[a. Fr. extravagance, f. late L. extravagant-em: see EXTRAVAGANT and -ANCE.]
† 1. A going out of the usual path; an excursion, digression. Also, the position or fact of erring from (a prescribed path). lit. and fig. Obs.
1643. Milton, Divorce, II. vii. (1851), 80. A doctrine of that extravagance from the sage principles of piety.
1645. Hammond, Pract. Catech., 11. I have troubled you too farre by this extravagance: I shall make no delay to recall my selfe into the rode againe.
a. 1656. Bp. Hall, Rem. Wks., Life (1660), 15. Sollicited me for my Company in a Journey … to the Spa..., laying before me … the Benefit of that small Extravagance.
2. The quality of being extravagant or of exceeding just or prescribed limits, esp. those of decorum, probability or truth; unrestrained excess; fantastic absurdity (of opinions, conduct, etc.); outrageous exaggeration or violence (of language).
1676. Etheredge, Man of Mode, III. ii. 40. L. Town. Here’s the freshest Fool in Town…. Dor. Sooth him up in his extravagance!
1681. Dryden, Span. Fryar, Ep. Ded. 2. Some Verses of my own Maximin and Almanzor which cry, Vengeance upon me for their Extravagance.
1716–8. Lady M. W. Montague, Lett., I. xxxvii. 144. You will accuse me of extravagance in this description.
1841. Elphinstone, Hist. Ind., I. II. iv. 207. The extravagance of the Braminical chronology and geography.
1864. J. H. Newman, Apologia, 392. Not to enfeeble the freedom or vigour of human thought in religious speculation, but to resist and control its extravagance.
3. An instance or kind of extravagance; an extravagant notion, statement, piece of conduct, etc.; an irrational excess, an absurdity.
1650. Fuller, Pisgah, V. i. 143. Many maps are full of affected extravagancies.
a. 1680. Butler, Rem. (1759), I. 71.
| So Men, who one Extravagance would shun, | |
| Into the contrary Extreme have run. |
1719. De Foe, Crusoe (ed. 3), II. 21. But an Excess of Joy, a Surprize of Joy has a Thousand Extravagancies in it.
1782. Priestley, Corrupt. Chr., I. I. 69. Later writers, indeed, did not follow Hilary in this extravagance.
1809–10. Coleridge, Friend (ed. 3), I. 80. The extravagances of ignorance and credulity.
1857. Keble, Eucharist. Adorat., 1. Had there been no abuse, error or extravagance connected with the practice.
1875. Jowett, Plato (ed. 2), V. 181. Impatient of the extravagances to which the love of truth almost necessarily leads.
4. Excessive prodigality or wastefulness in expenditure, household management, etc.
1727. Arbuthnot, Coins, II. v. 133. They [the Romans] arrived by degrees to an incredible extravagance.
1805. Foster, Ess., I. iii. 35. Extravagance of ostentatious wealth.
1817. Mar. Edgeworth, Rose, Thistle, etc. II. ii. Such extravagance, to give a penny, and a silver penny, for what you may have for nothing.
1838. Dickens, Nich. Nick., iii. I can’t support them in their extravagances.
1873. Black, Pr. Thule (1874), 16. Do you think I would take the child to London to show her its extravagance.
Mod. The cook’s extravagance was too much for me.
