abound

• First attested around 1325.
• From Middle English abounden, abounde, from Old French abonder, abunder, from Latin abundāre, present active infinitive of abundō (“overflow”), which comes from ab (“from, down from”) + undō (“surge, swell, rise in waves, move in waves”), from unda (“wave”).

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /əˈbaʊnd/
• (US) IPA^(key): /əˈbaʊnd/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -aʊnd

abound (third-person singular simple present abounds, present participle abounding, simple past and past participle abounded)

1. (intransitive) To be full to overflowing. [First attested from around (1350 to 1470).][1]
2. (intransitive, obsolete) To be wealthy. [Attested from around (1350 to 1470) until the mid 18^th century.][1]
3. (intransitive) To be highly productive.
4. (intransitive) To be present or available in large numbers or quantities; to be plentiful. [First attested from around (1350 to 1470).][1]

   Wild animals abound wherever man does not stake his claim.

   • 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Romans 5:20:

     Moreouer, the Lawe entred, that the offence might abound: but where sinne abounded, grace did much more abound.

   • 1960 December, “New G.E. Line diesel loco maintenance depot at Stratford”, in Trains Illustrated, page 766:

     One end of the east-west building is wet, the other windy, and at present there is smoke abounding, too; but these distressing yard elements can be completely excluded at each end by full-width folding doors [...].

5. (intransitive) To revel in. [Attested from around (1350 to 1470) until the late 18^th century.][1]
6. (transitive with in or with) To be copiously supplied with.

   The wilderness abounds in traps.

   This pond abounds with fish.

   • 1726 October 28, [Jonathan Swift], “A Further Account of Glubbdubdrib. […]”, in Travels into Several Remote Nations of the World. […] [Gulliver’s Travels], volume II, London: […] Benj[amin] Motte, […], →OCLC, part III (A Voyage to Laputa, Balnibarbi, Glubbdubdribb, Luggnagg, and Japan), page 108:

     I could plainly diſcover from whence one Family derives a long Chin; why a ſecond hath abounded with Knaves for two Generations, and Fools for two more; why a third happened to be crack-brained, and a fourth to be Sharpers.

   • 1858-1860, George Rawlinson, The Five Great Monarchies of the Ancient Eastern World

     the wild boar, which abounds both in Azerbijan and in the country about Hamadan

• This is generally a stative verb that rarely takes the continuous inflection. See Category:English stative verbs

• bountiful