• IPA: /mʌt͡ʃ/

1. A large amount of. [from 13^thc.]

   Hurry! We don't have much time!

   They set about the task with much enthusiasm.

   • 1816, Jane Austen, Persuasion (novel):

     As it was, he did nothing with much zeal, but sport; and his time was otherwise trifled away, without benefit from books or anything else.

   • 2011, "Wisconsin and wider", The Economist, 24 February:

     Unless matters take a nastier turn, neither side has much incentive to compromise.

2. (in combinations such as 'as much', 'this much') Used to indicate, demonstrate or compare the quantity of something.

   Add this much water and no more.

   Take as much time as you like.

3. (now archaic or nonstandard) A great number of; many (people). [from 13^thc.]
   • 1485, Sir Thomas Malory, [http://quod.lib.umich.edu/c/cme/MaloryWks2/1:22.10?rgn=div2;view=fulltext chapter x], in Le Morte Darthur, book XX:

     ye shall not nede to seke hym soo ferre sayd the Kynge / for as I here saye sir Launcelot will abyde me and yow in the Ioyous gard / and moche peple draweth vnto hym as I here saye

   • 1526, Bible, tr. William Tyndale, Matthew VI:

     When Jesus was come downe from the mountayne, moch people folowed him.

   • 1897, Bram Stoker, Dracula:

     There wasn't much people about that day.

4. (now, Caribbean, African-American) Many ( + plural countable noun). [from 13^thc.]
   • 1977, Bob Marley, So Much Things to Say:

     They got so much things to say right now, they got so much things to say.

• (informal) a great deal of, (informal) a lot of

• little

• how much
• too much

• French: beaucoup
• German: viel
• Italian: molto
• Portuguese: muito, um monte de
• Russian: мно́го
• Spanish: mucho

much (not comparable)

1. (obsolete) Large, great. [12^th-16^thc.]
   • 1485, Sir Thomas Malory, [http://quod.lib.umich.edu/c/cme/MaloryWks2/1:22.4?rgn=div2;view=fulltext chapter iiij], in Le Morte Darthur, book XX:

     Thenne launcelot vnbarred the dore / and with his lyfte hand he held it open a lytel / so that but one man myghte come in attones / and soo there came strydyng a good knyghte a moche man and large / and his name was Colgreuaunce / of Gore / and he with a swerd strake at syr launcelot myȝtely and he put asyde the stroke

2. (obsolete) Long in duration.

much (comparative more, superlative most)

1. To a great extent.

   I don't like fish much.

   He is much fatter than I remember him.

   He left her, much to the satisfaction of her other suitor.

   • 1909, Archibald Marshall [pseudonym; Arthur Hammond Marshall], chapter I, in The Squire’s Daughter, London: Methuen, OCLC 12026604 ↗; republished New York, N.Y.: Dodd, Mead and Company, 1919, OCLC 491297620 ↗:

     They stayed together during three dances, went out on to the terrace, explored wherever they were permitted to explore, paid two visits to the buffet, and enjoyed themselves much in the same way as if they had been school-children surreptitiously breaking loose from an assembly of grown-ups.

2. Often; frequently.

   Does he get drunk much?

3. (in combinations such as 'as much', 'this much') Used to indicate or compare extent.

   I don't like Wagner as much as I like Mozart.

4. (obsolete) Almost.

• (to a great extent) (informal) a great deal, (informal) a lot, greatly, highly, (informal) loads, plenty (slang, especially US), very much

• (to a great extent) less, little, few

• French: beaucoup
• German: viel
• Italian: molto
• Portuguese: muito
• Russian: о́чень
• Spanish: mucho

1. A large amount or great extent.

   From those to whom much has been given much is expected.