English

Alternative forms

• (archaic) æstiferous
• estiferous

Adjective

aestiferous ‎(comparative more aestiferous, superlative most aestiferous)

1. (obsolete, not comparable)^[1] “Turbulent as the tide”;^[2] “ebbing and flowing as the tide”.^[4]
   • 1859: John D. Bryant, M. D., Redemption, a Poem, page 241 (John Penington & Son)

     Thus they, estiferous, the hollow sphere
     Within, rack’d, and raged against the Highest.

2. (comparable, chiefly used figuratively) Producing much (aestival) heat.^[3]
   • 1979: J. Ron Stanfield, Economic Thought and Social Change, page 148 (Southern Illinois University Press; ISBN 0809309149, 9780809309146)

     Moreover, if the analogy to political revolution teaches anything at all, its instruction would seem to be that revolution is a wasteful and excessively estiferous process.

Related terms

Translations

References

1. 1 2 “†æˈstiferous, a.” listed in the Oxford English Dictionary, second edition (1989)
2. 1 2 The New and Complete Dictionary of the English Language by John Ash (1775), page 49–53^?
   ÆSTIʹFEROUS (adj. from the Lat. æstus a turbulent motion, and fero to bear) Turbulent as the tide.
3. 1 2 A Dictionary of the English Language Exhibiting the Orthography, Pronunciation, and Definition of Words… by Arnold James Cooley (1861), page 198
   Estiferous, ĕs-tĭfʹ-ĕr-ŭs, a. Bringing heat (as summer).
4. ↑ An Universal Etymological English Dictionary by Nathan Bailey (1731), page 28
   ÆSTIʹFEROUS [æstifer, L.] ebbing and flowing as the tide.