(a) Of a person: strong, powerful; violent, cruel; robust, healthy; of an army, a host, etc.: powerful, fierce, cruel; also, as noun: powerful or high-ranking people [quot. c1425]; ~ and stark; stark and ~; (b) of an animal: strong, powerful; (c) of a castle, stronghold: solidly built, able to withstand attack; of a chain: strong, not easily broken.

(a) Of a person: harsh, stern; bold, brazen; resolute, unyielding; of the countenance or expression: stern, forbidding; (b) of someone's words: severe, harsh, stern; of a report: shocking, wondrous; of an accusation or a complaint: reproving, rebuking; (c) in adverbial phrases: in a ~ wise, resolutely, defiantly; in ~ manere, harshly, severely.

(a) Of a battle, a fight, etc.: intensely violent, fierce, hard-fought; of a blow: powerful, heavy; (b) of the wind: blowing forcefully, violent, strong; of a fire: intense, burning fiercely; (c) of a sound: loud, resounding; of horns: loudly sounding; of an odor: strong; (d) difficult, painful; of an emotion: strong, overwhelming; of physical pain: intense, acute [last quot.]; (e) ~ fleume, bitter phlegm, the bodily humor phlegm mixed with black bile.

(a) Great in number, numerous [some quots. could be construed as sense 1a.(a); last quot. may belong to sense 3.(b)]; (b) large in size or area, great in length; tall; of length: long; ~ boned, big-boned, of sturdy build; (c) of a feast: great, sumptuous.

(a) Of wool, canvas, etc.: rough, coarse-textured, not smooth; of bread: made with coarse flour; (b) ~ tre, some kind of tree bearing a hard berry or other fruit [quot. may belong to stire n.].

(a) In surnames; (b) in place names.