.: Offensive to good taste; esp. offending from excess or want of measure or from being ‘over-done.’ Now chiefly used in reference to gross or excessive flattery, over-demonstrative affection, or the like.

83

1663.  Bp. Patrick, Parab. Pilgr., 201. I never heard anything so fulsome from the mouth of man; and found my self … impatient of such silly stuff.

84

1692.  Bentley, Boyle Lect., vi. 189. They [Athenians] were puffed up with the fulsome Flatteries of their Philosophers and Sophists and Poets of the Stage.

85

1702.  Rowe, Tamerl., III. i. 1081. Baj. Bear back thy fulsom Greeting to thy Master.

86

1762.  Goldsm., Cit. W., xviii. Concealed disgust under the appearance of fulsome endearment.

87

1756–82.  J. Warton, Ess. Pope (ed. 4), II. xii. 337–8. This fact rests solely on the credit of this fawning and fulsome court-historian.

88

1784.  Cowper, Task, VI. 289.

        And tongue accomplish’d in the fulsome cant
And pedantry that coxcombs learn with ease.

89

1802.  Mar. Edgeworth, Moral T. (1816), I. 226. The fulsome strains of courtly adulation.

90

1873.  Symonds, Grk. Poets, vi. 169. We must not suppose that Pindar sang slavishly the praise of every bidder. He was never fulsome in his panegyric.

91

1874.  Helps, Soc. Press., xiii. 778. This fulsome publicity I have described.

92

  b.  quasi-sb.

93

1742.  H. Walpole, Lett. H. Mann (1834), I. xxiv. 104. Some choice letters from Queen Anne, little inferior in the fulsome to those from King James to … Buckingham.

94