stertorously

English

WOTD – 20 December 2009, 20 December 2010

Etymology

From stertorous +‎ -ly.

Pronunciation

  • (UK) IPA(key): /ˈstəː.təɹ.əs.li/
    • Audio (Southern England):(file)
  • (US) IPA(key): /ˈstɝ.tɚ.əs.li/

Adverb

stertorously (comparative more stertorously, superlative most stertorously)

  1. With heavy breathing, as if snoring; in a stertorous manner.
    • 1897, Bram Stoker, chapter 28, in Dracula, New York, N.Y.: Modern Library, →OCLC:
      The patient was now breathing stertorously and it was easy to see that he had suffered some terrible injury.
    • 1950, Norman Lindsay, Dust or Polish?, Sydney: Angus and Robertson, page 26:
      Mr Lumby said, "Oh well, now the doctor's here you don't want me', and lumbered off, glad to get back to bed. Rita said, "She's in here, doctor', and led the way to the foot of the stairs where Mrs Dibble lay breathing stertorously under the dim shop light, still an abhorrent spectacle to Sadie, who edged gingerly round her and escaped upstairs, having no compunction whatever for Mrs Dibble's injuries
    • 1956, Delano Ames, chapter 23, in Crime out of Mind[1]:
      He was a plump little man and we had been walking uphill at a pace—set by him—far too rapid for his short legs. He breathed stertorously, and half the drops which glimmered on his rotund face were not rain but sweat.
    • 2000, Mark Gatiss, chapter 20, in Last of the Gaderene:
      Captain McGarrigle, however, seemed to be in trouble. He was breathing stertorously, his throat and chest juddering like those of an asthmatic.

Translations