Excess

4 definitions found

From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:

  Excess \Ex*cess"\, n. [OE. exces, excess, ecstasy, L. excessus a
     going out, loss of self-possession, fr. excedere, excessum,
     to go out, go beyond: cf. F. exc[`e]s. See {Exceed}.]
     1. The state of surpassing or going beyond limits; the being
        of a measure beyond sufficiency, necessity, or duty; that
        which exceeds what is usual or proper; immoderateness;


        superfluity; superabundance; extravagance; as, an excess
        of provisions or of light.
        [1913 Webster]
  
              To gild refined gold, to paint the lily,
              To throw a perfume on the violet, . . .
              Is wasteful and ridiculous excess.    --Shak.
        [1913 Webster]
  
              That kills me with excess of grief, this with excess
              of joy.                               --Walsh.
        [1913 Webster]
  
     2. An undue indulgence of the appetite; transgression of
        proper moderation in natural gratifications; intemperance;
        dissipation.
        [1913 Webster]
  
              Be not drunk with wine, wherein is excess. --Eph. v.
                                                    18.
        [1913 Webster]
  
              Thy desire . . . leads to no excess
              That reaches blame.                   --Milton.
        [1913 Webster]
  
     3. The degree or amount by which one thing or number exceeds
        another; remainder; as, the difference between two numbers
        is the excess of one over the other.
        [1913 Webster]
  
     {Spherical excess} (Geom.), the amount by which the sum of
        the three angles of a spherical triangle exceeds two right
        angles. The spherical excess is proportional to the area
        of the triangle.
        [1913 Webster]

From WordNet (r) 2.0 [wn]:

  excess
       adj : more than is needed, desired, or required; "trying to lose
             excess weight"; "found some extra change lying on the
             dresser"; "yet another book on heraldry might be
             thought redundant"; "skills made redundant by
             technological advance"; "sleeping in the spare room";
             "supernumerary ornamentation"; "it was supererogatory
             of her to gloat"; "delete superfluous (or unnecessary)
             words"; "extra ribs as well as other supernumerary
             internal parts"; "surplus cheese distributed to the
             needy" [syn: {extra}, {redundant}, {spare}, {supererogatory},
              {superfluous}, {supernumerary}, {surplus}]
       n 1: a quantity much larger than is needed [syn: {surplus}, {surplusage},
             {nimiety}]
       2: immoderation as a consequence of going beyond sufficient or
          permitted limits [syn: {excessiveness}, {inordinateness}]
       3: the state of being more than full [syn: {surfeit}, {overabundance}]
       4: excessive indulgence; "the child was spoiled by
          overindulgence" [syn: {overindulgence}]

From Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0 [moby-thes]:

  149 Moby Thesaurus words for "excess":
     Saturnalia, aggrandizement, amplification, ballyhoo, big talk,
     blowing up, burlesque, caricature, crapulence, crapulency,
     crapulousness, de trop, debauchery, dilatation, dilation,
     disentitlement, dispensable, dissipation, dissoluteness,
     drunkenness, empty claim, empty title, enhancement, enlargement,
     exaggerating, exaggeration, excessive, excessiveness, exorbitance,
     exorbitancy, expansion, expendable, expletive, extortionateness,
     extra, extravagance, extreme, false claim, fat, glut, gluttony,
     grandiloquence, gratuitous, heightening, huckstering, hyperbole,
     hyperbolism, immoderacy, immoderateness, immoderation, impropriety,
     in excess, inappropriateness, incontinence, indiscipline,
     indulgence, inflation, inordinacy, inordinateness, intemperance,
     intemperateness, inundation, invalid claim, lack of claim,
     leftover, leftovers, magnification, needless, nimiety, no claim,
     nonessential, outrageousness, overabundance, overage, overbalance,
     overdoing, overemphasis, overestimation, overflow, overflowing,
     overgrowth, overindulgence, overkill, overmeasure, overmuch,
     overpass, overplus, overproduction, overrun, overrunning,
     overspill, overspreading, overstatement, overstock, oversupply,
     pleonastic, plethora, plus, preposterousness, prodigality,
     profuseness, profusion, prolix, puffery, puffing up, redundancy,
     redundant, remaining, residual, self-indulgence, self-restraint,
     sensationalism, spare, stretching, superabundance, supererogation,
     supererogatory, superfluity, superfluous, superiority, superlative,
     supernumerary, surfeit, surplus, surplusage, swinishness,
     tall talk, tautologic, tautologous, to spare, too much,
     too-muchness, touting, travesty, uncalled-for, unconscionableness,
     unconstraint, uncontrol, undeservedness, undeservingness,
     undueness, unentitledness, unessential, unmeritedness, unnecessary,
     unneeded, unreasonableness, unrestraint, verbose
  
  

From THE DEVIL'S DICTIONARY ((C)1911 Released April 15 1993) [devils]:

  EXCESS, n.  In morals, an indulgence that enforces by appropriate
  penalties the law of moderation.
  
      Hail, high Excess -- especially in wine,
          To thee in worship do I bend the knee
          Who preach abstemiousness unto me --
      My skull thy pulpit, as my paunch thy shrine.
      Precept on precept, aye, and line on line,
          Could ne'er persuade so sweetly to agree
          With reason as thy touch, exact and free,
      Upon my forehead and along my spine.
      At thy command eschewing pleasure's cup,
          With the hot grape I warm no more my wit;
          When on thy stool of penitence I sit
      I'm quite converted, for I can't get up.
      Ungrateful he who afterward would falter
      To make new sacrifices at thine altar!