A Dictionary of the Older Scottish Tongue (up to 1700)
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First published 1986 (DOST Vol. VI).
This entry has not been updated since then but may contain minor corrections and revisions.
Quotation dates: 1420-1513, 1567-1623
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Pomp(o)us, adj. Also: -os, -ois, -is. [ME and e.m.E. pompous (Chaucer), F. pompeux (14th c. in Hatz.-Darm.), late L. pomposus, f. pompa Pomp n.1 Cf. Pompious adj.] Pompous.
a. Characterized by splendour, magnificence or stateliness; magnificent. b. Characterized by exaggerated display or show; ostentatious, pretentious. c. Haughty, arrogant, self-important, over-weening.a. 1513 Doug. xi xv 53 (Ruddim.).
I ask na trophe, nor the pompus wede Of this maid doun bet 1513 Ib. xii Prol. 275 (C).
This kyng [the sun] … With sic tryumphe and pompos curage glaid Than of hys souerane chymmys 1513 Ib. xiii viii 45.
With pompos fest and ioyus myrth 1513 Ib. x iv 65. 1580 Hume Promine 10.
Sa in his solstice glemand gloriouslie … That pompous planeit … Did [etc.] 1581-1623 James VI Poems I 222/385.
Great God … Was sitting in his pompous throne a1597-1617 Hist. Jas. VI (1825) 178.
He was ressavit be the magistrats … under a pompous payle of purple velvetb., c. (1) c1420 Wynt. v 2165.
And pompus hawtane in hys fere He past all mesure and manere c1450-2 Howlat 924 (A).
How the howlat him bure So hie & so haltane So pompos importinat and reprovable In exces our arrogant c1460 Alex. (Taym.) 9100.
For men of Ynde ar pompis and fyry Thinkand of all men till obeyit be 1513 Doug. ix vi 40.
With drawyn swerd in pres He can assail the pompus [L. superbum] Rhamnetes a1568 Bannatyne MS 75 b/3.
Quhen ane wreche is sett to he estait … Thair is non so prowd pompous and elait(2) a1500 Henr. Fab. 593 (Bann.).
Fy! pompous pryd, thow art rycht poysonable 1572 Buch. Detect. (1727) 65.
The quene gloriously schawing hirself in pompous maner, gais befoir [etc.](3) c1460 Alex. (Taym.) 10562.
And till him send ane grete ambassadry … With that a pompois pistill in this maner
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"Pompus adj.". Dictionary of the Scots Language. 2004. Scottish Language Dictionaries Ltd. Accessed 14 Dec 2025 <http://www.dsl.ac.uk/entry/dost/pompous>
