plenty

plural plenties

1. countableuncountableA more-than-adequate amount; plenitude; a great deal.

   We are lucky to live in a land of peace and plenty.

   2 more examples

   During this season of distress, the discouragements to marriage, and the difficulty of rearing a family are so great that population is at a stand. In the mean time the cheapness of labour, the plenty of labourers, and the necessity of an increased industry amongst them, encourage cultivators to employ more labour upon their land, to turn up fresh soil, and to manure and improve more completely what is already in tillage.

   1798, Thomas Malthus, An Essay on the Principle of Population

   'It's all right, darling,' said Bond, pulling out his notecase. 'You've forgotten you gave me your money to look after before we left the house.' 'Guess the lady'll need plenty for her summer frocks,' said the conductor.

   1954, Ian Fleming, “The Silver Phantom”, in Live and Let Die, London: Pan Books, published 1957, page 100

   Synonyms: abundance, profusion

1. More than enough.

   Acquire one of these and you'll have plenty of car for your money.

1. CanadaUSnot comparableMore than sufficiently.

   This office is plenty big enough for our needs.

   1 more example

   For the likes of her, the down-at-heels support of Hoboken pier was plenty good enough.

   1932, Delos W. Lovelace, King Kong, published 1965, page 1

2. CanadaUScolloquialnot comparableUsed as an intensifier, very.

   She was plenty mad at him.

   2 more examples

   'Guess the lady'll need plenty for her summer frocks,' said the conductor. 'Shops is plenty expensive in St Pete. Plenty hot down there too. You folks been to Florida before?'

   1954, Ian Fleming, “The Silver Phantom”, in Live and Let Die, London: Pan Books, published 1957, page 100

   Seeing clichés mimicked this skillfully is plenty hilarious.

   2014 June 26, A. A. Dowd, “Paul Rudd and Amy Poehler Spoof Rom-com Clichés in They Came Together”, in The A.V. Club, archived from the original on 07 Dec 2017

1. CanadaUScolloquialnonstandardmuch, enough

   There'll be plenty time later for that

2. CanadaUScolloquialnonstandardmany

   Get a manicure. Plenty men do it.

comparative more plenty · superlative most plenty

1. CanadaUScolloquialnonstandardobsoletePlentiful.

   if reasons were as plenty as blackberries

   1597, Shakespeare, Henry IV, Part I, Act I, Scene IV

   2 more examples

   There are, among the Irish, men of as much worth and honour as any among the English: nay, to speak the truth, generosity of spirit is rather more common among them. I have known some examples there, too, of good husbands; and I believe these are not very plenty in England.

   1749, Henry Fielding, The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling, volume (please specify |volume=I to VI), London: A[ndrew] Millar, […], →OCLC

   Radishes are very plenty. Of cabbages a few heads of this year's crop have come to hand this week, and sold readily at quotations; […]

   1836, The American Gardener's Magazine and Register, volume 2, page 279

   Synonyms: plenteous

1. A village in Saskatchewan, Canada.
2. A town in the Derwent Valley council area, south eastern Tasmania, Australia.
3. A suburb of Melbourne in the Shire of Nillumbik, Victoria, Australia