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gross adj. (the senses ‘glaring, flagrant’ and ‘coarse’ are common)
1. big, bulky Wiv. III. iii. 42 “this watery pumpion,” Lr. IV. vi. 14 “The crows . . . Show scarce so as beetles” : with quibble in Ado V. i. 168 “a great one,” 1H4 II. iv. 254 “[lies] as a mountain.”
2. big-bodied, corpulent 1H4 II. iv. 568 [560].
3. palpable, plain, evident Wiv. V. v. 147, Meas. I. ii. 165 “With character too is writ,” All'sW. I. iii. 180 “to all sense 'tis ,” Wint. II. i. 175, 1H4 II. iv. 254 (cf. sense 1), H5 II. ii. 103 “as As black from white,” Ham. IV. iv. 46, Oth. I. ii. 72, III. iii. 219; as adv.=plainly Meas. II. iv. 83 “I'll speak more ,” Lr. I. i. 295 (Ff “grossely”).
4. entire, whole LLL. I. ii. 50 “the sum,” AYL. IV. i. 205 “the band of the unfaithful,” 2H4 II. i. 94; also short for ‘gross sum’ Mer.V. I. iii. 56 “the Of full three thousand ducats” ; fig. Ham. I. i. 68 “in the and scope” (=general drift) “of my opinion.”
5. dull, stupid Err. III. ii. 34, Ado V. i. 168 (cf. sense 1), MND. V. i. 376 “This palpable play,” AYL. II. v. 56, H5 IV. i. 302 “ brain,” R3 III. vi. 10, Oth. III. iii. 405.
6. phrases involving absol. uses: by gross, wholesale LLL. V. ii. 320 “we that sell by ” ; in gross, generally, on the whole Mer.V. III. ii. 159.
A Shakespeare Glossary. C. T. Onions. Oxford. Clarendon Press. 1911.

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hide References (13 total)
  • Cross-references in text-specific dictionaries from this page (13):
    • William Shakespeare, King Lear, 1.1
    • William Shakespeare, King Lear, 4.6
    • William Shakespeare, Hamlet, Prince of Denmark, 1.1
    • William Shakespeare, Hamlet, Prince of Denmark, 4.4
    • William Shakespeare, As You Like It, 2.5
    • William Shakespeare, As You Like It, 4.1
    • William Shakespeare, The Comedy of Errors, 3.2
    • William Shakespeare, The First Part of Henry IV, 2.4
    • William Shakespeare, Henry V, 2.2
    • William Shakespeare, Henry V, 4.1
    • William Shakespeare, The Merchant of Venice, 1.3
    • William Shakespeare, The Merchant of Venice, 3.2
    • William Shakespeare, A Midsummer Night's Dream, 5.1
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