multituden.
/ˈmʌltᵻtjuːd/, /ˈmʌltᵻtʃuːd/, U.S. /ˈməltəˌt(j)ud/ 1. As a mass noun: the character, quality, or condition of being many; numerousness. Formerly also: †the amount or number of something (whether large or small) (obsolete). Now chiefly archaic.In the common biblical (Hebraistic) phrase the multitude of (‘the many, the numerous’), the meaning passes into sense 2.
ΘΚΠ
the world > relative properties > number > plurality > great number, numerousness > [noun]
multitudec1350
numberc1390
pluralitya1398
manynessc1500
multitudine1547
umberment1550
infiniteness1579
numbers1591
populacy1597
plurity1600
numerosity1611
populosity1614
numerousness1631
populousness1651
multitudinousness1653
multitudinosity1840
c1350 Psalter (BL Add. 17376) in K. D. Bülbring Earliest Compl. Eng. Prose Psalter (1891) li. 7 (MED) He hoped in þe multitude of his riches.
?a1425 tr. Guy de Chauliac Grande Chirurgie (Hunterian) f. 49 (MED) Þe vtilite off þe multitude of þe tunykels of þe yȝen is for þre skilles.
c1475 (c1445) R. Pecock Donet (1921) 51 (MED) Sum man vsiþ..worldly godis..withoute eny refuse of her multitude or quantite.
1489 (a1380) J. Barbour Bruce (Adv.) ii. 330 For multitud mais na victory.
a1500 tr. Thomas à Kempis De Imitatione Christi (Trin. Dublin) (1893) iii. xxiii. 93 Be þou blessed, þat hast done þys godenes wiþ þi seruaunt after þe multitude of þi mercy.
a1500 (a1475) G. Ashby Dicta Philosophorum 8 in Poems (1899) 42 (MED) Truste nat oonly in men is multitude.
1560 Bible (Geneva) Psalms xxxvii. 11 Meeke men..shall haue their delite in the multitude of peace.
1577 B. Googe tr. C. Heresbach Foure Bks. Husbandry i. f. 8 Riches are not to be measured by their multitude.
1611 Bible (King James) Josh. xi. 4 Euen as the sand that is vpon the Sea-shore in multitude . View more context for this quotation
1650 J. Bulwer Anthropometamorphosis 230 That which fails in magnitude is called smal; as that which in multitude, few.
1735 tr. C. Rollin Anc. Hist. IV. 109 Valour and not multitude determines the success of arms.
1774 T. Warton Hist. Eng. Poetry Diss. ii. k 2 William the conqueror permitted great numbers of Jews..to settle in England... Their multitude soon encreased.
1868 Ld. Tennyson Lucretius 168 Or do they fly..like the flakes In a fall of snow, and so press in, perforce, Of multitude?
1869 J. Ruskin Queen of Air §121 The strength of the nation is in its multitude, not in its territory.
1915 W. S. Maugham Of Human Bondage cxiv. 606 They would swarm over the river in their multitude.
1987 M. Atwood in Saturday Night Jan. 143/1 I explain blackflies, their smallness, their multitude, their evil habits.
2.
a. In singular with count noun. A very large number, a great crowd (of people or things).In early use, esp. in great multitude (e.g. quot. a1425), the singular form was frequently used without an article in constructions in which the plural form would now be standard (see sense 2b).
ΘΚΠ
the world > relative properties > number > plurality > great number, numerousness > [noun] > a large number or multitude
sandc825
thousandc1000
un-i-rimeOE
legiona1325
fernc1325
multitudec1350
hundred1362
abundancec1384
quantityc1390
sight1390
felec1394
manyheada1400
lastc1405
sortc1475
infinityc1480
multiplie1488
numbers1488
power1489
many1525
flock1535
heapa1547
multitudine1547
sort1548
myriads1555
myriads1559
infinite1563
tot-quot1565
dickera1586
multiplea1595
troop1596
multitudes1598
myriad1611
sea-sands1656
plurality1657
a vast many1695
dozen1734
a good few1756
nation1762
vast1793
a wheen (of)1814
swad1828
lot1833
tribe1833
slew1839
such a many1841
right smart1842
a million and one1856
horde1860
a good several1865
sheaf1865
a (bad, good, etc.) sortc1869
immense1872
dunnamuch1875
telephone number1880
umpty1905
dunnamany1906
skit1913
umpteen1919
zillion1922
gang1928
scrillion1935
jillion1942
900 number1977
gazillion1978
fuckload1984
the world > space > relative position > arrangement or fact of being arranged > state of being gathered together > an assemblage or collection > [noun] > large or numerous
legiona1325
rout?c1335
multitudec1350
thrave1377
cloudc1384
schoola1450
meiniec1450
throng1538
ruckc1540
multitudine1547
swarm1548
regiment1575
armya1586
volley1595
pile1596
battalion1603
wood1608
host1613
armada1622
crowd1628
battalia1653
squadron1668
raffa1677
smytrie1786
raft1821
squash1884
c1350 Apocalypse St. John: A Version (Harl. 874) (1961) 57 (MED) Þe grete multitude..stood bifore þe throne, þat noman ne miȝth noumbre.
a1393 J. Gower Confessio Amantis (Fairf.) ii. 1810 (MED) Perseus..With al his multitude rod.
a1425 (a1400) Prick of Conscience (Galba & Harl.) (1863) 5113 And with him grete multitude sal come Of angels.
a1470 T. Malory Morte Darthur (Winch. Coll. 13) (1990) I. 33 Hit was pite to se and to beholde the multitude of peple that fledde.
c1480 (a1400) SS. Simon & Jude 299 in W. M. Metcalfe Legends Saints Sc. Dial. (1896) I. 216 Of serpentis a multytude.
a1500 (c1340) R. Rolle Psalter (Univ. Oxf. 64) (1884) xxiii. 6 Swilk is the getynge, that is, multitud, of tha that sekis him.
a1513 W. Dunbar Tua Mariit Wemen in Poems (1998) I. 43 To manifest my makdome to multitude of pepill.
1592 A. Day 2nd Pt. Eng. Secretorie sig. F3, in Eng. Secretorie (rev. ed.) Hauing..heaped on thy head a multitude of fauours.
1651 T. Hobbes Leviathan i. ii. 50 A multitude of actions done by a multitude of men.
1667 J. Milton Paradise Lost x. 554 Imagining For one forbidden Tree a multitude Now ris'n. View more context for this quotation
a1701 H. Maundrell Acct. Journey from Aleppo in Journey to Jerusalem (1721) 2 Here are a multitude of Subterraneous Aqueducts.
1778 F. Burney Evelina III. viii. 88 She asked Mr. Lovel a multitude of questions.
1803 M. Wilmot Let. 1 Oct. in M. Wilmot & C. Wilmot Russ. Jrnls. (1934) i. 55 Amidst such a multitude of titles a count or countess is often the merest poverty stricken low bread [sic] animal that ever was known.
1872 J. Morley Voltaire i. 5 It was he who conveyed to his generation in a multitude of forms the consciousness..of..the rights of human intelligence.
1930 C. Bax Socrates iv. 83 And the sun is a glowing speck in a dazzling multitude of stars.
1957 W. S. Churchill Hist. Eng.-speaking Peoples III. ix. iii. 220 The country was administered by a multitude of civil servants.
1985 J. Berman Talking Cure v. 124 Sylvia must have felt a multitude of tangled emotions: love, hate, rage, confusion, guilt.
b. In plural. Large numbers (of people or things).
ΘΚΠ
the world > relative properties > number > plurality > great number, numerousness > [noun] > a large number or multitude
sandc825
thousandc1000
un-i-rimeOE
legiona1325
fernc1325
multitudec1350
hundred1362
abundancec1384
quantityc1390
sight1390
felec1394
manyheada1400
lastc1405
sortc1475
infinityc1480
multiplie1488
numbers1488
power1489
many1525
flock1535
heapa1547
multitudine1547
sort1548
myriads1555
myriads1559
infinite1563
tot-quot1565
dickera1586
multiplea1595
troop1596
multitudes1598
myriad1611
sea-sands1656
plurality1657
a vast many1695
dozen1734
a good few1756
nation1762
vast1793
a wheen (of)1814
swad1828
lot1833
tribe1833
slew1839
such a many1841
right smart1842
a million and one1856
horde1860
a good several1865
sheaf1865
a (bad, good, etc.) sortc1869
immense1872
dunnamuch1875
telephone number1880
umpty1905
dunnamany1906
skit1913
umpteen1919
zillion1922
gang1928
scrillion1935
jillion1942
900 number1977
gazillion1978
fuckload1984
c1390 G. Chaucer Melibeus 2449 At congregacions and multitudes of folk..fooles han the maistrie.
?a1475 (?a1425) tr. R. Higden Polychron. (Harl. 2261) (1865) I. 81 (MED) Mony multitudes [a1387 J. Trevisa tr. companyes; L. turmæ] of peple may sytte vnder..oon figge tre.
1531 T. Elyot Bk. named Gouernour i. xxiv. sig. Lviijv For lacke of vitayle, and for weryness, great multitudes of his hoste perisshed.
1598 W. Shakespeare Henry IV, Pt. 1 iii. ii. 143 For euery honor sitting on his helme Would they were multitudes . View more context for this quotation
1648 S. Danforth Almanack 15 Multitudes of Caterpillars destroyed some fields of corne.
1683 W. Salmon Doron Medicum i. 333 Multitudes of words bring much error.
1713 J. Addison in Guardian 11 July 2/1 What Multitudes of Infants have been made away by those who brought them into the World.
1781 W. Cowper Retirem. 158 The waves o'ertake them in their serious play, And ev'ry hour sweeps multitudes away.
1814 W. Wordsworth Excursion ix. 414 And multitudes of little floating clouds, [the sun] Pierced through their thin etherial mould.
1875 C. F. Wood Yachting Cruise vi. 143 Multitudes of barnacles.
a1911 D. G. Phillips Susan Lenox (1917) II. xix. 438 The multitudes of children with hearts that no sooner begin to beat than they begin to ache.
1991 C. Mansall Discover Astrol. iv. 51/1 The need to learn to share the same air space with the teeming multitudes of people on this planet.
c. In singular with mass noun. A great quantity of something. Now rare.
ΘΚΠ
the world > relative properties > quantity > greatness of quantity, amount, or degree > [noun] > (a) great quantity or amount
felec825
muchc1230
good wone1297
plentyc1300
bushelc1374
sight1390
mickle-whata1393
forcea1400
manynessa1400
multitudea1400
packc1400
a good dealc1430
greata1450
sackful1484
power1489
horseloadc1500
mile1508
lump1523
a deal?1532
peckc1535
heapa1547
mass1566
mass1569
gallon1575
armful1579
cart-load1587
mickle1599
bushelful1600–12
a load1609
wreck1612
parisha1616
herd1618
fair share1650
heapa1661
muchness1674
reams1681
hantle1693
mort1694
doll?1719
lift1755
acre1759
beaucoup1760
ton1770
boxload1795
boatload1807
lot1811
dollop1819
swag1819
faggald1824
screed1826
Niagara1828
wad1828
lashings1829
butt1831
slew1839
ocean1840
any amount (of)1848
rake1851
slather1857
horde1860
torrent1864
sheaf1865
oodlesa1867
dead load1869
scad1869
stack1870
jorum1872
a heap sight1874
firlot1883
oodlings1886
chunka1889
whips1888
God's quantity1895
streetful1901
bag1917
fid1920
fleetful1923
mob1927
bucketload1930
pisspot1944
shitload1954
megaton1957
mob-o-ton1975
gazillion1978
buttload1988
shit ton1991
a1400 tr. Lanfranc Sci. Cirurgie (Ashm.) (1894) 98 If þat greet multitude of blood lettiþ.
c1450 (?a1400) Wars Alexander (Ashm.) 69 (MED) Slik was þe multitude of mast..a hare wod it semyd.
?1529 S. Fish Supplicacyon for Beggers sig. A2 What a multitude of money gather the pardoners in a yere?
a1560 Arundel MS in J. A. W. Bennett Devotional Pieces (1955) 251 Efter the gret aboundance and multitude of Ȝi inestimabill mangnificience.
1677 A. Yarranton England's Improvem. 134 Here is cheap Corn, good Corn, and a multitude of it.
1777 Earl of Chatham Speech on Addr. 18 Nov. All this disgraceful danger, this multitude of misery.
1856 H. Melville Benito Cereno (rev. ed.) in Piazza Tales 128 The San Dominick was in the condition of a transatlantic emigrant ship, among whose multitude of living freight are some individuals, doubtless.
1897 B. Stoker Dracula xxiv. 329 The measure of leaving his own barren land..and coming to a new land where life of man teems till they are like the multitude of standing corn, was the work of centuries.
1991 Here's Health Jan. 75/4 Its pages..contain a multitude of information on animal rights [etc.].
d. multitude of sins n. [originally after post-classical Latin multitudo peccatorum (Vulgate)] a number of undesirable qualities, things, etc. Frequently with verbs of covering, hiding, etc.
ΚΠ
1611 Bible (King James) James v. 20 Let him know, that hee which conuerteth the sinner from the errour of his way, shall saue a soule from death, and shall hide a multitude of sinnes [L. multitudinem peccatorum] . View more context for this quotation
1611 Bible (King James) 1 Peter iv. 8 And aboue all things haue feruent charitie among your selues: for charity shall couer the multitude of sinnes [L. multitudinem peccatorum] . View more context for this quotation
1627 R. Sanderson Ten Serm. 440 I..would chuse rather by an ouer-liberall charity to couer a multitude of sinnes.
1765 W. Stevenson Orig. Poems I. 235 Though Charity the palm of virtues wins, As she conceals a multitude of sins.
1831 Fraser's Mag. 3 396 Suspected of making his podagral ailments..cover a multitude of sins.
1874 A. Trollope Phineas Redux II. xxxix. 321 I am assured that the great capacity which he has thus shown for official work and official life will cover a multitude of sins.
1943 E. J. Pratt in R. Brown & D. Bennett Anthol. Canad. Lit. in Eng. (1982) 290 This creature has presumed to classify Himself—a biped, rational, six feet high And two feet wide; weighs fourteen stone; Is guilty of a multitude of sins.
1992 New Republic 11 May 36/1 ‘Liberal theology’ is a rubric that covers a multitude of sins, and presumably, virtues; it can become an easy catch-all for the derision or the approbation of tendencies that should be considered discretely.
3.
a. A large gathering of people; a crowd, a throng, a host.
ΘΚΠ
the world > space > relative position > arrangement or fact of being arranged > state of being gathered together > an assemblage or collection > [noun] > of people or animals > regarded as a whole or a body of people gathered > large or numerous
weredc725
herec855
heap971
trumec1380
multitudea1382
herda1400
swarm1423
confluence1447
puissance?a1475
army?1518
multitudine1547
bike1554
conflux1702
snarl1775
rallya1794
populace1823
hive1834
skreeda1838
skit1913
rort1941
a1382 Bible (Wycliffite, E.V.) (Bodl. 959) Judges xvi. 30 Þe hous fel vp on alle þe princys & þe toþer multitude þat þer was.
a1382 Bible (Wycliffite, E.V.) (Bodl. 959) Wisd. vi. 3 Ȝeueþ eres, ȝee þat holden togidere multitudes & plesen to ȝou in cumpanyes of naciouns.
a1393 J. Gower Confessio Amantis (Fairf.) vii. 3737 (MED) He schop to gon This multitude to assaile.
a1425 (c1384) Bible (Wycliffite, E.V.) (Corpus Oxf.) (1850) Ezek. xvi. 40 Thei shulen lede to vpon thee a multitude, and thei shulen stoone thee.
c1450 (?a1400) Wars Alexander (Ashm.) 104 Emang þe multitude of men quare mane ere togeder.
1548 Hall's Vnion: Henry VI f. cxxx The Englishemen..beyng oppressed with so greate a multitude, thei wer compelled to flie into the Abbaye.
1581 W. Lambarde Eirenarcha i. xvii. 133 Three or more in one companie (which the lawe properly calleth a multitude).
a1616 W. Shakespeare Henry VI, Pt. 2 (1623) v. i. 94 Thou art not King: Not fit to gouerne and rule multitudes . View more context for this quotation
1683 J. Dryden & N. Lee Duke of Guise iv. i. 39 A Multitude's a Bulky Coward.
1740 C. Cibber Apol. Life C. Cibber xiv. 272 A great deal of that false, flashy wit, and forc'd humour, which had been the delight of our metropolitan multitude.
1774 O. Goldsmith Hist. Earth II. 355 Our horses would scarcely, in this manner,..continue their speed, without a rider, through the midst of a multitude.
a1831 R. Whately Rhetoric in Encycl. Metrop. (1845) I. 300/1 A skilful orator's being able to rouse..the passions of a multitude.
1862 C. Wordsworth Hark, the Sound of Holy Voices (hymn) i Multitude, which none can number, Like the stars, in glory stands.
1911 M. Beerbohm Zuleika Dobson ix. 158 A group that might grow and grow—a group that might with a little encouragement be a multitude.
1954 J. Baldwin Go tell it on Mountain (1963) I. 37 He felt like a long-awaited conqueror at whose feet flowers would be strewn, and before whom multitudes cried, ‘Hosanna’.
1989 M. Kumin Nurture i. 10 Paying multitudes who fill the stands and scream to see these mammals leap in synchrony.
b. With the: the populace, the public; (derogatory) the common people, the masses.
ΘΚΠ
society > society and the community > social class > the common people > [noun]
folkc888
peoplea1325
frapec1330
commona1350
common peoplea1382
commonsa1382
commontya1387
communityc1400
meiniec1400
commonaltya1425
commonsa1500
vulgarsa1513
many1526
meinie1532
multitude1535
the many-headed beast (also monster)1537
number1542
ignobility1546
commonitya1550
popular1554
populace1572
popularya1578
vulgarity?1577
populacya1583
rout1589
the vulgar1590
plebs1591
mobile vulgusc1599
popularity1599
ignoble1603
the million1604
plebe1612
plebeity1614
the common filea1616
the herda1616
civils1644
commonality1649
democracy1656
menu1658
mobile1676
crowd1683
vulgusa1687
mob1691
Pimlico parliament?1774
citizenry1795
polloi1803
demos1831
many-headed1836
hoi polloi1837
the masses1837
citizenhood1843
John Q.1922
wimble-wamble1937
1535 Bible (Coverdale) Psalms xxx. 13 I haue herde the blasphemy of the multitude: euery man abhorreth me.
a1572 J. Knox Hist. Reformation Scotl. in Wks. (1848) II. 155 Bot the raschall multitude, enflambit be some ungodlie craftismen, maid insurrectioun.
a1586 Sir P. Sidney Arcadia (1590) ii. xxvi. sig. Ff4 O weak trust of the many-headed multitude.
a1616 W. Shakespeare Coriolanus (1623) ii. iii. 17 He himselfe stucke not to call vs the many-headed Multitude . View more context for this quotation
1671 J. Milton Samson Agonistes 696 The unjust tribunals,..condemnation of the ingrateful multitude . View more context for this quotation
1709 Ld. Shaftesbury Sensus Communis: Ess. Freedom of Wit 25 To affect a Superiority over the Vulgar, and to despise the Multitude.
1769 ‘Junius’ Stat Nominis Umbra (1772) I. i. 3 The multitude, in all countries, are patient to a certain point.
1843 J. Ruskin Mod. Painters I. 3 (note) The multitude is the only proper judge of those arts whose end is to move the multitude.
1872 H. James Let. 22 Sept. (1974) I. 301 [I] must give up the ambition of ever being a free-going and light-paced enough writer to please the multitude.
1926 W. Lewis in Calendar Apr. 30 On behalf of the multitude, the millionaire-class full of ‘revolutionary’ zeal, bohemianize themselves with a proselytizing intolerance.
1987 A. Arblaster Democracy (BNC) 29 That fear of the many, the multitude, which is to be a recurring motif in the re-emergence of democracy in the modern era.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, March 2003; most recently modified version published online June 2022).
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n.c1350- to comply with
- to comport the pike
- to comport with
- to compose one's countenance
- to compose oneself
- to compound a felony
- to compound an information
- to compute a person out of
- to compute out of
- to con by heart
- to con by rote
- to con grame
- to con gree
- to con laud
- to con maugre
- to con over
- to con thank
- to con thanks
- to concede defeat
- to conceive of
- to conceive well, ill, etc
- to conceive well, ill, etc of
- to concern oneself about
- to concern oneself etc
- to concern oneself in