abound
English
Etymology
- First attested around 1325.
- From Middle English abounden, abounde, from Old French abonder, abunder, from Latin abundāre, present active infinitive of abundō (“overflow”), which comes from ab (“from, down from”) + undō (“surge, swell, rise in waves, move in waves”), from unda (“wave”).
Pronunciation
- (Received Pronunciation) IPA(key): /əˈbaʊnd/
- (US) IPA(key): /əˈbaʊnd/
Audio (US) (file) - Rhymes: -aʊnd
Verb
abound (third-person singular simple present abounds, present participle abounding, simple past and past participle abounded)
- (intransitive) To be full to overflowing. [First attested from around (1350 to 1470).][1]
- (intransitive, obsolete) To be wealthy. [Attested from around (1350 to 1470) until the mid 18th century.][1]
- (intransitive) To be highly productive.
- (intransitive) To be present or available in large numbers or quantities; to be plentiful. [First attested from around (1350 to 1470).][1]
- Wild animals abound wherever man does not stake his claim.
- 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], OCLC 964384981, Romans 5:20:
- Where sin abounded grace did much more abound.
- 1960 December, “New G.E. Line diesel loco maintenance depot at Stratford”, in Trains Illustrated, page 766:
- One end of the east-west building is wet, the other windy, and at present there is smoke abounding, too; but these distressing yard elements can be completely excluded at each end by full-width folding doors [...].
- (intransitive) To revel in. [Attested from around (1350 to 1470) until the late 18th century.][1]
- (intransitive) To be copiously supplied
- The wilderness abounds in traps.
- 1858-1860, George Rawlinson, The Five Great Monarchies of the Ancient Eastern World
- the wild boar, which abounds both in Azerbijan and in the country about Hamadan
Usage notes
- This is generally a stative verb that rarely takes the continuous inflection. See Category:English stative verbs
- (copiously supplied): Abound is followed by in or with.
Derived terms
Translations
to be full to overflowing
to be highly productive
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to be plentiful
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to be copiously supplied
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- The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.
See also
References
- Lesley Brown, editor-in-chief; William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, editors (2002), “abound”, in The Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles, 5th edition, Oxford; New York, N.Y.: Oxford University Press, →ISBN, page 7.
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