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splendiferous (adj.)
"brilliant, gorgeous," etymologically "splendor-bearing," considered a playful elaboration since its re-birth in 1843, but in 15c. it was good English, from Medieval Latin splendorifer, from splendor (see splendor) + ferre "to bear, carry," from PIE root *bher- (1) "to carry," also "to bear children."
Compare 15c. splendidious, also splendacious "very splendid" (1838). Bartlett (1859) offers this, allegedly from "An itinerant gospeller ... holding forth to a Kentuckian audience on the kingdom of heaven":
"Heaven, my beloved hearers," said he, "is a glorious, a beautiful, a splendiferous, an angeliferous place. Eye hath not seen, ear hath not heard, it has not entered into the imagination of any Cracker in these here diggings what carryings on the just made perfect have up thar."
also from 1843
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updated on May 13, 2023
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AdvertisementDictionary entries near splendiferous
splatter
splay
spleen
splendid
splendidly
splendiferous
splendor
splendorous
splendour
splenetic
splenitis