Also 4–7 luxurie. [a. OF. luxurie, ad.L. luxuria, f. luxu-s abundance, sumptuous enjoyment. Cf. F. luxure (whence LUXURE), Sp. lujúria, It. lussuria.
In Lat. and in the Rom. langs. the word connotes vicious indulgence, the neutral senses of the Eng. ‘luxury’ being expressed by L. luxus, F. luxe, Sp. lujo, It. lusso.]
† 1. Lasciviousness, lust; pl. lusts. Obs.
1340. Ayenb., 157. Þe dyeuel … assayletþ … þane sanguinien mid ioliuete and mid luxurie.
c. 1386. Chaucer, Man of Law’s T., 827. O foule lust of luxurie.
c. 1450. Knt. de la Tour (1868), 58. Leude touchinge and handelyng … makithe … folke falle into orible synne of luxurie.
1577. trans. Bullinger’s Decades (1592), 234. Therewithal he doth inclusiuely vnderstand all kindes of lust and luxurie.
1602. Marston, Antonio’s Rev., II. iii. Wks. 1856, I. 96. Mellida is light, And stained with adulterous luxury.
1661. Lovell, Hist. Anim. & Min., 89. The ashes of the claws with that of the skinne, being applied helpe luxury in man or woman.
1728. Morgan, Algiers, I. v. 163. To say nothing of the Luxury and Debaucheries which reigned in the Camps, which he describes as the filthiest of Brothels.
1812. Crabbe, Tales, Squire & Priest (1814), II. 91. Grov’lling in the sty … of shameless luxury.
† 2. = LUXURIANCE. Obs.
c. 1611. Chapman, Iliad, XXI. 262. Where now weake waters luxurie Must make my death blush.
1692. Ray, Disc., ii. (1732), 108. Wonderful Fertility and Luxury of the Soil.
1695. Woodward, Nat. Hist. Earth, V. (1723), 262. The Luxury and Superabundance of the Productions of the Earth.
3. The habitual use of, or indulgence in what is choice or costly, whether food, dress, furniture or appliances of any kind.
1633. P. Fletcher, Elisa, I. xxv. I never knew or want or luxurie … or base-bred flatterie.
1667. Milton, P. L., XI. 711. All now was turn’d to jollitie and game, To luxurie and riot, feast and dance.
1718. Lady M. W. Montagu, Lett. to C’tess Mar, 10 March, II. xliv. 19. The piece of luxury that grieved my eyes was the table-cloth and napkins.
1755. Young, Centaur, ii. Wks. 1757, IV. 134. On the soft beds of luxury most kingdoms have expired.
1791–1823. D’Israeli, Cur. Lit. (1858), III. 400. Luxury is the cure of that unavoidable evil in society—great inequality of fortune!
a. 1832. Bentham, Man. Pol. Econ., Wks. 1843, III. 37. Luxury is … an inseparable accompaniment to opulence.
1866. Geo. Eliot, F. Holt (1868), 17. I suppose you have been used to great luxury.
1891. Cheyne, Orig. Psalter, IV. ii. 167. The increase of luxury produced a similar current of song in ancient Palestine.
4. transf. Refined and intense enjoyment.
1715. Garth, Claremont, in Dryden’s Miscell. Poems, VI. (1727), 255. Hard was their Lodging, homely was their Food; For all their Luxury was doing Good.
1749. Fielding, Tom Jones, VII. v. She indulged herself … in all the luxury of tender grief.
1764. Goldsm., Trav., 22. And learn the luxury of doing good.
1805. Foster, Ess., I. i. 1. Those who do not seek … the luxury of pensiveness.
1810. D. Stewart, Philos. Ess., II. Ess. i. vi. 299. Hence, to a botanist, the luxury of a garden.
1869. Eadie, Galat., 45. The enlightenment of the apostle was not for his own individual luxury.
5. quasi-concr. Means of luxurious enjoyment; sumptuous and exquisite food or surroundings.
1704. Addison, Italy (1705), 475. He has cut the Side of the Rock into a Flat for a Garden, and … has made such a Spot of Ground of it as furnishes out a kind of Luxury for a Hermite.
1759. Johnson, Rasselas, ii. He often sat before tables covered with luxury.
1851. Illustr. Catal. Gt. Exhib., 200. Preserved fruits … representing those articles of luxury removed by their character and costliness out of the ordinary category of human food.
b. In particularized sense: Something that conduces to enjoyment or comfort in addition to what are accounted the necessaries of life. Hence, in recent use, something that is desirable but not indispensable.
1780. Bentham, Princ. Legisl., xviii. § 17, note. Necessaries come always before luxuries.
1833. Ht. Martineau, Briery Creek, iv. 75. He buys a new luxury which will yield no good beyond his own selfish pleasure.
1849. Macaulay, Hist. Eng., iii. I. 267. A coach and six was a fashionable luxury.
1874. Micklethwaite, Mod. Par. Churches, 99. A reredos is a luxury.
1878. Jevons, Prim. Pol. Econ., 21. That which is spent in early life upon mere luxuries and frivolities.
1902. Mrs. John Lane, in Fortn. Rev., June, 1006. Really the most expensive of luxuries in London is to keep clean.
6. abstr. Luxuriousness; abundance of appliances for comfort.
1849. Macaulay, Hist. Eng., ii. I. 267. The brilliancy of the shops and the luxury of the private dwellings far surpasses anything that England could then show.
1863. W. G. Blaikie, Better Days Work. People, i. (1864), 8. Such luxury as shall tempt them to forget that they are but strangers and pilgrims here.
