megalophonous

comparative more megalophonous · superlative most megalophonous

1. literaryrareStrident or pompous in expression; vociferous.

   The world loves wit, but is all aweary of those megalophonous burros who unbraid their ears and bray at men who are striving in all earnestness to solve the industrial problem.

   1898, William Cowper Brann, The complete works of Brann, the iconoclast, volume 3, published 1919, page 121

   2 more examples

   Let the megalophonous grasshopper sound a blast and summon hither the perfunctory and circumforaneous TumbleBug, to the end that excavations may be made and learning gather new treasures.

   1879, Mark Twain [pseudonym; Samuel Langhorne Clemens], Sketches, Some Fables for Good Old Boys and Girls — Part Third

   Young students have been attracted from every country to become acolytes in the temples of a megalophonous Kultur whose priests are paid agents of a propaganda little suspected outside of the initiate.

   1918, Poultney Bigelow, Genseric, king of the Vandals and the first Prussian kaiser, page xv

2. literaryrareLoud.

   The state of Maine on Saturday stood on its hind legs in congress, flopped its pendent ears and made the corridors of the capitol resound with its megalophonous voice.

   1895 January 21, “Bouffe Statesmanship”, in St. Paul Daily Globe, volume XVIII, number 21, Saint Paul, Minn., →ISSN, →OCLC, page 4, column 2

   5 more examples

   The doors were closed against further admissions at 1 A. M., but not before a dozen callow youths had got in, their heads already buzzing with wine and their voices megalophonous with song.

   1887 January 15, Cymon [pseudonym], “Life in the Metropolis. […]”, in Pittsburgh Daily Post, Pittsburgh, Pa., →OCLC, page [3], column 5

   “I hear some hard words passed between you?” “Yes; he called me a megalophonous megalasaurus,^([sic – meaning megalosaurus]) To which I retorted that, in comparison with him, the antediluvian cyclepteridæ would not have been in it

   1890 April 26, “Facetiæ”, in Harper’s Bazar […], volume XXIII, number 17, New York, N.Y.: Harper & Brothers […], →ISSN, →OCLC, page 336, column 1

   The free-trade Joshua has encompassed the protective Jericho seven times, tooted on the ram’s horn, piped on the pig whistle, pounded the tomtom and jangled the megalophonous cowbell, but the walls show nary a crack.

   1892 September 5, “Heard in the Corridors”, in St. Louis Globe-Democrat, volume 18, number 108, St. Louis, Mo., →ISSN, →OCLC, page 5, column 1

   There was once a menagerie manager who owned a lousy old lion that had lost his teeth, but retained his voice. This antiquated king of beasts was a roarer from Roarville, and when he oped^([sic – meaning opened]) his mouth the windows rattled and small boys quaked with fear. […] The senior senator from Texas, now exhibiting his megalophonous feline mammal, should read this touching story. The roar of James Stephen has lost its terror.

   1892 October 28, The Daily Express, volume 27, number 302, San Antonio, Tex., →ISSN, →OCLC, page 4, column 2

   But a so-called democratic congress uses an inverted logic. With many a megalophonous howl, it precipitates itself into the mid center of a bloodless logomachy, and its tones are re-echoed by the solons in Austin’s legislative halls.

   1895 March 22, “Rio Grande City. […]”, in The Daily Herald, volume III, number 293, Brownsville, Tex., →ISSN, →OCLC, page [3], columns 2–3