impenetrably

English

Etymology

impenetrable +‎ -ly

Adverb

impenetrably (comparative more impenetrably, superlative most impenetrably)

1. In an impenetrable manner or state; imperviously.
   • 1667, John Milton, “Book VI”, in Paradise Lost. […], London: […] [Samuel Simmons], […], →OCLC; republished as Paradise Lost in Ten Books: […], London: Basil Montagu Pickering […], 1873, →OCLC:

     Far otherwise the inviolable Saints,
     In cubick phalanx firm, advanced entire,
     Invulnerable, impenetrably armed;

   • 1728, [Alexander Pope], “Book the Third”, in The Dunciad. An Heroic Poem. […], Dublin, London: […] A. Dodd, →OCLC, pages 135-136:

     And now, on Fancy’s easy wing convey’d,
     The King descended to th’ Elyzian shade.
     There, in a dusky vale where Lethe rolls,
     Old Bavius sits, to dip poetic souls,
     And blunt the sense, and fit it for a scull
     Of solid proof, impenetrably dull.

   • 1813 January 27, [Jane Austen], chapter 18, in Pride and Prejudice: […], volume I, London: […] [George Sidney] for T[homas] Egerton, […], →OCLC:

     She looked at Jane, to see how she bore it; but Jane was very composedly talking to Bingley. She looked at his two sisters, and saw them making signs of derision at each other, and at Darcy, who continued however impenetrably grave.

   • 1827, Thomas De Quincey, edited by Robert Morrison, On Murder Considered as one of the Fine Arts, Oxford University Press, published 2006, Postscript, p. 100:

     And apart from the manifold ruffianism, shrouded impenetrably under the mixed hats and turbans of men whose past was untraceable to any European eye, it is well known that the navy (especially, in time of war, the commercial navy) of Christendom is the sure receptacle of all the murderers and ruffians whose crimes have given them a motive for withdrawing themselves for a season from the public eye.

   • 1902 January–March, Joseph Conrad, “Typhoon”, in George R. Halkett, editor, The Pall Mall Magazine, volume XXVI, London: Printed by Hazell, Watson & Viney, →OCLC, chapter 4:

     He could not see it, the inside of the bunker coated with coal-dust being perfectly and impenetrably black; but he heard it sliding and clattering, and striking here and there, always in the neighbourhood of his head.

References

• “impenetrably”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911, →OCLC.
• “impenetrably”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.