multitudinous

Meanings

1. 1
   adj

   Existing in multitudes or great numbers; very numerous; innumerable.

   The great impoſtume of the realme vvas dravvne / Euen to a head: the multitudinous ſpavvne / VVas the corruption, vvhich did make it ſvvell / VVith hop'd ſedition (the burnt ſeed of hell.).

2. 2
   adj

   Comprising a large number of features or parts; manifold, multiple, myriad; also, having a large number of forms.

   [I]n a State ſo multitudinous, where ſo many flocks of people muſt be fed, it is impoſſible to haue ſome Trades to ſtand, if they ſhould not Lye.

3. 3
   adj

   Of a body of water, the sea, etc.: huge, vast; also, having innumerable ripples.

   VVill all great Neptunes ocean vvaſh this blood / Cleane from my Hand? no: this my Hand vvill rather / The multitudinous Seas incarnardine, / Making the Greene one, Red.

4. 4
   adj

   Followed by with: crowded with many people or things.

   The transport of a fierce and monstrous gladness / Spread thro' the multitudinous streets, fast flying / Upon the winds of fear; […].

Learned borrowing from Latin multitūdin- (the oblique stem of multitūdō (“great number (of people), multitude”)) + English -ous (suffix forming adjectives from nouns, denoting the presence of a quality in any degree (typically an abundance)). Multitūdō is derived from multus (“many; much”) (ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *mel- (“to be late; to worry”)) + -tūdō (suffix forming abstract nouns denoting a condition or state). By surface analysis, multitude + -in- (interfix used before Latinate suffixes appended to nouns ending with -itude or -tude) + -ous.

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