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From Frenchauguste(“noble, stately; august”) or Latinaugustus(“majestic, venerable, august; imperial, royal”),[1] from augeō(“to augment, increase; to enlarge, expand, spread”). Doublet of Augustus.
1796, Gilbert Bishop of Sarum [i.e., Gilbert Burnet], “Article VII. Of the Old Testament.”, in An Exposition of the XXXIX Articles of the Church of England, Oxford: At the Clarendon Press, →OCLC, page 123:
In the book of Pſalms there are many things ſaid of David, which ſeem capable of a much auguſter ſenſe than can be pretended to be anſwered by any thing that befel himſelf.
1837 August 31, William Sollis, A Sermon, Preached in Holsworthy Church on Thursday, August 31, 1837, at the Anniversaries of the Societies for Promoting Christian Knowledge, and for Propagating the Gospel in Foreign Parts., Launceston, Cornwall: Penheale-Press, Rev. H. A. Simcoe, →OCLC, page 7:
e shall not, I think, be able to find language which can convey in few words more fully the idea we should always have impressed on our minds of the august character of our Lord, than the expression, "the word of life."
1841, E C Bridgman, “Governmental Affairs”, in A Chinese Chrestomathy in the Canton Dialect, Macao: S Wells Williams, →OCLC, section second (Imperial Titles), page 558:
The commands of the august sovereign are the imperial commands, or the phœnix (the incomparable) mandate.
1846, Robert Browning, “Luria”, in Bells and Pomegranates, volumes VIII (Luria; and A Soul’s Tragedy), London: Edward Moxon, →OCLC; republished in Poems In Two Volumes, new edition, volume II, London: Chapman & Hall,, 1849, →OCLC, act IV, page 192:
—Inconsciously to the augustest end / Thou hast arisen: second not in rank / So much as time, to him who first ordained / That Florence, thou art to destroy, should be— […]
The foolish dog […] flew at the cat, who in her fright and consternation took refuge behind the screen of the breakfast-room where his Majesty then was. The Mikado was greatly shocked and agitated. He took the cat into his august bosom, and summoning the chamberlain Tadataka, gave orders that Okinamaro should have a good thrashing and be banished to Dog Island at once.
For once the story was not about Jamie Vardy, unable to equal Jimmy Dunne's top-flight record of scoring in a dozen consecutive games, but about his august deputy Riyad Mahrez.
1873, Walter Fitz Patrick, chapter I, in The Great Condé and the Period of the Fronde: A Historical Sketch, volume I, London: T Cautley Newby, publisher,, →OCLC, page 7:
A branch of the house of Lorraine, in comparison with which even the royal race of Capet was mean, the Guises traced back their august lineage through a long line of warrior princes to the Imperial figure of Charlemagne.
By divine science and cœlestial art / He for the cause of the dear nations toiled, / And augusted man's heavenly hopes that so, / […] / he might, by awful rites / […] / Adhæsion with Divinity achieve.
“august”, in Slovníkový portál Jazykovedného ústavu Ľ. Štúra SAV [Dictionary portal of the Ľ. Štúr Institute of Linguistics, Slovak Academy of Science] (in Slovak), https://slovnik.juls.savba.sk, 2003–2024
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