a. [f. L. sonōr-us, f. sonor, sonōris, sound: see -OUS.]
1. Of things: Giving out, or capable of giving out, a sound, esp. of a deep or ringing character.
1611. Cotgr., Sonoreux, sonorous, lowd, shrill, roring.
1656. Blount, Glossogr., Sonorous, loud; making a great noise, shril, roaring.
1667. Milton, P. L., I. 540. Sonorous mettal blowing Martial sounds.
1725. Pope, Odyss., VIII. 214. Sonorous thro’ the shaded air it sings.
1748. Hartley, Observ. Man, I. iv. § 1. 425. The simple Sounds of all uniform sonorous Bodies.
1789. J. Williams, Min. Kingd., I. 410. The steel ores are mostly very hard, the masses being frequently sonorous.
1823. W. Scoresby, Jrnl. Whale-Fishery, 44. Washed linen became hard and sonorous.
1864. Engel, Mus. Anc. Nat., 11. Instruments consisting of a series of pieces of sonorous wood.
1881. A. G. Bell, Sound by Radiant Energy, 1. Substances which became sonorous in the condition of thin diaphragms.
b. Of places, etc.: Resounding, roaring, noisy.
1729. G. Adams, trans. Sophocl., Antig., IV. ii. II. 64. Upon famous Parnassus, or the sonorous Shore.
1796. Owen, Trav. into Europe, II. 425. The river was extremely violent and sonorous.
1841. Thoreau, Lett. (1865), 6. What with … the lowing of kine, and the crowing of cocks, our Concord life is sonorous enough.
2. Of sounds: Having a loud, deep or resonant character.
1668. Wilkins, Real Char., III. xii. 367. To the Sonorous letters of this kind, there are three Mutes of affinity.
1691. Ray, N. C. Words (ed. 2), 158. That these three last mentioned are simple Letters … appears in that the sound of them (for they are sonorous) may be continued.
1750. trans. Leonardus’ Mirr. Stones, 90. Calchophanus, is black;… and makes the Voice sonorous.
1791. Cowper, Iliad, X. 162. Nestor, brave Gerenian, with a voice Sonorous.
1825. T. Hook, Sayings, Ser. II. Man of Many Fr., II. 56. Giving his niece one of those sonorous salutes, which … at least sound genuine.
1859. Geo. Eliot, A. Bede, I. I. ii. 29. His own sonorous utterance of the responses.
1879. S. C. Bartlett, Egypt to Pal., xi. 241. The first sound that welcomed us was his sonorous bray.
b. Path. Of sounds heard in auscultation.
1827. J. Forbes, Laennec’s Dis. Chest (1834), 109. The respiration was strong, and accompanied by a deep sonorous rhonchus.
1853. Markham, Skoda’s Auscult., 276. Bronchial respiration,… or the hissing and sonorous sounds, may be very distinct.
1876. Bristowe, Th. & Pract. Med. (1878), 388. The deeper notes are usually termed ‘sonorous,’ the acuter notes ‘sibilant.’
c. Physics. Of vibrations or waves.
1839. G. Bird, Nat. Philos., 293. In the same manner as sonorous vibrations convey the sensation of sound to the ear.
1863. Tyndall, Heat, x. 281. The condensation and rarefaction constitute what is called a sonorous pulse or wave.
1879. G. Prescott, Sp. Telephone, 13. The character of each tone depends not merely upon the number of sonorous vibrations, but upon their intensity or amplitude also.
3. Of language, diction, etc.: Having a full, rich sound; strong and harmonious.
1693. Dryden, Juvenal, Ded. (1726), p. lxxix. His Expressions are Sonorous and more Noble.
1705. Addison, Italy, 99. For this reason the Italian Opera … has something beautiful and sonorous in the Expression.
1791. Boswell, Johnson (Oxford ed.), I. 180. I told him, I thought it a very sonorous hexameter.
1842. Prichard, Nat. Hist. Man, 374. They had a sonorous and harmonious language, distinct from all others.
1875. Jowett, Plato (ed. 2), II. 121. The word has been lately altered and made sonorous.
b. Of persons: Having a full and rich style or voice.
1728. Pope, Dunc., II. 247. But far o’er all, sonorous Blackmore’s strain; Walls, steeples, skies, bray back to him again.
1837. Carlyle, Fr. Rev., I. V. vi. Santerre, the sonorous Brewer of the Suburb Saint-Antoine.
