a. Obs. [irreg. f. L. stupendus (see STUPENDOUS), after adjs. in -ious; cf. tremendious, vulgar form of tremendous.] Stupendous.
Our numerous instances show that this was the accepted form until the latter part of the 17th c., when the correct stupendous began to be used.
1547. Boorde, Introd. Knowl., 133. Yet in Ierland is stupendyous thynges; for there is neyther Pyes nor venymus wormes.
1591. Harington, Orl. Fur., Apol. Poetrie ¶ ij b. As witnes the huge Theaters, and Amphitheaters, monuments of stupendious charge.
1611. Coryat, Crudities, 284. A most stupendious summe of money.
1667. Milton, P. L., X. 351. At sight Of that stupendious Bridge his joy encreas’d.
1712. Steele, Spect., No. 472, ¶ 7. That stupendious Machine [the Eye].
1768. Boswell, Corsica, i. (ed. 2), 29. Craggy cliffs of so stupendious a height, that [etc.].
a. 1800. Pegge, Anecd. Eng. Lang. (1814), 55. On the other hand, they [sc. Londoners] say stupendious, for stupendous.
Hence † Stupendiously adv., Stupendiousness.
1630. Prynne, Anti-Armin., 198. Can any elected persons heart be found so stupendiously obdurate, as to withstand this omnipotent working.
1656. Earl Monm., trans. Boccalini’s Advts. fr. Parnass., I. v. 9. The stupendiousness of the Venetian liberty.
1662. H. More, Enthus. Tri., 14. There may be such a due dash of Sanguine in the Melancholy, that the Complexion may prove stupendiously [ed. 1712 stupendously] enravishing.
1676. Doctrine of Devils, 54. This is … an Axiomatical Truth among the Doctors of Demonology, That a Devil or Witch can, for stupendiousness of the work do as much as ever Christ did.
1711. in 10th Rep. Hist. MSS. Comm., App. V. 113. The Jewes … remained so stupendiously incredulous, that they putt him to death for an imposter.
