a compound adjectival suffix representing L. -ulōsus, formed by the addition of -ōsus (see -OSE) to stems in -ul-us, -a, -um, as angulōsus from angulus, fābulōsus from fābula, perīculōsus from perīculum. Such formations are rare in earlier Latin, but a considerable number are employed by post-Augustan writers, as Pliny, Columella, etc. Among the English examples that have their source in classical or post-classical forms are angulose, calculose, fabulose, fistulose, glandulose, nebulose, pustulose, ramulose, sabulose, vermiculose. On the analogy of these, various others have been introduced, as flosculose, globulose, granulose, scrofulose, siliculose, tubulose, tumulose. These forms are parallel to a certain number of those in -ULOUS, being as a rule either obsolete variants of these, or introduced later in order to convey the distinction commonly observed between the endings -OSE and -OUS.
