Chiefly poet. [f. FOOD sb. + -FUL.] Abounding with or supplying food. Also, rich in nutriment, nutritious.
1638. G. Sandys, Paraphr. Job., 55.
| Tell, if thou canst; where wert thou when I made | |
| The food-full Earth, and her foundation laid? |
1697. Dryden, Virg. Georg., I. 203.
| That studious Need might useful Arts explore; | |
| From furrow’d Fields to reap the foodful Store. |
1735. Somerville, The Chace, III. 248.
| The bleating Innocent, that claims in vain | |
| The Shepherd’s Care, and seeks with piteous Moan | |
| The foodful Teat. |
1808. J. Barlow, The Columbiad, I. 796.
| The sturdy fig, the frail deciduous cane | |
| And foodful cocoa fan the sultry plain. |
1868. Browning, Ring & Bk., IX. 246.
| Cries ‘No more friskings o’er the foodful glebe, | |
| Else, ’ware the whip!’ |
fig. 1791. Burke, App. Whigs, Wks. 1842, I. 522. The democratick commonwealth is the foodful nurse of ambition.
