a. Forms: 4, 7 vigrous, 5 vygerous, 5–6 vigerous-, 7–9 poet. vig’rous; 5–6 vygorous (5 vygorowse, 6 -ouse; 5 Sc. wygorous-), 4– vigorous (5 vigorows-, Sc. wigorus-); 4, 6–7 vigourous. [a. AF. vigrus, vigerous, vigorouse, OF. vigorous, vigourous, vigoros, etc. (mod.F. vigoureux), Pr. vigoros, Sp., Pg., It. vigoroso, med.L. vigorōsus (Diefenbach): see VIGOUR sb. and -OUS.]
1. Of persons or animals: Strong and active in body; endowed with or possessed of physical strength and energy; robust in health or constitution; hardy, lusty, strong.
App. not in common use during the 15th and 16th cent.
13[?]. K. Alis., 6923 (Laud MS.). We habbeþ many pryuee foo, Þat … willen fonde to greuen vs, Bot þou þee make vigourous!
c. 1330. Arth. & Merl., 9060 (Kölbing). Herui, þat was vigrous & liȝt, On þe scheld him hit a dint hard.
c. 1400. trans. Secreta Secret., Gov. Lordsh., 57. Euer ordeyn þi þoughtes in goodnesse; ȝeld by seluyn glorious & vygerous.
c. 1440. Promp. Parv., 510/1. Vygorowse, vigorosus, ferox.
1530. Palsgr., 328/1. Vygorouse, vigoreux, vigoreuse.
1611. Cotgr., Vigoureux, vigorous, lustie, liuely, strong.
1658. Phillips, Vigorous, full of vigour, i. strength, courage, lustinesse.
a. 1687. Waller, Presage Ruin Turkish Emp., 20. Bred in the camp, fam’d for his valor young; At sea successful, vigorous, and strong.
a. 1721. Prior, Dial. Locke & Montaigne, Wks. 1907, II. 238. We commend a Horse for being Vigorous and Handsom.
1780. Harris, Philol. Enq., Wks. (1841), 450. I have seen great geniuses miserably err … and, like vigorous travellers who lose their way, only wander the wider on account of their own strength.
1797. S. & Ht. Lee, Canterb. T. (1799), I. 350. Vigorous in health and youth, to him the water had long been an element almost as familiar and as natural as air.
1844. Emerson, Lect. New Eng. Ref., Wks. (Bohn), I. 268. Men are Conservatives when they are least vigorous, or when they are most luxurious. They are Conservatives after dinner, or before taking their rest; when they are sick, or aged.
1874. Green, Short Hist., vii. § 7. 428. At forty-five he was so vigorous that he made his way to Scotland on foot.
1892. Mivart, Ess. & Crit., I. 161. The life of every healthy and vigorous animal consists mainly in the repetition of actions which have become habitual.
b. So of the body or its parts, health, etc.
1618. J. Taylor (Water P.), Penniless Pilgr., A iiij b. Mithridate, that vigrous health preserues. Ibid. (1652), Journ. Wales (1859), 8. He was more then 80 yeares of age, yet of a very able body, and vigorous constitution.
1683. Burnet, trans. More’s Utopia (1684), 131. Their Bodies are vigorous and lively.
1708. Lond. Gaz., No. 4469/4. Thomas Scott,… round fac’d, little vigorous Eyes.
1784. Cowper, Task, IV. 363. The learned finger never need explore Thy vig’rous pulse.
1813. Shelley, Q. Mab, IX. 65. How vigorous then the athletic form of age!
1841. A. Combe, Physiol. Digestion (ed. 3), 294. In twenty-five days the dog was in the enjoyment of vigorous health and strength.
1870. Macduff, Mem. Patmos, xiv. The strong frame, the vigorous pulse, and undimmed eye.
c. Of plants, etc.: Growing strongly and freely. Also of growth or vegetation.
1706. London & Wise, Retir’d Gard., I. 109. Some Trees are weak, others strong and vigorous.
1748. Anson’s Voy., I. v. 45. The vigorous vegetation which constantly takes place there.
1783. Crabbe, Village, II. 119. The tall oak, whose vigorous branches form An ample shade.
1800. Med. Jrnl., IV. 237. My strongest and most vigorous plants grow in a bed or bank sloping to the south.
1842. Loudon, Suburban Hort., 37. In general … the seeds produced by them [are] the largest and most vigorous of growth.
1881. T. Moore, in Encycl. Brit., XII. 242/1. Near the base of the stem are two prominent buds, which would produce two vigorous shoots.
d. Marked or characterized by, requiring or involving, physical strength or activity.
1697. Walsh, Life Virgil, ¶ 8, in Dryden, Virgil. Which work took up seven of the most vigorous years of his life.
1711. Steele, Spect., No. 260, ¶ 1. The Time of Youth and vigorous Manhood.
1746. Francis, trans. Horace, Epist., I. xviii. 79. While He the vigorous Chace pursues.
1797. Burke, Regic. Peace, iii. (1892), 215. I mean … plentiful nourishment to vigorous labour.
1836. J. H. Newman, in Lyra Apost. (1849), 237. The keenness of youth’s vigorous day Thrills in each nerve and limb.
1837. Lockhart, Scott, I. ii. 77. His professional visits to Roxburghshire and Ettrick Forest were, in his vigorous life, very frequent.
1856. Kane, Arct. Expl., I. xxxi. 433. It requires the most vigorous efforts … to tear from the oak ribs … a single day’s firewood.
2. Full of, exhibiting, characterized by, vigor or active force; powerful, strong.
a. Of natural agencies or phenomena, substances, etc. Now somewhat rare.
(a) a. 1548. Hall, Chron., Hen. VII., 57 b. He had sayled no great waye before that a vygorous tempest by reason of contrarietie of wyndes sodeynly arose.
1632. Lithgow, Trav., VI. 295. [They] tumbled downe … starke dead, being suffocated with the vigorous Sunne.
1660. Boyle, New Exp. Phys. Mech., xvi. 105. We apply’d a Load-stone moderately vigorous to the out-side of the Glass.
1770. Langhorne, Plutarch (1879), II. 792/1. The air was dark and heavy, for want of that vigorous heat which clears and rarefies it.
1794. Sullivan, View Nat., I. 209. At first they [sc. monsoons] are feeble, they afterwards become vigorous.
1909. A. Reid, Regality of Kirriemuir, xxiv. 315. Granted a more vigorous flow of water, the Northmuir need fear no local rival.
(b) a. 1661. Fuller, Worthies (1840), III. 2. The fat of venison is conceived to be … of all flesh the most vigorous nourishment.
1691. Ray, Coll. Words, Making Salt, 209. A Rock of Natural Salt from which issues a vigourous sharp Brine.
1697. Dryden, Virg. Georg., III. 764. The too vig’rous Dose too fiercely wrought; And added Fury to the Strength it brought.
1728. Chambers, Cycl., Elaterium is a vigorous Purge, and is used in Lethargies.
1759. B. Martin, Nat. Hist., I. 23. Of a more vigorous and high Spirit than the Hereford Cyder.
1802. Mar. Edgeworth, Mor. T., Forester, a Printer. The fresh seeds,… scattered upon the vigorous soil, took root, and flourished.
1826. Disraeli, Viv. Grey, VI. i. A pint of most vigorous and powerful wine.
b. Of the soul, mind, etc.
1640. Walton, Life Donne, in D.’s Serm., C j. His mind was liberall, and unwearied in the search of knowledge, with which his vigorous soule is now satisfied.
1797. Mrs. Radcliffe, Italian, xvii. His soul became stern and vigorous in despair.
a. 1800. in Southey, Comm.-Pl. Bk. (1849), II. 41/1. Whilst they lay apparently senseless,… their minds were more vigorous … than they had ever been before.
1849. Macaulay, Hist. Eng., vii. II. 226. His [Bunyan’s] vigorous understanding and his stout English heart.
c. Of immaterial things, qualities, etc.
1634. Milton, Comus, 628. He … Would … shew me simples of a thousand names, Telling their strange and vigorous faculties.
1662. H. Hibbert, Body Divinity, II. 105. All the ceremonies, services and sacrifices at that time … through Christ … were vigorous, and for his sake acceptable to God.
1675. J. Owen, Indwelling Sin, x. (1732), 121. Suggestions of the Law of Sin … advantaged by any suitable or vigorous Temptation.
1709. Berkeley, Th. Vision, § 3. At a near distance I have experienced [an object] to make a vigorous and large appearance.
1758. S. Hayward, Serm., xvii. 518. Grace may not be always in the same lively exercise; sometimes it appears cool and indifferent, at other times vigorous and lively.
1791. Mrs. Radcliffe, Rom. Forest, ii. Whose hopes are, therefore, vigorous.
1837. Lockhart, Scott, I. x. 347. In her case sound sense as well as vigorous ability had unfortunately condescended to an absurd disguise.
1849. Macaulay, Hist. Eng., iii. I. 330. Where the opportunities of vigorous intellectual exercise were frequent.
1872. Morley, Voltaire (1886), 6. So vigorous and minutely penetrative was the quality of his understanding.
d. Of language, etc.: Energetic, forcible, powerful.
1821. Scott, Kenilw., xxxvi. Doth your new spirit of chivalry supply no more vigorous ejaculation, when a noble struggle is impending?
1837. Lockhart, Scott, IV. ii. 40. It contains many vigorous pictures, and splendid verses.
1864. Trevelyan, Compet. Wallah (1866), 156. A copious fount of vigorous English.
1873. C. M. Davies, Unorth. Lond. (1876), 43. A vigorous hymn was being sung.
3. Of actions, measures, etc.: Characterized by, attended, carried out, or enforced with, vigor or energy.
Freq. connoting some degree of boldness or severity.
1599. Hakluyt, Voy., II. 81. They had so sharpe and vigorous answere, that there was not one mantellet that abode whole an houre.
1647. Clarendon, Hist. Reb., I. § 146. No Man could expect that the vigorous designs and enterprizes undertaken by the Duke, would be pursued with equal resolution and courage.
1679. Everard, Prot. Princes Europe, 12. [He] did also by his most vigorous Representations … cause his Imperial Majesty … to resolve to arm vigorously.
1702. in 10th Rep. Hist. MSS. Comm., App. I. 81. The allies made a vigorous attaque on the conterscarpe of Keiserswart.
1769. Burke, Corr. (1844), I. 182. Various matters have so dissipated me, as to hinder me from a vigorous pursuit of this object.
1777. Watson, Philip II., XIII. (1812), II. 171. This measure … shewed how firmly determined the citizens were to make a vigorous defence.
1844. H. H. Wilson, Brit. India, I. 33. The Nizam’s troops being either unable or unwilling to suppress the insurrection, it became necessary to adopt more vigorous measures.
1899. Allbutt’s Syst. Med., VII. 556. If in a severe case [of simple meningitis] vigorous treatment is adopted at an early stage of the disease, recovery is by no means hopeless.
b. Of persons, etc.: Acting, or prepared to act, with vigor.
1638. R. Baker, trans. Balzac’s Lett. (vol. II.), 115. Having you on my side, and knowing you to be as vigorous a friend of mine, as I am [of you].
1701. Penn, in Pennsylv. Hist. Soc. Mem., IX. 44. Be vigorous about my property matters.
1796. Burke, Lett. Noble Lord, Wks. 1842, II. 258. To be commended by an able, vigorous, and well informed statesman.
1856. Froude, Hist. Eng. (1858), II. ix. 323. A vigorous government placed in circumstances of extreme peril.
4. Comb., as vigorous-growing, -looking adjs.
1842. Loudon, Suburban Hort., 37. When it is wished to have plants of a vigorous-growing species.
1890. ‘R. Boldrewood,’ Col. Reformer (1891), 269. A frank, stout, gray-haired, but vigorous-looking man.
