ponderousadj.

Brit.

/ˈpɒnd(ə)rəs/, U.S.

/ˈpɑnd(ə)rəs/

Forms: Middle English–1500s ponderose, Middle English–1500s ponderus, Middle English–1600s ponderowse, Middle English– ponderous, 1500s ponderouse, 1600s–1700s pondrous, 1700s pond'rous (poetic).

Origin: Of multiple origins. Partly a borrowing from French. Partly a borrowing from Latin. Etymons: French ponderus, pondereux; Latin ponderōsus.

Etymology: < Anglo-Norman ponderus heavy (end of the 13th cent. or earlier), Middle French pondereux (French pondéreux ) serious, important (beginning of the 15th cent. or earlier; now obsolete in this sense), heavy, weighty, massive (end of the 15th cent.) and their etymon classical Latin ponderōsus heavy, weighty, massive, dignified, in post-classical Latin also thick, viscous (see quot. a1400 at sense 1a) < ponder- , pondus pondus n. + -ōsus -ous suffix. Compare Old Occitan ponderos serious (c1350; Occitan ponderós ), Catalan ponderós heavy, weighty (13th cent.), (of dreams) troublesome, oppressive (15th cent.), serious (1585), Spanish ponderoso weighty, numerous (1385 or earlier, originally with reference to armed forces), dense, (of projects) weighty, ambitious, (of clouds) heavy (all c1428 or earlier), serious, important (a1452), Italian ponderoso heavy (a1321; figurative use in sense 2 is apparently not found before the 20th cent.).With ponderous earth n. at Compounds compare post-classical Latin terra ponderosa (1792 or earlier), and also German Erde des schweren Spats , Schwerspats-Erde , lit. ‘earth of the ponderous spar’ (both 1777 in the source translated in quot. 1780 for ponderous earth n. at Compounds).

a. Having great weight; heavy, weighty, massive; clumsy, unwieldy, or slow-moving due to weight or size; (in earliest use) spec. thick, viscous. Also figurative.

ΘΚΠ

the world > matter > properties of materials > weight or relative heaviness > [adjective] > heavy

heavyc1000

unlightc1330

sada1375

chargeousa1382

lumpinga1400

ponderousa1400

weighingc1400

poisant1477

peisant1483

wieldlya1500

weighty1500

peiseda1522

burdenous1529

weightful1530

grave1570

leaden1578

plumbeousa1586

wieldy1592

peisy1599

well-weighing?1615

lead-like1816

hefty1867

the world > relative properties > quantity > greatness of quantity, amount, or degree > [adjective] > vast, immense, or huge

un-i-fohOE

ormeteOE

hugea1275

un-i-feiec1275

infinitec1385

ponderousa1400

hugeful1413

hugyc1420

thrice1470

felon?a1500

hugeousa1529

enormous1544

enormc1560

fell1586

prodigious1601

immensive1604

colossic1607

monumental1632

vast1637

unfathomed1659

colossal1664

ponderose1680

heroic1785

colossian1794

pyramidal1849

astronomical1871

astronomic1923

stratospheric1932

cosmic1935

ginormous1942

galactic1960

mega1968

humongous1970

a1400 tr. Lanfranc Sci. Cirurgie (Ashm.) (1894) 88 Þe rotynes þat goiþ out þerof is greet in substaunce, ponderous [v.r. ponderose; L. ponderosa] & vneuene.

?a1425 tr. Guy de Chauliac Grande Chirurgie (N.Y. Acad. Med.) f. 104 It helpeþ for to..lift vp som ponderous [?c1425 Paris heuy; L. ponderosum] þyng.

1486 Bk. St. Albans sig. D iij b An Egle, a Vawtere, a Melowne..theis be not enlured, ne reclaymed, by cause that thay be so ponderowse to the perch portatiff.

a1500 (c1477) T. Norton Ordinal of Alchemy (BL Add.) (1975) 2459 (MED) One planete is more ponderous Then is an other.

1555 R. Eden tr. Peter Martyr of Angleria Decades of Newe Worlde i. iii. f. 16 Clusters of grapes very ponderous.

1567 T. Drant tr. Horace Pistles in tr. Horace Arte of Poetrie sig. Fii^v With burdens toto [sic] ponderouse, to heuie for theire backe.

a1616 W. Shakespeare King Lear (1623) i. i. 78 I am sure my loue's More ponderous then my tongue.

1665 J. Webb Vindic. Stone-Heng Restored 15 Such ponderous Masses be subject to overswaying.

1725 E. Fenton in A. Pope et al. tr. Homer Odyssey I. iv. 892 The pond'rous engine rais'd to crush us all.

1782 E. Gibbon Decline & Fall (new ed.) I. Pref. p. vii The most patient Reader, who computes that three ponderous volumes have been already employed on the events of four centuries.

1835 R. Browning Paracelsus iv. 131 To sink beneath such ponderous shame.

1861 W. M. Thackeray Four Georges i. 27 The stout coachman driving the ponderous gilt waggon.

1930 W. M. Mann Wild Animals in & out of Zoo xvi. 205 The heavy rumble of a ponderous animal rushing into camp, and boys yelling ‘Hia! Hia!’.

1989 W. Deverell Mindfield 38 Station Twenty-six, the ponderous, pollution-blackened stone structure of a century's age.

†b. Heavy in relation to bulk; of high density. Obsolete.

ΘΚΠ

the world > matter > constitution of matter > density or solidity > [adjective] > relating to measurement of specific gravity > of high specific gravity

heavya1000

ponderous1531

weighty1585

1531 T. Elyot Bk. named Gouernour i. i. sig. Aiij The erthe whiche is of substance grosse and ponderous.

1669 R. Boyle Contin. New Exper. Physico-mechanicall: 1st Pt. xii. 37 One of the ponderousest Liquors I have prepar'd.

1726 J. Swift Gulliver I. i. ii. 42 Globes or Balls of a most ponderous Metal.

1776 Farmer's Mag. Dec. 339 Redding or ocre..is a ponderous irony earth.

1796 S. Vince Princ. Hydrostat. vii. 97 The condensed and ponderous air from the neighbourhood of the pole.

1838 M. Faraday in Philos. Trans. (Royal Soc.) 128 99 Two such dissimilar things, as the ponderous air and the subtil and even hypothetical fluid or fluids of electricity.

†c. = ponderable adj. 1. Obsolete. rare.

ΘΚΠ

the world > relative properties > measurement > measurement by weighing > [adjective] > weighed > able to be

weighable1429

poisablec1503

ponderable1646

ponderous1646

1646 Sir T. Browne Pseudodoxia Epidemica 196 After a draught of wine a man may seem lighter in himself.., although he be heavier in the balance, from a corporall and ponderous addition.

†d. Tending to gravitate towards another body. Obsolete. rare.

ΘΚΠ

the world > existence and causation > existence > state or condition > tendency > [adjective] > having a general tendency or direction > of material things

propending1642

ponderous1792

1792 W. Herschel in Philos. Trans. (Royal Soc.) 82 16 If it be founded on such a construction of the figure of the secondaries, as makes them more ponderous towards their primary planets.

2. Chiefly of thought, content, etc.: serious, important, profound.

ΘΚΠ

the mind > attention and judgement > importance > [adjective] > grave or serious

heavy971

highOE

earnestfula1400

solemn1420

weighty1489

ponderousa1500

chargeablea1513

serious1531

earnest1533

gravous1535

capitala1538

deep1598

grave1824

the mind > attention and judgement > importance > [adjective] > specifically of things

of substancea1456

solid1601

ponderous1602

of the moment1814

a1500 (c1477) T. Norton Ordinal of Alchemy (BL Add.) (1975) 177 Trust not to oon reding or tweyne... For it conteynyth ful ponderose sentence.

?a1525 (c1450) Christ's Burial & Resurrection ii. 1328 in F. J. Furnivall Digby Plays (1896) 215 The wordes of Andrewe beyn sadd & ponderose.

1533 J. Bellenden tr. Livy Hist. Rome (1901) I. 120 Becaus the mater was ponderus [etc.].

1602 W. Fulbecke Parallele or Conf. Law i. 73 That words be ponderous and emphaticall, where the matter seemeth to bleed.

1649 F. Roberts Clavis Bibliorum (ed. 2) 179 Some of acute and ponderous Judgement.

1721 W. Wishart Five Serm. Lord's Supper v. 135 Let your Thoughts of these Things be frequent, deep, and Ponderous.

1795 W. Paley View Evidences Christianity (ed. 3) II. ii. ii. 53 I know nothing which would have so great force, as strong ponderous maxims, frequently urged, and frequently brought back to the thoughts of the hearers.

1874 A. Trollope Phineas Redux I. xxxii. 264 Lord Mount Thistle was more sublime and ponderous than ever.

1930 E. D. Branch Westward iii. x. 149 A more ponderous concern than the redemption of land warrants troubled the Congress of the Confederation.

2002 N. Tosches In Hand of Dante 202 He had writ, as if a sage white-maned in wisdom,..as if it were so great and ponderous as to bear seventh seal and age-encrusted clasp and lock.

a. Slow and clumsy because of great weight; laborious; performed with painstaking care. Now esp. of literary style, manner, etc.: tedious, laboured, dull; verbose; pompous.

ΘΚΠ

society > leisure > the arts > literature > style of language or writing > inelegance > [adjective] > ponderous

ponderous1603

blottesque1856

heavy-handed1910

1603 J. Davies Microcosmos 121 In cases doubtfull it is dangerous T'admitte light Councells; for, for want of weight T'wil make the case to be more ponderous.

1644 J. Milton Of Educ. 1 You would to the forfeit of your own discerning ability, impose upon me an unfit and over ponderous argument.

a1704 T. Brown 1st Satyr Persius Imitated in Wks. (1707) I. i. 79 More pondrous guess, with lighter banter meets.

1791 J. Boswell Life Johnson I. 2 Sir John Hawkins's ponderous labours..exhibit a farrago.

1874 J. P. Mahaffy Social Life Greece i. 3 The ponderous minuteness and luxury of citation in the works of the former.

1885 J. Payn Talk of Town I. 20 ‘Your son has made a good choice of locality,’ said Mr. Dennis, in his rather ponderous manner.

1950 D. Thomas Let. 10 Jan. (1987) 740 I..wrote a long, but not, I hope, too ponderous, address, and demothed my monkey-suit, and borrowed some proper shoes.

1984 ‘A. Cross’ Sweet Death, Kind Death (1988) iv. 45 I am a rather ponderous expounder of theology.

1998 M. Hulse tr. W. G. Sebald Rings of Saturn vii. 188 He was a swarthy, ponderous giant of a man whom the undertaker presumably employed as pallbearer more for his exceptional physical strength than his propensity to mourn.

b. Of movement or a manner of moving: slow or deliberate; heavy.

ΘΚΠ

the world > movement > motion in specific manner > [adjective] > heavily or clumsily

unwieldlya1513

unwieldy1530

wieldy1588

ponderous1808

lumping1884

pot-walloping1899

1808 J. Cottle Fall of Cambria II. xxiii. 225 David, from above, Sends the fast-rolling stones, many and huge, Bounding,..Check'd by naught human, in their ponderous flight.

1871 Times 21 Sept. 10/1 Lightly fled they back, the burnished and glittering column thundering after them with ponderous stride.

1948 G. Greene Heart of Matter (1971) ii. ii. 152 Without pause the hundred and forty-four inches of water continued their steady and ponderous descent upon the roofs of the port.

1987 Rainbow World Nov. 675/3 Speed seemed to build up slowly, and our ponderous departure was watched by a group of men standing outside the locomotive shed.

2000 R. N. Patterson Dark Lady iii. 75 The ponderous gait of a man who had never exercised much and now was feeling the effect.

4. Of a person: given to pondering, considering things deeply or seriously; thoughtful, deliberative, meditative.

ΘΚΠ

the mind > mental capacity > thought > continued thinking, reflection, contemplation > thinking about, consideration, deliberation > [adjective]

contemplative1340

thoughtfula1400

considering1483

revolving1597

deliberative1602

ponderative1610

reflexive1630

ponderous1632

reflecting1632

reflectivea1640

perpensive1647

balancing1850

meditative1876

1632 P. Hausted Rivall Friends iv. iii. sig. H4 What meanes this strange and ponderous eye?

1647 N. Ward Simple Cobler Aggawam 3 The next perplexed Question, with pious and ponderous men.

1690 M. Pennyman Let. (1701) 35 The ponderous mind gathers in, but the contrary scatters abroad.

1851 H. Melville Moby-Dick lxxxv. 416 I am convinced that from the heads of all ponderous profound beings..there always goes up a certain semi-visible steam, while in the act of thinking deep thoughts.

1959 A. R. P. Burgess tr. A. Goutard Battle of France, 1940 iv. 265 A thoughtful and ponderous man, and an enemy of high-sounding and empty phrases and formulas.

1991 San Francisco Chron. (Nexis) 27 Sept. a27 Some people are more prone to action. There've been times I've jumped in, but I'm a ponderous person. The situation might be too dangerous or you might make it worse.

Compounds

(In sense 1b.)

† ponderous earth n. Obsolete = heavy spar n.

ΘΚΠ

the world > the earth > minerals > types of mineral > sulphates > [noun] > barium sulphate

liverstone1587

ponderous spar1618

cauk1653

cawk1653

ponderous earth1780

baroselenite1786

barytes1789

heavy spar1789

terra ponderosa1794

hepatite1802

allomorphite1842

1780 J. R. Forster tr. K. W. Scheele Chem. Observ. & Exper. on Air & Fire 171 This ponderous earth with acid of vitriol forms the heavy or ponderous spar, which is not soluble in water.

1800 tr. E. J. B. Bouillon-Lagrange Man. Course Chem. I. 187 It [sc. barytes] was called Ponderous Earth, Ponderous Spar.

† ponderous spar n. Obsolete = heavy spar n.

ΘΚΠ