Forms: 1 hlúd, 3–4 lud(e, 4–7 loude, lowd(e, 4 loud. [Com. WGer.: OE. hlúd = OFris. (h)lûd, OS. hlûd (MDu. lût, lûd-, mod.Du. luid), OHG. hlût (MHG. lût, mod.G. laut):—OTeut. type *hlûđo-:—pre-Teut. *klūtó-, a passive pple. from the Aryan root *kleu- to hear (Teut. *hleu- in Goth. hliuþ listening attention; see LITHE v.3), whence Gr. κλύειν to hear, κλέος renown, L. chuēre to be famed, cliens (pres. pple., lit. ‘hearer’) dependent, client, OSl. slava glory, slovo word, Skr. çru to hear, çravas glory. Outside Teut. the ppl. adjs. have a different ablaut-grade and meaning; so Gr. κλυτός, L. (in)clutus, OIr. cloth, Skr. çruta renowned.
For the remoter cognates representing the extended form *kleus- of the Aryan root, see LIST sb.1]
1. Of sounds or voices: Strongly audible; making a powerful impression on the sense of hearing. Hence, with agent-noun: That (speaks, sings, etc.) with a loud voice.
971. Blickl. Hom., 15. He þa cleopode hluddre stefne.
c. 1200. Trin. Coll. Hom., 89. Þo þe after him comen remden lude stefne Osanna filio dauid.
a. 1225. Ancr. R., 210. Uorte makien noise—lud dream to scheauwen hore horel.
a. 1250. Owl & Night., 5. Þat playd wes stif & starc & strong Sum hwile softe & lud among.
13[?]. Sir Beues, 3129 (MS. A.). Iosian … spak to hire wiþ loude gret.
1398. Trevisa, Barth. De P. R., VII. xxxii. (1495), 246. Thryste and sethinge and lowde brethynge.
c. 1450. Holland, Howlat, 764. Claryonis lowde knellis.
1548–9. (Mar.) Bk. Com. Prayer, Morn. Prayer, The priest … shall begynne with a loude voyce the Lordes prayer.
1576. Fleming, Panopl. Epist., 280. Ye man … fel into a lowd laughter.
a. 1645. A. Stafford, Apol. Fem. Glory (1869), p. xcix. Priscian, a Bishop … said in somewhat too lowd a whisper [etc.].
1697. Dryden, Virg. Georg., IV. 666. Her fellow Nymphs the Mountains tear With loud Laments.
1732. Berkeley, Alciphr., IV. § 7. Is the voice of man louder than that of thunder?
1816. Scott, Antiq., vii. The mendicant and Lovel exerted their voices in a loud halloo.
1855. Bain, Senses & Int., II. ii. § 6 (1864), 214. A loud speaker is exciting.
1875. Jowett, Plato (ed. 2), III. 651. A great body of sound is loud, and the opposite is low.
b. Of musical instruments, the sea, winds, etc.: Making a loud sound, sonorous. Chiefly poet.
c. 897. K. Ælfred, Gregory’s Past., xxxvii. 266. Witodlice ðæt ar, ðonne hit mon slihð, hit bið hludre ðonne æniʓ oðer andweorc.
1390. Gower, Conf., I. 137. Thei speke and sounen in his Ere As thogh thei lowde wyndes were.
1604. E. Grimstone, Hist. Siege Ostend, 143. The North-winde was somewhat loude.
1667. Milton, P. L., VI. 59. Nor with less dread the loud Ethereal Trumpet from on high gan blow.
1728. Ld. Lyttelton, Blenheim, 91. Silent a while, and smooth, The Current glides, till … down the Steep it falls, In loud Cascades.
1791. Mrs. Radcliffe, Rom. Forest, vi. The storm was now loud.
18[?]. Campbell, Lord Ullin’s Daughter. ’Twas vain: the loud waves lash’d the shore, Return or aid preventing.
1898. W. K. Johnson, Terra Tenebr., 35. Let the loud seas thunder here.
c. Of a place, etc.: Full of noise, re-echoing. rare.
1595. Shaks., John, V. iv. 14. For if the French be Lords of this loud day He meanes [etc.].
a. 1645. Heywood, Fort. by Land & Sea, III. i. Wks. 1874, VI. 396. All ways are loud, and hue and cry sent forth Through every hundred.
1871. Swinburne, Eve of Revolution, 123. Lands that are loud through all their length with chains.
1878. C. Stanford, Symb. Christ, iv. 105. Streets and factories loud with life and black with the dust of toil.
2. fig. a. Clamorous, noisy; also, in more favorable sense, emphatic or vehement in expression.
1530. Tindale, Wks. (1573), 327/2. After the loudest maner he setteth out the cruelnes of the Emperor’s souldiours.
1611. Bible, Prov. vii. 11. She is loud and stubburne, her feet abide not in her house.
1647. May, Hist. Parl., I. viii. 88. Many Subjects in Europe have played lowder parts upon the Theatre of the world.
1680. Otway, Orphan, III. iv. 865. Calls sawcy loud Suspicion, Public Zeal.
1711. Addison, Spect., No. 128, ¶ 5. When we see a Fellow loud and talkative.
1734. Berkeley, Analyst, § 1. Several who make the loudest claim to those qualities.
1849. Macaulay, Hist. Eng., vi. II. 1. The Church was louder than ever in professions of attachment to him.
1879. Morley, Burke, viii. 148. The French were held up to the loudest admiration.
1884. Tennyson, Freedom, x. Poems (1894), 576/2. Men loud against all forms of power.
1888. M. Morris, Claverhouse, viii. 147. Churchill’s voice was loudest for battle.
absol. 1711. Addison, Spect., No. 239, ¶ 11. Gold … silences the Loud and Clamorous.
† b. Of motives: Pressing, urgent. Obs.
1604. Shaks., Oth., I. i. 151. For he’s embark’d With such loud reason to the Cyprus Warres.
† c. Grandiloquent, pompously laudatory. Obs.
1651. Jer. Taylor, Holy Dying, i. § 2 (1686), 10. Many men … labour onely for a pompous Epitaph, and a loud title upon their Marble.
† d. Manifest, palpable, flagrant. Chiefly of a lie. Obs.
1535. Goodly Primer, To Rdr. (1834), 5. I omit the right loud lie before the Mass of Recordare.
1579. E. K., Gloss. to Spenser’s Sheph. Cal., April, 120. Certain fine fablers, and loude lyers.
1590. Nashe, Pasquil’s Apol., I. C b. How durst you presume to make so lowde a lie?
1632. Sanderson, Twelve Serm., 64. But what doe I speake of these, but petty things in comparison of those her lowder impieties?
1645. Milton, Tetrach., Wks. (1847), 193/1. There is a loud exception against this law of God.
1650. Bulwer, Anthropomet., 12. Many have held opinion, that Pliny and Aulus Gellius were loud liars.
1678. Ray, Prov. (ed. 2), 89. A great Lie … That’s a loud one.
a. 1700. B. E., Dict. Cant. Crew, Hummer, a loud Lie.
3. transf. Of smell or flavor: Powerful, offensive. Now chiefly U.S.
1641. Milton, Reform., II. 20. Their … mouths cannot open without the strong breath and loud stench of avarice.
1842. Dickens, Amer. Notes, xiv. Pretty loud smell of varnish, sir?
1887. Goode, etc., Fisheries U. S., Sect. V. II. 473. The natives … prefer to have the meat tainted rather than fresh, declaring that it is most tender and toothsome when decidedly ‘loud.’
1899. J. Pennell, in Fortn. Rev., LXV. 122. The gas-lamp [for cycles] seems to make a very bright light. It is also said to make a very loud smell.
4. Of colors, patterns, dress, manners, etc.: Vulgarly obtrusive, flashy. Opposed to quiet.
1849. Thackeray, Pendennis, xxxix. The shirts too ‘loud’ in pattern.
1878. Besant & Rice, Celia’s Arb., xxxix. (1887), 287. The flashy rings upon his fingers;… the loud pattern of his trousers.
1883. Burroughs, in Century Mag., XXVII. 106/1. Some gorgeous modern memorial windows: stained glass, indeed! loud, garish, thin, painty.
1884. Stationery Trades Rev., Sept., 215/2. Fine envelopes are not sold in such loud colours as they were a few years ago.
1889. ‘J. S. Winter,’ Mrs. Bob (1891), 118. The girls were dreadfully loud in their dress.
5. absol. † In loud, † on loud: ALOUD, with a loud voice. † To the loudest: at the top of one’s voice.
c. 1430. Pistill of Susan, 161 (MS. Cott. Calig. A. II.). Then sayde þo loselles on lowde [a. 1400 (Vern.) aloude] to þat lady.
c. 1450. St. Cuthbert (Surtees), 5835. Þe childe cryed on lowde, allase.
1611. Shaks., Wint. T., II. ii. 39. I’le … undertake to bee Her Aduocate to th’ lowd’st.
1682. New Hampsh. Prov. Papers (1867), I. 456. My father … desired him in loud to go out of his house to his lodgings.
6. Comb., chiefly parasynthetic, as loud-flavo(u)red, -minded, -mouthed, -tongued, -voiced adjs.; also loud-lashed a., lashed into loud uproar; † loud-mouth a., loud-mouthed, noisy.
1866. Howells, Venet. Life, vi. 84. A *loud-flavoured broth.
1818. Hazlitt, Eng. Poets, iii. (1870), 68. The sea … *loud-lashed by furious storms.
1845. Carlyle, Cromwell, II. 234. A certain loud-tongued, *loud-minded Mr. Feak.
1668. E. Howard, Usurper, 63. Curse on these *loud-mouth Hounds!
1628. Ford, Lover’s Mel., III. i. I haue a *loud-mouth’d Cannon of mine owne to batter her.
1901. Expositor, July, 21. They were heretics of the blatant sort, loud-mouthed and shallow-minded.
1622. Massinger, Virg. Mart., I. i. *Lowd tong’d Fame The harbinger to prepare their entertainment.
1857. Geo. Eliot, Scenes Cleric. Life, Janet’s Repentance (1878), II. 184. Loud-tongued abuse.
1850. Mrs. Browning, Poems, I. 28. *Loud-voiced imagery.
