a. Also 4 luxsorius, 5 luxurius, 7 luxurous. [ad. OF. luxurius (mod.F. luxurieux), ad. L. luxuriōsus, f. luxuri-a: see LUXURY and -OUS.]
† 1. Lascivious, lecherous, unchaste. Obs.
c. 1330. Arth. & Merl., 652 (Kölbing). Þe deuelen, þat houen abouen ous, Euer be luxsorius.
a. 1450. Knt. de la Tour (1868), 50. Havinge luxurious lokes, countenaunces and signes in her chirche atte the masse.
1456. Sir G. Haye, Law Arms (S.T.S.), 76. Ane [is] luxurius, ane othir chaste.
1599. Minsheu, Span. Dial., 53/2. Great hee-goats, which is a most luxurious beast.
1607. Topsell, Four-f. Beasts (1658), 428. The beast beginneth to be luxurious, and prone to the rage of venery.
1630. R. Johnson’s Kingd. & Commw., III. 430. They are exceeding luxurious, by reason whereof the Countrey swarmeth with Whores.
1697. Dryden, Virg. Past., IV. 52. The luxurious Father of the Fold.
† 2. Outrageous, extravagant, excessive; also, passionately desirous after something. Obs.
c. 1374. Chaucer, Boeth., I. pr. iv. 13 (Camb. MS.). Euery luxurious tormentour [L. flagitiosum quemque] dar doon all felonye unpunysshed.
a. 1613. Overbury, Charact., Wise Man, Wks. (1856), 60. He … is not luxurious after acquaintance.
1627. Hakewill, Apol., IV. viii. § 10. 384. As they were luxurious in the price, so were they likewise in the worke itself.
1665. Needham, Med. Medicinæ, 266. When this Sulphureous part is exalted, and becomes luxurious in the Bloud.
3. a. Of persons, their habits, etc.: Given to luxury, or self-indulgence, voluptuous.
1606. Warner, Alb. Eng., XIV. lxxxvii. 358. Luxurious, idle, Bacchanists.
1691. Hartcliffe, Virtues, 311. Corinth, the Metropolis of Achaia, was … excessively proud and luxurious.
1722. De Foe, Plague (1840), 21. The monarchy being restored … all people were gay and luxurious.
1774. Goldsm., Nat. Hist. (1776), II. 71. The inhabitants lead a … soft, luxurious life.
1836. J. H. Newman, in Lyra Apost. (1849), 85. He … lets his feelings run, In soft luxurious flow.
1875. Gladstone, Glean. (1879), I. 32. A wealthy country, with a large leisured class, in a luxurious age.
b. Of things: Of or pertaining to luxury; characterized by or making a display of luxury.
1650. Bulwer, Anthropomet., 99. The two most precious Pearls which Cleopatra dissolv’d and drunk as a luxurious expression of Love to Mark Antonie.
1667. Milton, P. L., XI. 784. Those whom last thou sawst In triumph and luxurious wealth.
1713. Steele, Guardian, No. 18, ¶ 4. Conveyed to that luxurious Paradise.
1824. Miss Ferrier, Inher., II. ix. 48. Uncle Adam … had been left … in a luxurious apartment.
1860. Emerson, Cond. Life, Wealth, Wks. (Bohn), II. 348. A sumptuous ship has … made it [the Atlantic] a luxurious hotel.
a. 1873. Lytton, Pausanias, 30. An imitation of the luxurious galleys of the Barbarian.
1879. Farrar, St. Paul (1883), 491. The rich brought their luxurious provisions.
¶ 4. = LUXURIANT 2. Now rare.
1644. H. Vaughan, Serm., 26. That is but a luxurious branch shot forth through the strength and heat of devotion.
1653. Cloria & Narcissus, I. 59. Arrable grounds, every one intermixt with luxurious Vines.
1662. Evelyn, Chalcogr. (1769), 16. I can only name them briefly, the field would be too luxurious to discourse upon them severally.
1801. Charlotte Smith, Lett. Solit. Wand., I. 5. This luxurious grass spangled with wild flowers.
1826. Southey, in Q. Rev., XXXIV. 103. Their villages are situated in the midst of the most luxurious groves.
1854. Cardl. Wiseman, Fabiola (1855), 349. She wiped them with her luxurious hair.
† b. Of unhealthy flesh: Granulating exuberantly, ‘proud.’ Obs.
1676. Wiseman, Surg., 378. If in the incarning the Wound the Flesh grow luxurious, touch it with a Vitriol-stone.
