loonsome

English

Etymology 1

Variant of lonesome.

Adjective

loonsome (comparative more loonsome, superlative most loonsome)

1. (pronunciation spelling) lonesome
   • 1859, Hardin E. Taliaferro, Fisher's River (North Carolina): Scenes and Characters, page 160:

     There they sat, with their "heads bowed down like the loonsome bulrush," as Uncle Billy poetically expressed it, weeping over their sins, as he thought, but the wicked creatures were laughing.

   • 1906, James Blyth, The Same Clay, page 191:

     "Jack he ha' gart ta be about his wark, an' Aggie hare ha' gart har chillern ta see arter, an' sometimes I fare sa loonsome, hare, all alooan . . . wi' Gord."

   • 2004, David Mitchell, Cloud Atlas:

     Oh, most o' Pa's yarnin's was jus' musey duck fartin' an'in his loonsome old age he even b'liefed Meronym the Prescient was his presh b'loved Sonmi, yay, he 'sisted it, he said he knowed it all by birthmarks an' comets'n'all.

Etymology 2

From loon +‎ -some.

Adjective

loonsome (comparative more loonsome, superlative most loonsome)

1. Characteristic of a loon or marked by looniness
   • 2007, Roast Dinner - Honeybuns‎^[1]:

     Hi everyone, Had a lovlerley ubberley weekend-filled with much loonsome dancing and merriment.

   • 2011, Emu Camel Drum, Sanity Inhibits Wisdom:

     Only one of them is crazy / Loonsome moontide / Drifts me like a paperboat [...]

   • 2013, Encyclopedia of American Loons: #569: Warren Chisum‎^{[americanloons.blogspot.com/2013/05/569-warren-chisum.html]}:

     Of course, Chisum didn’t read what he advocated before he advocated it (what would you expect), but his response when he finally read it wasn’t much less loonsome.

   • 2016, Gage Washburn, Sonata Sleepless:

     “Failure of a so called musician, who drunkenly has staggered on home to the apartment complex where he dwell, but drunker than a mule on it's^[sic] ass, and coincidentally, accidently^[sic] enters the lonely loonsome next door neighbors^[sic] place. […] ”

   • 2017, Andrew Harland, The DredgeLand Sci-Fi Podcast Spectacular‎^[2]:

     However, our loonsome duo stumble across advertising, marketing, Hovis, Argos and the Planet Zestis Omercrom Three (3) in their quest for knowledge.