galore

Pronunciation

• IPA: /ɡəˈlɔː/ (UK); /ɡəˈloɹ/ (US)^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Irish go leór (“enough, sufficiently”),^{[2][3][4][5][6]} compare Scottish Gaelic gu leóir.^[2][3][6] The particle go (Gaelic gu), which usually means “to”, here turns an adjective into an adverb.^[2][3][6] Leór “enough” goes back to Old Irish lour, an alteration of roar “enough”.^[4][6][3]

Earliest recorded meaning

In abundance, in plenty.^[7][2][3]

Semantic evolution

In English the word is usually placed after its noun, as in bargains galore, so it often works like a predicate adjective.^[3][5][6] It has also been used as a noun meaning “abundance” (1675).^[7]

Timeline

• 1628 – Merriam-Webster's date for the adjective.^[5]
• 1660s–1670s – “in abundance”: Random House dates it 1660–70, Etymonline to the 1670s, and Barnhart to 1675.^[6][3][2]
• 1675 – as a noun, “abundance, plenty”, also in the phrase in galore.^[7]

Modern meaning

Adjective

1. Plentiful, in large numbers; placed after the noun it describes.

Adverb

1. In abundance; in plentiful amounts.

References

1. [1] Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] Barnhart, Robert K., ed. (1995), The Barnhart Concise Dictionary of Etymology, New York: HarperCollins
3. [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] Harper, Douglas, Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. [1] [2] The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (1992), 3rd ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin
5. [1] [2] [3] Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary (2003), 11th ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
6. [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] Random House Webster's Unabridged Dictionary (1999), 2nd ed., New York: Random House
7. [1] [2] [3] Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press