English

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Etymology

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From chasm +‎ -ous.

Adjective

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chasmous (not comparable)

  1. Like a chasm or gulf.
    • 1879, Sir Alexander Cunningham, The Stûpa of Bharhut, page 61:
      Then was heard the mountain torrent
      Swelling with a mighty current
      Craggy rocks and boulders o'er
      Like the sullen thunders' roar
      In the chasmous dell beneath,
      Hearing which the Elephant
      Down that perilous descent
      Madly plunging met his death.
    • 2014, David Blixt, The Prince's Doom, Sordelet Ink, →ISBN:
      There's always an arranged marriage. I can attest to their efficacy – though perhaps you should try an age gap less chasmous than Cesco's. Or mine! Also, it seems to me that if a woman wooed you, you could marry her.
    • 2014, Molly Miltenberger Murray, Today, She Is, Wipf and Stock Publishers, →ISBN, page 62:
      I stand around them, I talk, I laugh, because I have to make believe that I can talk and laugh with people my age and ignore the chasmous depths whirling in blackness between us.
  2. (possibly nonstandard) Cavernous, like a vast hollow space.
    • 1997, Charles E. Davies, The Blood-red Arab Flag: An Investigation Into Qasimi Piracy, 1797-1820, University of Exeter Press, →ISBN, page 271:
      Where once, off Cape Musandam, Indian sailors would pause for the sake of a propitious voyage to cast flowers, coconuts and fruit, or launch a model boat, upon the waters, chasmous oil tankers and cargo ships now process blithely and ...
    • 2012, Timothy Lopez, Citadel, Xlibris Corporation, →ISBN, page 131:
      [...What] they had mistakenly landed on in their fright and confusion, dark raspy voices could be heard, and as Bryn did his best at listening in, he could slightly overhear what was being discussed at the end of that chasmous tunnel.

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