enormous

[O. Fr. enorme; Lat. enorm is: e= ex =out, away, and norma =a rule.] *1. Out of or transgre ing all rule; abnormal. "Titan, heaven's first born, With his enormous brood, and birthright seized By younger Saturn." Milton: P. Z., i. 510, 511. *2. Extending beyond certain limits; excursive. "The enormous part of the light in the circumference of every lucid point, ought to be le discernible in shorter telescopes than in longer, because the shorter transmit le light to the eye." -Newton: Optics. 3. Exceedingly great in size, dimensions, bulk, or quantity. "Yet not in vain the enormous weight was cast." Dryden: Ovid; Metamorphoses xii. 4. Exceedingly great; exceeding. "Nature here Wantoned, as in her prime; and played at will Her virgin fancies, pouring forth more sweet, Wild above rule or art, enormous bli ." Milton: P. L. , v. 294-97. *5. Disordered, confused, perverse. "I shall find time From this enormous state, and seek to give Lo es their remedies." Shakesp.: Lear , ii. 2. 6. Wicked in an exceeding degree; exce ively wicked, atrocious, or disgraceful. (1) Crabb thus discriminates between enor" Enormous and mous, huge , immense, and vast : huge are peculiarly applicable to magnitude; im mense and vast to extent, quantity, and number. Enormous expre es more than huge , as immense expre es more than vast : what is enormous exceeds in a very great degree all ordinary bounds; what is huge is only in the superlative degree. The enormous is always out of proportion; the huge is relatively extraordinary in its dimensions. Some animals may be made enormously fat by a particular mode of feeding: to one who has seen nothing but level ground, common hills will appear to be huge mountains.' (2) He thus discriminates between enormous, monstrous, and prodigious : "The enormous contradicts our rules of estimating and calculating: the prodigious raises our minds beyond their ordinary standard of thinking: the monstrous contradicts nature and the course of things. What is enormous excites our surprise or amazement: what is prodig ious excites our astonishment: what is monstrous does violence to our senses and understanding." (Crabb: Eng. Synon.) ě-nor-mous-lý, adv. [Eng. enormous; -ly.] In an enormous manner or degree; exce ively; beyond measure. "Throughout an enormously large proportion of the ocean, the bright blue tint of the water bespeaks its purity."-Darwin: Origin of Species (ed. 1850), ch. ix.