voluminous

Etymology

It is borrowed from Late Latin volūminōsus (“full of folds, with many coils”),^{[2][3][4][5][6]} used by Sidonius,^[2] from volūmen (“a roll of writing, book; coil, wreath”), stem volūmin-,^[2][3][7][4] which is also the source of volume.^[7][2] The Shorter Oxford and the Oxford Dictionary of English take it partly directly from the Latin noun.^[8][9] The noun comes from volvō (“to roll”).^[2] The OED compares French volumineux, Italian voluminoso, Spanish voluminoso and Portuguese voluminoso.^[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

Two senses appear in 1611: full of turnings or windings, in Coryate's Crudities, and writing so much as to fill volumes, in Speed's History of Great Britaine.^[2] Merriam-Webster Unabridged also dates the word to 1611,^[4] Etymonline to the 1610s.^[7]

Semantic evolution

The first sense, full of windings, followed the Late Latin word; it is now rare.^[2][8] Johnson (1755) quoted Milton's serpent that "roll'd voluminous and vast" for it.^[10] The link with books gave the senses "forming a large volume, or many volumes" (1612) and, by the mid-17th century, "copious, extensive".^[2][7] From before 1635 the word also meant large in size, bulky,^[2] and in this sense it is now used especially of clothing that is full and ample.^[11][4]

Timeline

• 1611 – full of turnings or windings.^[2][4]
• 1611 – writing so much as to fill volumes.^[2]
• 1612 – forming a large volume, or many volumes.^[2]
• before 1635 – of great size, bulky.^[2]
• before 1652 – extensive, vast.^[2]
• 1672 – of a discourse, very full or copious.^[2]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Of great size or volume; bulky, or of clothing full and loose: She wore a voluminous coat that hid her shape.^[11][4][2]
2. Of writing, long enough to fill volumes, or consisting of many volumes: his voluminous correspondence.^[11][4][2]
3. Writing or speaking a great deal; prolific.^[11][4][2]
4. (rare) Full of windings or coils; sinuous.^{[8][11][4][2]}

Word family

• voluminosity
• voluminously
• voluminousness
• supervoluminous
• unvoluminous

Related words

• volume
• revolve
• involve
• convolution

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
5. ^ Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
6. ^ Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
7. ^ a b c d Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
8. ^ a b c Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
9. ^ Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
10. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
11. ^ a b c d e Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins