a. Also 7–8 tremenduous. [f. L. tremend-us ‘that is to be trembled at, fearful, dreadful, frightful, terrible,’ gerundive of tremĕre to tremble, tremble at: see -OUS. The by-form in -uous was shaped after adjs. from L. adjs. in -uus, as conspicuous.]
1. Such as to excite trembling, or awe; awful; ‘dreadful; horrible; astonishingly terrible’ (J.).
1632. Lithgow, Trav., X. 460. Hee, after many tremenduous threatnings, commanded the Scriuan to draw vp a Warrant.
1657–83. Evelyn, Hist. Relig., viii. (1850), II. 17. Not blaspheming the tremendous name of God.
1661. Blount, Glossogr. (ed. 2), Tremendous … greatly to be feared.
1689. T. Plunket, Char. Gd. Commander, 44. But the tremenduos Tetragrammaton Will not, not always be a looker on.
1742. Young, Nt. Th., IV. 9. Black-boding man Receives, not suffers death’s tremenduous blow.
1796. J. Moser, Hermit of Caucasus, I. 166. Rocks, torrents, and all the variety of tremenduous scenery.
1803. Jane Porter, Thaddeus, ix. The air … was rendered livid and tremendous by long spires of fire.
1871. Macduff, Mem. Patmos, xi. 147. The Day, the Great day … of His wrath…. Now, to what does this tremendous description refer?
b. absol. That which is tremendous. nonce-use.
1742. Young, Nt. Th., V. 691. What heart of flesh Would trifle with tremendous? dare extremes? Yawn o’er the fate of infinite?
2. Hyperbolically, or as a mere intensive: Such as to excite wonder on account of its magnitude or violence; astounding; extraordinarily great; immense. (Cf. the similar use of awful, frightful, terrible, etc.) colloq.
1812. Southey, Ess. (1832), I. 111. During the last forty years, a tremendous change has been going on.
1845. Ford, Handbk. Spain, I. 16. They … drive at a tremendous pace.
1866. G. Macdonald, Ann. Q. Neighb., vi. A tremendous splash reached my ears from the pond.
1882. Floyer, Unexpl. Balūchistan, 91. He … evidently determined to smother his feelings in a tremendous dinner.
b. Extraordinary in respect of some quality indicated in context. slang.
1831. Ch. Patronage Reporter, Jan., 26. Owing … latterly to the tremendous state of the weather.
1847. Helps, Friends in C., I. vii. 117. Over-managing people … are tremendous to live with.
1866. Geo. Eliot, F. Holt, ii. This young Debarry is a tremendous fellow at the classics.
