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- +‎ -tude.

PronunciationEdit

NounEdit

multitude (plural multitudes)

  1. A great amount or number, often of people; abundance, myriad, profusion.
    Synonym: hantel, hantle (Northern England, Scotland)
    • 1892, Walt Whitman, “Song of Myself”, in Leaves of Grass […], Philadelphia, Pa.: David McKay, publisher, […], OCLC 1514723, 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, London: The Egoist Press, published October 1922, OCLC 2297483:
      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 1227855:
      “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 [...]
  2. The mass of ordinary people; the masses, the populace.
    Synonym: crowd
    Pilate, wishing to please the multitude, released Barabbas to them.

Derived termsEdit

TranslationsEdit

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables, removing any numbers. Numbers do not necessarily match those in definitions. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.
Translations to be checked

ReferencesEdit

  1. ^ “multitūde, n.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007.
  2. ^ “multitude, n.”, in OED Online  ⁠, Oxford: Oxford University Press, March 2003; “multitude”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–present.

Further readingEdit

FrenchEdit

EtymologyEdit

From Old French multitude.

PronunciationEdit

NounEdit

multitude f (plural multitudes)

  1. multitude

Further readingEdit

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)

  1. crowd of people
  2. diversity; wide range

DescendantsEdit

  • English: multitude
  • French: multitude
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