monster, n., adv., and adj.
, ME moustre
, ME mowstre
, ME–15 monstre
, ME–15 monstur
, ME– monster
, 15 monstor
, 15–16 mounster
, pre-17 monstir
, pre-17 monstor
, pre-17 monstour
, pre-17 monstoure
, pre-17 monstre
, pre-17 monstuire
, pre-17 monstur
, pre-17 monsture
, pre-17 monstwre
, pre-17 munsture
, pre-17 17– monster
. (Show Less)
Frequency (in current use):
Origin: A borrowing from French. Etymon: French monstre.
Etymology: < Anglo-Norman and Middle French monstre, moustre, French monstre (mid 12th cent. in Old French as mostre in sense ‘prodigy, marvel’, first half of the 13th cent. in senses ‘disfigured person’ and ‘misshapen being’, c1223 in extended sense applied to a pagan, first half of the 18th cent. by antiphrasis denoting an extraordinarily attractive thing) < classical Latin mōnstrum portent, prodigy, monstrous creature, wicked person, monstrous act, atrocity < the base of monēre to warn (see ; for the formation compare perhaps lūstrum ). Compare Italian mostro, †monstro (1282), Spanish †mostro (c1250; compare Spanish monstruo ( < a post-classical Latin variant of classical Latin mōnstrum)), Portuguese monstro (1525 as mõstro).
(Developed from the attributive and appositive use of the noun.)
1730 J. Thomson i. iv. 14
The monster-brood to which this land gives birth.
1861 L. Shore II. 257
A monster brood Trample and rend rich nature, mile on mile.
1697 Dryden tr. Virgil Æneis ix, in tr. Virgil 492
Down sunk the Monster-Bulk, and press'd the Ground.
1855 T. B. Read New Pastoral xix, in
A monster bulk, that..Shall fright the traveller with its ghostly shape.
1710 Ld. Shaftesbury 183
Monsters and Monster-Lands were never more in request.
Like King's It, the finale in monster land drags on too long, stalling the fast pace of the book.
1638 F. Junius 43
A man may find them always upon the monster-market, where they stand and stare upon such maimed creatures.
1942 7 88
The stone door is beautifully carved with a monster mask in high relief.
The t'ao-t'ieh, an evil-averting monster mask which pervades the later bronze-age art of central China.
1929 E. Blunden 49
Though the full cloud Frowns monster-browed.
1621 R. Brathwait sig. C8v
Then all approu'd it, and were well appaid; Where th' Monster-headed Vulgar ope'd her iawes.
1869 ‘M. Twain’ xx. 199
The more immediate scenery consisted of fields and farm-houses outside the car and a monster-headed dwarf and a moustached woman inside it.
1639 T. D. ii. ii
Foule monster monger, who must live by that Which is thy owne destruction.
1823 E. Elliott 155
Two living wonders hath this wondering age, A monster-monger, and star-gazing sage.
1593 T. Lodge sig. L1
Looke how fayre locked Iuno was affected, When she the monster-queller did behold.
1959 A. G. Brodeur 81
Outside the climate of mutual love.., Beowulf would be little more than the monster-queller and marvelous swimmer of folk-tale.
1948 K. Malone in 29 167
Beowulf's mention of sea-monsters..takes us back to the swimming match with Breca, one detail of which is precisely this monster-quelling on the part of the hero.
1615 S. Rowlands 2
The Monster slayers, and the Gyant killers.
Specific findings include the grave site of Manuelito..and a hiding place of Changing Woman (..the mother of the twin heroes, Born Water and Monster Slayer).
1948 L. Spitzer iii. 95
We learn that Hippolyte has not, to his regret, equaled his father in his feats of monster-slaying.
1593 M. Drayton viii. sig. H4
A monster-tamers rare description.
1849 R. B. Brough & W. Brough i. 8
You will also see the celebrated Mr. Oedipus, the monster-tamer.
1597 G. Markham tr. G. Pétau de Maulette f. 7v
Monster-bearing Mother, why didst thou long, Hauing done thy worst, yet to doe greater wrong?
1905 ‘M. Field’ v. ii. 36
Let the monster-bearing Bull be slain.
1581 J. Studley tr. Seneca Hippolytus iv, in T. Newton et al. tr. Seneca f. 65
O Caitiue thou of womankinde for guilt that beares the bell, Whose..euill doth passingly excell, Thy Monster breeding Mothers fault.
1997 J. Lasdun 68
Teratogenic (Lit: ‘monster-breeding’) PCBs and toxic Potions to suit every other taste Were found in a nearby Spring-fed pool.
monster-killing adj. and n.
1596 R. Linche Dom Diego in sig. D6
Of Ariadne, who with smalest lace, freed Monster-killing Theseus.
1738 S. Boyse 50
So stative Jove commands His Monster-killing Bow to mortal hands.
1966 47 141
Digressions..thrown in by the poet..as the fair means by which an experienced teller of long stories overcomes the monotony of a series of monster-killings.
1648 R. Fanshawe tr. B. Guarini i. i. 155
That monster-taming King..Had never grown so valiant..If first the monster Love he had not tam'd.
1788 A. Hamilton in xvi. 99
A project of this kind is less romantic than the monster-taming spirit, attributed to the fabulous heroes and demi-gods of antiquity.
1717 S. Croxall in Dryden et al. tr. Ovid viii. 260
From whose Monster-teeming Womb, the Earth Receiv'd, what much it mourn'd, a bi-form Birth [L. discordemque utero fetum tulit].
1820 Shelley i. i. 41
Never yet there came Phantasms so foul thro' monster-teeming Hell.
1898 R. Nugent 126
From monster-teeming Nile Spring the worship'd Crocodile.
1594 sig. K2
Thou hast trode The monster-garded [printed monster-garden] paths, that lead to crownes.
2000 Re: Techs I've never Taken in alt.games.moo2
If I lose a leader I'm usually going to restore a save, due to a hasty decision (exploring a monster guarded system with a leader equipped military fleet for instance).
1630 N. Richards World in sig. E8
Poesie Diuine, Basely neglected by the Monster Crew, Of Puff-Paste muddie Mindes.
a1777 F. Fawkes tr. Apollonius Rhodius
To different regions flew The maid celestial and the monster-crew.
1996 Re: Phys Reps & stealing Them in rec.games.frp.live-action
One of the monster crew (some poor soul) was asked to put it on and not stand with his back to anyone.
1716 Pope tr. Homer II. v. 954
To tame the Monster-God Minerva knows, And oft' afflicts his Brutal Breast with Woes.
1859 R. C. Singleton tr. Virgil Aeneid viii, in tr. Virgil II. 276
Monster gods of every breed, Barker Anubis, too, 'gainst Neptune..[ranged].
1655 H. L'Estrange 119
In the same moneth..wherein this Monster-Lord [sc. Audley] was sentenced.
1809 S. J. Arnold
i. i. 2
Intelligence will afford me an opportunity to resume a character in life, which shall make this monster Lord tremble.
1970 G. Jackson Let. 4 Apr. in
He was giving to us all of the life force and activity that the monster-machine had left to him.
1605 J. Sylvester tr. G. de S. Du Bartas ii. i. 322
Which like the vaunting Monster-man of Gath, Haue stirr'd against vs little Dauids wrath.
1873 A. Anderson 58
Till the monster-man of his midnight thought Took shape in the ghostly gloom.
† monster paddock n.
[ < .]
a1640 P. Massinger & J. Fletcher Very Woman iii. i. 12 in P. Massinger
A March Frog kept thy mother; Thou art but a monster Paddock.
1680 T. Otway i. 2
The Monster-people roar'd aloud for Joy.
1998 Re: Greyhawk Slavery, Gladiators? in rec.games.frp.dnd
The Scarlet Brotherhood has slavery and monster-people breeding programs set up on their peninsula.
1965 17 380
Cinematic and cultural history of ‘monster’ films, from archetypes..to neo-classics.
These monster films proved that the Japanese..could also make fantasy creatures that were bigger, meaner, friendlier—and more moving.
monster flick n. colloq. =
1980 28 Dec. (Bk. World) 8
It is useful to possess an extensive listing of video sf, including all those really bad invasion and monster flicks of the '50s.
He writes to..the host of a TV program that runs old monster flicks.
† monster-little-man n. Obs. rare an abnormally small person.
1607 E. Topsell 12
The most parte thought him to be some Monster-little-man.
† monster-love n. Obs. rare a love likened to a deformity; a flawed love.
1633 J. Ford i. i. sig. B2
This thought Begets a kinde of Monster-loue.
(a) a person who defeats or masters monsters;
(b) a master who is a monster.
1605 J. Sylvester tr. G. de S. Du Bartas ii. ii. 414
This monster-master stout, This Hercules..they tender.
1634 T. Herbert 5
Sharkes..are alwayes directed by a little specled fish, called a pilot fish, by guiding their Monster-masters to a prey.
1841 Dickens vii. 274
It's wrung from me by the dreadful brutality of that monster master.
1889 Sept. 805
Latour was the monster master from whose cruelties he had fled.
monster movie n. a film having a monster as a major feature of the action.
1973 37 299
It is plausible that violence in a play setting is not violence at all, but something that is..exciting, as in monster movies.
1999 2 June 91/1
‘Jurassic Park’..was a kind of all-you-can-eat buffet of monster-movie clichés, one whopping hunk of red meat after another.
monster truck n. chiefly N. Amer. a very large truck, spec. a highly modified four-wheel drive vehicle with a standard-sized body and disproportionately large wheels and engine, used esp. for racing over obstacle courses.
He..had a house in the Maryland suburbs and a monster truck in the driveway that he didn't have the money to fix.
A three-day show of hot-rod truck-pulling and mud-racing championships... The show includes big-name hot rods and monster trucks.
1994 22 Aug. 30
Madison Square Garden hosts the biannual U.S. Hot Rod Motorsports Extravaganza, featuring tractor pulls and monster trucks.
† monsterful adj. Obs. rare marvellous, extraordinary.
These monstrefulle thingis, I devise to the, Be-cause þow shuldist nat of hem a-basshid be.
ˈmonsterhood n. rare the state or condition of being a monster.
1852 45 90
It was a Behemoth of puffs..standing alone in solitary monsterhood.
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This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, December 2002).
In this entry:
In other dictionaries:
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