honorificabilitudinitatibus

Noun

honorificabilitudinitatibus (uncountable)

1. (humorous, obsolete, rare) The state of being able to achieve honours; honourableness.
   • Phyſitions deafen our eares with the Honorificabilitudinitatibus of their heauenly Panachæa their ſoueraigne Guiacum, their gliſters, their triacles, their mithridates of fortie ſeuerall poyſons compacted, their bitter Rubarbe, and tortuting Stibium.1599, [Thomas] Nashe, Nashes Lenten Stuffe, […], London: […] [Thomas Judson and Valentine Simmes] for N[icholas] L[ing] and C[uthbert] B[urby] […], →OCLC, page 24
   • Novv the Drums doubbes & the ſticks turn'd bed-ſtaves, / All the old Foxes hunted to their holes, / The Iron age return'd to Eribus, / And Honorificabilitudinitatibus / Thruſt out o'th' Kingdome by the head and ſhoulders, / VVhat trade doe you meane to follovv.1616–1619 (first performance), John Fletcher, “The Mad Lover”, in Comedies and Tragedies […], London: […] Humphrey Robinson, […], and for Humphrey Moseley […], published 1647, →OCLC, Act I, scene i...

   Synonyms:

   honorificabilitudinity

2. (humorous, obsolete, rare) Used as a person's title or the name of a thing meaning "honourable one", or simply as a very long word to indicate prolixity.
   • Clow[ne]. O they haue lyud long on the almſbaſket of vvordes. I maruaile thy M[aster] hath not eaten thee for a vvorde, for thou art not ſo long by the head as honorificabilitudinitatibus: Thou art eaſier ſvvallovved then a flapdragon.c. 1595–1596 (date written), W. Shakespere [i.e., William Shakespeare], A Pleasant Conceited Comedie Called, Loues Labors Lost. […] (First Quarto), London: […] W[illiam] W[hite] for Cut[h]bert Burby...
   • For griefes ſake keepe him out, his diſcourſe is like the long vvord, Honorificabilitudinitatibus: a great deale / Of ſound and no ſence: […]1605, Iohn Marston [i.e., John Marston], The Dutch Courtezan. […], London: […] T[homas] P[urfoot] for Iohn Hodgets, […], →OCLC, Act V, scene ii