abnormousadj.

1710 E. Curll Case Dr Sachaverell 15 Some, that are wholly Govern'd by Singularity and Novelty, affect what is Abnormous and Surprizing, they endeavour to think out of the Way and to shew their Wit in maintaining Paradoxes.

1742 N. Bailey Universal Etymol. Eng. Dict. Abnormous, mishapen, vast, huge.

1771 E. Ledwich Antiquitates Sarisburienses 240 Sir Toby Matthews was a character equally if not of a more abnormous cast than his suspected coadjutor.

1790 H. Downman Infancy (ed. 5) v. 153 Exercise Too far impell'd, abnormous, and for years Continued, renders dense the nervous tide.

1837 H. Hallam Introd. Lit. Europe IV. v. §iii. §48. 252 The general structure of the couplet through the seventeenth century may be called abnormous.

1846 G. Grote Hist. Greece I. i. i. 5 The former [sc. divine myths] being often the more extravagant and abnormous in their incidents.

1859 M. A. Richter Internal Relations Cities, Towns, Villages, Counties, & States of Union 110 What is there, I ask, abnormous in the claim of a man, who..has raised and trained a laborer from childhood.

1909 Gettysburg (Pa.) Compiler 13 Jan. 3/4 The times are hard, many men out of work. That makes an abnormous demand for charity.

1918 Wisconsin State Jrnl. 15 Nov. 3/4 There is an abnormous export business that has been waiting for four years for ships.

1957 Oakland (Calif.) Tribune 14 Apr. 16 b/2 She lives a normal existence with her mother and younger brother, loves to read..and has just one weakness in clothes: ‘abnormous’ hats.

1959 M. Henry Muley-Ears, Nobody’s Dog 4 His ears are the most magnificent part of him. They are simply abnormous! They stand straight up in the air, as if they were wired.

1851 Proc. Zool. Soc. 19 45 The old males have the second hand wing-feather abnormously short and of an unusual formation.

1878 A. Trollope Is he Popenjoy? II. ii. 26 A brat so abnormously distasteful and abominable.

1956 S. Wright Get away from Me (1957) iii. 154 Something abnormously unnatural is the house in the Via Gregoriana.