[‘ Bearing, carrying, or consisting of all things, or many kinds or sorts of things.']
Pronunciation: Brit. /ɒmˈnɪf(ə)rəs/, U.S. /ɑmˈnɪf(ə)rəs/
Etymology: < classical Latin /omnifer/ (a dubious reading in Ovid; also in isolated use in post-classical Latin (7th cent. in a British source); < /omni-/ omni- comb. form + /-fer/ -fer comb. form) + -ous suffix; compare -ferous comb. form.
Bearing, carrying, or consisting of all things, or many kinds or sorts of things.
1656 T. Blount /Glossographia/, /Omniferous/ (omnifer), that beareth or bringeth forth all things, or all kinds of things.
1815 J. Hogg /Pilgrims of Sun/ ii. 31 When the eyes Which he himself had made could thus perceive All these broad orbs turn their omniferous breasts, And sun them in their maker’s influence.
1849 /N.Y. Daily Tribune/ 13 June 1/3 A really new book—a fresh, original, thoughtful work—is sadly rare in this age of omniferous publication.
1865 /Harper’s Mag./ Apr. 558/1 The inevitable donkey, with his omniferous panniers, seemed to do here, as in all the sea-coast towns of South America.
1940 G. Hamilton /Theory & Pract. of Social Case Work/ xi. 260 Gradually..the omniferous services of the family agency began to clarify and integrate.
1997 N. González in C. P. Casanave & S. R. Schechter /On becoming Lang. Educator/ v. 80 A shared and inherited Mexican Tuscon..as omniferous as the Sonoran desert from whose soils it has flourished and blossomed.
Derivatives
†omniferousness n. /Obs./ /rare/ the fact or quality of being omniferous.
1721 N. Bailey /Universal Etymol. Eng. Dict./ at Omniferous, /Omniferousness/.