a. [f. Gr. κῶμα, κώματ- (see COMA1) + -OSE.]
1. Affected with coma; in a state of coma.
1755. Gentl. Mag., XXV. 586. One who by eating mushrooms to excess was rendered so comatose that he could not feel the actual cautery … applied to his head.
1865. Livingstone, Zambesi, i. 28. His excellency … had taken nothing for the fever but a little camphor, and … became comatose.
2. Of, pertaining to, or of the nature of coma.
1761. Pulteney, in Phil. Trans., LII. 352. Syncopes … and comatose affections.
1854. Marion Harland, Alone, xv. From delirium he was relapsing into a comatose state.
3. transf. Drowsy, lethargic.
1828. Scott, Diary, 24 May, in Lockhart Life. I met my old … friend Lord Stowell, looking very frail and even comatose.
1860. Emerson, Cond. Life, Illusions, Wks. (Bohn), II. 447. Wailing, stupid, comatose creatures.
Hence Comatosely adv., in a comatose manner; Comatoseness, Comatosity, comatose condition.
1805. Miniature, No. 36. A learned disquisition on comatosity.
1859. F. E. Paget, Curate of C., 149. Some have pursued the same train of thought quietly, and comatosely.
