abound in one's own sense

English

Etymology

Compare French abonder dans le sens de quelqu’un.

Verb

abound in one's own sense (third-person singular simple present abounds in one's own sense, present participle abounding in one's own sense, simple past and past participle abounded in one's own sense)

1. (idiomatic, dated) To follow one’s own inclinations and opinions.
   • 1856, Ralph Waldo Emerson, “[journal entry]”, in The Journals and Miscellaneous Notebooks of Ralph Waldo Emerson, volume 14, published 1978, →ISBN, page 45:

     But for that very reason that the conventional requires softness or impressionability to the dear little urbanities in you, if you abound in your own sense […] they are weak, & soon at your mercy.

   • 1948, David Knowles, The Religious Orders in England, volume 1, page 161:

     The clearly defined purpose of the order, and the full and all but dryly legalistic expressions of its constitutions left no scope for interpreters abounding in their own sense and made schism impossible.

   • a. 1963, Van Wyck Brooks, An Autobiography, published 1965, page 123:

     Having escaped what he described as the “Ph.D. death rattle,” Copey abounded in his own sense at Harvard, where “Every man in his humour” was the motto for professors who were actors often and characters all the time.

References

• Lesley Brown, editor-in-chief, William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, editors (2002), “abound in one's own sense”, in The Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles, 5th edition, Oxford, New York, N.Y.: Oxford University Press, →ISBN, page 7.