Standard Lemma guide
Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.
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adj
(Very) great or large.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: Northern-England, Northumbria, Scotland, archaic, especially
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Synonyms: muckle
Antonyms: none provided
adv
To a great extent.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: Scotland, archaic
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
adv
Frequently, often.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: obsolete
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
det
Much; a great quantity or amount of.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: Northern-England, Northumbria, Scotland, archaic, especially
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
det
Most; the majority of.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: Northumbria, Scotland, archaic
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
name
A surname.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
noun
A great amount.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: Scotland, archaic, countable, uncountable
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
noun
A small amount.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: Scotland, archaic, countable, uncountable
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
noun
Great or important people as a class.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: countable, obsolete, uncountable
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
noun
Greatness, largeness, stature.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: countable, obsolete, uncountable
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
pron
A great extent or large amount.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: Scotland, archaic
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
noun
(often followed by `of') a large number or amount or extent
Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0
Synonyms: batch, deal, flock, good deal, great deal, hatful, heap, lot, mass, mess, mint, mountain, muckle, passel, peck, pile, plenty, pot, quite a little, raft, sight, slew, spate, stack, tidy sum, wad
Antonyms: none provided
Broader terms: large indefinite quantity, large indefinite amount
Narrower terms: flood, inundation, deluge, torrent, haymow
History
From Middle English mickle, michel, mikel, mochel, muchel, mukel (“much; many; large, tall; great”), from Old English miċel, myċel (“big, large; great; much”), from Proto-Germanic *mikilaz (“great, large; many, much”), from Proto-Indo-European *méǵh2s (“big, great”). The word is cognate with Faroese mikil (“large, great, much”), Icelandic mikill (“large in quantity or number; much; great”), Middle High German michel (“large, much”). Doublet of much and muckle. For the adverb and noun forms, compare Middle English muchel (“extensively, greatly, much”, adverb) and Middle English muchel (“large amount”, noun). The noun sense “a small amount” was due to the proverb many a little makes a mickle being incorrectly rendered as many a mickle makes a muckle, leading to mickle being thought to mean “a small quantity” and muckle to mean “a large quantity”, even though muckle is a variant of mickle and both mean “a large quantity”.
