a. Forms: 5 ted(e)us, tedi-, tidiose, 5–7 tedy-, 6 tede-, tide-, tydy-, tyde-, Sc. tidi-, 6–7 teydi-, 7–8 teadi-, 8 tædi-, 5– tedious. (Also 6 tedy-, tiddius, Sc. tideus, -ews, 6–7 tedius.) [ad. late L. tædiōs-us irksome, f. tædium, TEDIUM: see -OUS; perh. partly ad. OF. tedieus, -eux (1387 in Godef.).]
1. ‘Wearisome by continuance’ (J.); long and tiresome: said of anything occupying time, as a task, or a journey; esp. of a speech or narrative, hence of a speaker or writer: prolix, so as to cause weariness.
1412–20. Lydg., Chron. Troy, IV. xxxiii. Me liste no more of hir woo to endite Leste vn to ȝow that it were tedious.
c. 1475. Babees Bk., 75. Many wordes ben rihte Tedious.
1526. Tindale, Acts xxiv. 4. Lest I be tedeous vnto the.
1549. Compl. Scot., vi. 62. I pray the to decist fra that tideus melancolic orison.
1552. Lyndesay, Monarche, 4065. Bot tiddius it wer to tell.
1552. Huloet, Tedious speaker, or patterer, battologus.
1592. Shaks., Rom. & Jul., V. iii. 230. I will be briefe, for my short date of breath is not so long as is a tedious tale. Ibid. (1603), Meas. for M., II. i. 119. Come: you are a tedious foole: to the purpose.
1675. T. Tully, Lett. Baxter, 27. The tediousest taske I ever yet undertooke.
1709. Steele & Addison, Tatler, No. 75, ¶ 8. I would not be tedious in this Discourse.
1756. C. Lucas, Ess. Waters, I. Pref. A series of teadious and laborious experiments.
1819. Scott, Lett. to Ld. Montagu, 4 March, in Lockhart. Tedious hours occur on board of ship.
1875. Jowett, Plato (ed. 2), V. 36. If I am to discuss all these matters, I cannot avoid being tedious.
† b. humorously. Long (in time or extent). Obs.
1601. Shaks., All’s Well, II. iii. 33. Nay ’tis strange, ’tis very straunge, that is the breefe and the tedious of it.
1630. R. Johnson’s Kingd. & Commw., 56. An old sheep-biter, with a nose too tedious for his face.
2. Wearisome in general; annoying, irksome, troublesome, disagreeable, painful. Obs. exc. dial.
1454. Paston Lett., I. 279. To arere a power to resyst the sayd riotts, which to hem on that holy tyme was tediose and heynous.
1526. Tindale, Rom. xii. 11. Let not that busynes which ye have in honde be tedious to you.
c. 1689. J. Whicker, in Arb., Garner, VII. 375. A sort of flies … drew blisters and bladders in our skin … which were very tedious for our bodies too.
a. 1694. Tillotson, Serm. (1742), III. 181. I may be tedious, but I will not be long.
1773. Advantage of Misfortune, 59.
| Was it for this, thro’ many tedious years | |
| I brav’d such dangers? |
c. 1845. in J. Mitford’s Lett. & Rem., 143. Johnstone ain’t a drinking man nor a wife beater, but he makes her a tedious husband.
1868. Atkinson, Cleveland Gloss., Tedious,… fidgetty, uneasy; requiring constant attention; of an infant or young child when teething, or poorly.
1871. R. Ellis, Catullus, I. 17. Did I, a poem Write, my tedious anguish all revealing.
† 3. Tired, wearied, exhausted; also, disgusted or annoyed, esp. by iteration or excess; bored.
1430–40. Lydg., Bochas, VIII. viii. (MS. Bodl. 263), lf. 375. Galerius … Throuh at [sic] thorient wex victorious Til he for age, gan wexen tedious.
1509. Barclay, Shyp of Folys (1874), II. 148. So whan the Father is tedyous and old.
1540–1. Elyot, Image Gov. (1544), B ij. Being also tedious of his abhominations. Ibid., xxviii. Q iij b. Beinge tediouse of that beastely lycence.
4. Late, tardy, dilatory, slow. Obs. exc. dial.
c. 1485. Digby Myst., IV. 1079. I was to tidiose, That holy sight to see.
1605. Bacon, Adv. Learn., I. ii. § 7. The most active or busy man … hath … many vacant times of leisure … except he be … tedious and of no dispatch.
1698. Congreve, Semele, II. i. Though thou hadst on lightning rode, Still thou tedious art, and slow.
1728. Morgan, Algiers, II. iii. 249. Barbarossa was not … very tedious in gratifying their curiosity.
1833. T. Hook, Parson’s Dau., II. i. ‘I expect Lord Weybridge; we are not ready for dinner till his lordship comes.’ ‘What can make him so tedious?’ said Maria-Jane.
1898. [see Eng. Dial. Dict.].
So Tedisome, Tediousome a. (Sc.), tedious; † Tediosity, † Tediouste [= OF. tedieusete, 15th c.], tediousness.
a. 1412[?]. Lydg., Two Merch., 900. Lest tediouste your erys did assayl.
1612. Two Noble K., III. v. What tediosity and disensanity Is here among ye!
1824. Scott, St. Ronan’s, xxii. It was an unco pleasant show,… only it was a pity it was sae tediousome.
