multitude
EnglishEdit
EtymologyEdit
From Middle English multitude, multitud, multytude (“(great) amount or number of people or things; multitudinous”),[1] borrowed from Old French multitude (“crowd of people; diversity, wide range”), or directly from its etymon Latin multitūdō (“great amount or number of people or things”),[2] from multus (“many; much”) + -tūdō (suffix forming abstract nouns indicating a state or condition). The English word is analysable as multi- + -itude.
PronunciationEdit
- (Received Pronunciation) IPA(key): /ˈmʌltɪtjuːd/
- (General American) IPA(key): /ˈmʌltəˌt(j)ud/, /ˈməl-/
Audio (GA) (file) Audio (Berkshire, England) (file) - Hyphenation: mul‧ti‧tude
NounEdit
multitude (plural multitudes)
- A great amount or number, often of people; abundance, myriad, profusion.
- 1892, Walt Whitman, “Song of Myself”, in Leaves of Grass […], Philadelphia, Pa.: David McKay, publisher, […], →OCLC, stanza 51, page 78:
- Do I contradict myself? / Very well then I contradict myself, / (I am large, I contain multitudes.)
- 1922 February, James Joyce, “[Episode 12: The Cyclops]”, in Ulysses, Paris: Shakespeare and Company, […], →OCLC:
- A torrential rain poured down from the floodgates of the angry heavens upon the bared heads of the assembled multitude which numbered at the lowest computation five hundred thousand persons.
- 1960, P[elham] G[renville] Wodehouse, chapter XIV, in Jeeves in the Offing, London: Herbert Jenkins, →OCLC:
- “Well, let's hope you're right, darling. In the meantime,” said Kipper, “if I don't get that whisky-and-soda soon, I shall disintegrate. Would you mind if I went in search of it, Mrs Travers?” “It's the very thing I was about to suggest myself. Dash along and drink your fill, my unhappy young stag at eve.” “I'm feeling rather like a restorative, too,” said Bobbie. “Me also,” I said, swept along on the tide of the popular movement. “Though I would advise,” I said, when we were outside, “making it port. More authority. We'll look in on Swordfish. He will provide.” We found Pop Glossop in his pantry polishing silver, and put in our order. He seemed a little surprised at the inrush of such a multitude, but on learning that our tongues were hanging out obliged with a bottle of the best […]
- The mass of ordinary people; the masses, the populace.
- Synonym: crowd
- 1599, “Exodus 23:2”, in Geneva Bible[1], Tolle Lege Press, →ISBN, page 83:
- Thou shalt not follow a multitude to do evil
- 1790 November, Edmund Burke, Reflections on the Revolution in France, and on the Proceedings in Certain Societies in London Relative to that Event. […], London: […] J[ames] Dodsley, […], →OCLC, page 117:
- Along with its natural protectors and guardians, learning will be caſt into the mire and trodden down under the hoofs of a ſwiniſh multitude.
Derived termsEdit
TranslationsEdit
great amount or number, often of people
|
mass of ordinary people; the populace or the masses
|
- The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.
ReferencesEdit
- ^ “multitūde, n.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007, retrieved 3 June 2019.
- ^ “multitude, n.”, in OED Online
, Oxford, Oxfordshire: Oxford University Press, March 2003; “multitude”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.
Further readingEdit
FrenchEdit
EtymologyEdit
Inherited from Old French multitude.
PronunciationEdit
NounEdit
multitude f (plural multitudes)
Further readingEdit
- “multitude”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.
Old FrenchEdit
EtymologyEdit
Borrowed from Latin multitūdō (“great amount or number of people or things”), from multus (“many; much”) + -tūdō (suffix forming abstract nouns indicating a state or condition).
NounEdit
multitude f (oblique plural multitudes, nominative singular multitude, nominative plural multitudes)