a. [ad. L. vīvid-us living, animated, lively, f. vīvĕre to live. Cf. It. vivido.]
1. Full of life; vigorous, active or energetic on this account; lively or brisk: a. Of persons (or animals), their attributes, etc.
1638. Jackson, Creed, IX. xxix. § 2. In my old and decaying days to publish the fruits of my former labours in these mysteries which to my apprehension had been well set in my flourishing and vivid years.
1658. W. Burton, Itin. Anton., 8. His whole body was vivid and strong.
1769. E. Bancroft, Guiana, 254. They have a sprightly vivid countenance.
1799. Corry, Sat. Lond. (1803), 45. When the fine lady returns home fatigued after a succession of important morning visits and the exhaustion of her vivid spirits.
1858. Hawthorne, Fr. & It. Note-Bks. (1871), II. 13. Mr. Browning was … a most vivid and quick-thoughted person.
1876. Geo. Eliot, Dan. Der., xxxv. Mr. Vandernoodt,… as good a foil as could well be found to the intense colouring and vivid gravity of Deronda.
1878. Browning, Poets Croisic, clix. His hope be in the vivid horse Whose neck God clothed with thunder.
fig. 1876. Blackie, Songs Relig. & Life, 234. Let sweet fragrance flow from thee, Vivid breath of pure emotion.
b. Of material things or substances, or their qualities.
1650. Bulwer, Anthropomet., 230. The vertue that was ordained to be in that matter, cannot be so vivid and effectual.
1670. W. Simpson, Hydrol. Ess., 99. Elementary fire … produced from a vivid nitrous or hermetick salt.
1818. Busby, Gram. Mus., 48. This vivid and volatile instrument [sc. the violin].
1897. Mary Kingsley, W. Africa, Introd. 6. Things emitting at unexpectedly short notice vivid and awful stenches.
c. Of feelings, etc.: Lively, strong, intense.
1853. C. Brontë, Villette, xix. His passions were strong, his aversions and attachments alike vivid.
1859. Darwin, Orig. Spec., xi. (1860), 366. We might have remained in this same belief, had not Agassiz and others called vivid attention to the Glacial period.
1860. W. Collins, Wom. White, I. narr. W. H. vi. Her face expressed vivid interest and astonishment, nothing more.
1873. H. Rogers, Orig. Bible, i. (1875), 35. The first is clearly proved by … the vivid indignation he evoked.
1905. G. Thorne, Lost Cause, viii. There is a sterling and vivid Christianity among them.
2. Of actions or operations: Proceeding, or taking place, with great vigor or activity.
1702. Rouse’s Heav. Univ., Adv. 2. More vivid Operations of the Internal Light of souls.
1815. J. Smith, Panorama Sci. & Art, II. 472. The combustion that ensues is exceedingly vivid and beautiful.
1842. A. Combe, Physiol. Digestion (ed. 4), 257. Whenever any living part is called into vivid action, an increased flow of blood and of nervous energy towards it immediately commences.
1858. Lardner, Hand-bk. Nat. Phil., 392. A thin cylinder of oily vapour … is kept in a state of vivid and constant combustion.
b. Of utterances: Strongly or warmly expressed.
1806. J. Beresford, Miseries Hum. Life (ed. 3), VI. xiii. Being mounted on a beast who … proceeds very coolly to repose himself in the middle of the pond without … paying the slightest attention to your vivid remonstrances on the subject.
1838. Prescott, Ferd. & Is. (1846), III. x. 10. The Spanish government … made the most vivid remonstrances through its resident minister.
c. Of intellectual faculties: Capable of ready and clear creation of ideas or concepts.
1814. Scott, Wav., iii. Edward’s power of imagination … was vivid.
1836. Hor. Smith, Tin Trump., I. 14. Vivid conception, and keen sensibility, will not of themselves make a good actor.
1863. Trevelyan, Compet. Wallah (1866), 318. Every page teems with the vivid thought, the glowing fancy [etc.].
1885. ‘Mrs. Alexander,’ At Bay, i. I suspect your fancy is tolerably vivid still.
d. Of description, etc.: Presenting subjects or ideas in a clear and striking manner. Freq. with picture in fig. use.
(a) 1837. Lockhart, Scott, IV. v. 157. I mean especially a power of vivid painting—the true and primary sense of what is called Imagination.
1864. Pusey, Lect. Daniel, vi. 339. Nehemiah himself relates,… in one consecutive vivid narrative, the history of the rebuilding of the walls of Jerusalem.
1868. Freeman, Norm. Conq. (1877), I. iv. 149. A most vivid history of the time.
1872. Lowell, Milton, Prose Wks. 1890, IV. 72. Mr. Masson’s unhappy infection with the vivid style.
1876. Freeman, Norm. Conq., v. xxiii. 296. We have … a no less vivid report of the real or imaginary speeches.
(b) 1847. Grote, Greece, II. xvii. III. 320. It is not from them however that Herodotus draws his vivid picture of the people, with their inhuman rites and repulsive personal features.
1879. Froude, Cæsar, xx. 349. These letters give a vivid picture of the uncertainties which distracted public opinion.
3. Of color, light, etc.: Brilliant, fresh, lively, bright.
1665. Boyle, Occas. Refl., VI. v. (1848), 354. Many of the Ladies wear in their Ribbands little less vivid colours, than those of their faces. Ibid. (1667), in Phil. Trans., II. 582. A piece of such Wood … that gave a vivid light (for rotten Wood).
1704. Newton, Optics, I. II. x. (1721), 157. Such Bodies ought to be chosen as have the fullest and most vivid Colours.
c. 1750. Shenstone, Ruin’d Abbey, 180. The vivid vermeil fled his fady cheek.
1791. Mrs. Radcliffe, Rom. Forest, i. Upon the vivid glow of the western horizon.
1815. J. Smith, Panorama Sci. & Art, II. 413. In a little time it becomes of a deep vivid blue.
1867. Howells, Ital. Journ., 114. The lavish delight in color found expression in the vividest hues upon the walls.
1875. J. H. Bennet, Winter Medit. (ed. 5), 408. The love of vivid colours seems to increase as we descend south.
b. Of things in respect of color or brightness.
1686. Goad, Celest. Bodies, II. iv. 212. The Sun alone makes not any Rainbow that is vivid or Illustrious.
1718. Pope, Iliad, VIII. 691. Around her throne the vivid planets roll.
a. 1763. Shenstone, Elegies, xi. 42. Then glows the breast … More free, more vivid, than the linnet’s wing.
1794. R. J. Sulivan, View Nat., II. 381. The best glasses have no other effect than the making them [the stars] more vivid in their appearance.
1837. New Monthly Mag., L. 407. A wreath of laurel, intensely vivid, inclosed … the auburn splendours of the head.
1860. Tyndall, Glac., I. ii. 21. Like a vivid circular rainbow quite round the sun.
1874. Holland, Mistr. Manse, 114. The brooding, threatning bank of mist Grows into groups of vivid isles.
4. Clearly or distinctly perceived or perceptible; appealing strongly to the mind or eye.
1690. Locke, Hum. Und., II. xix. 112. Those Motions made on the Organs of Sense, which at other times produce very vivid and sensible Ideas.
1710. J. Clarke, trans. Rohault’s Nat. Philos. (1729), I. 248. This immaterial Image, ought to be so much the more vivid or clear, as the Object sends forth more Rays of Light.
1774. J. Bryant, Mythol., II. 214. We shall find the traces of this event more vivid and determinate than those of Greece.
1806. Jebb, in Knox & J., Corr. (1834), I. 297. Sweet sounds awaken latent harmonies within us, and this produce a vivid idea of the beautiful.
1848. W. K. Kelly, trans. L. Blanc’s Hist. Ten Y., I. 320. At a moment when the part played by the people in July was still fresh and vivid in recollection.
1869. Farrar, Fam. Speech, ii. (1873), 79, note. No book gives a more vivid impression of the growth of Russian influence.
1883. H. Wace, Gosp. & Witnesses, ii. 34. Its vivid internal marks of genuineness.
absol. 1876. Lowell, Among my Bks., Ser. II. 261. Whether the cause lie not rather in a besetting velleity of the picturesque and vivid.
b. Intensely or strongly felt.
1704–5. Atterbury, Serm., Matt. xiv. 23 (1726), I. 357. Templing Objects, by their Number and Nearness, make the most Vivid and Lasting Impressions upon us.
1715. Desaguliers, Fires Impr., 41. A more vivid Sensation of Cold.
1835. I. Taylor, Spir. Despot., ii. 55. Seasons … in which the clergy are exposed to vivid anxieties or endure actual privations.
1850. Robertson, Serm., Ser. III. viii. (1857), 111. When the recollection of his sin is most vivid and most poignant.
1874. Green, Short Hist., viii. § 1. 454. The vivid sense of a Divine Purity close to such men made the life of common men seem sin.
5. Life-like; resembling life.
1852. Hawthorne, Blithedale Rom., xi. He carried a stick with a wooden head, carved in vivid imitation of that of a serpent.
6. Quasi-adv. Vividly, brightly.
1819. Keats, Fall Hyperion, I. 245. The scenes Still swooning vivid through my globed brain.
1865. Carlyle, Fredk. Gt., XX. iii. (1872), IX. 44. The Prussian camp-fires, they too are all burning uncommonly vivid.
