Johnson's Dictionary (1755) offers these English cognates from the root:
a. Ardencyb. Ardent
- Ardour; eagerness; warmth of affection
c. Ardour
- Hot; burning; fiery
- Fierce; vehement
- Passionate; affectionate: used generally of desire
- Heat
- Heat of affection, as love, desire, courage
- The person ardent or bright. This is used only by Milton
ardent ardent, a. Forms: 4-6 ardaunt, 5 hardaunt, ardant, 5- ardent. a. OFr. ardant :-L. ardentem, pr. pple. of ardere to burn, subseq. assimilated to L.: see -ant.1. Burning, on fire, red-hot; fiery, hot, parching.
2. Inflammable, combustible. Obs. exc. in the phr. ardent spirits, in which the meaning of ardent is now usually referred to their fiery taste: cf. L. ardentis Falerni pocula.
- c. 1440 Morte Arth. 193 Sewes..Ownd of azure alle over and ardant pem semyde.
- 1481 Caxton Myrr. ii. xviii. 107 Fyre so ouer moche ardaunt hote.
- 1514 Barclay Cyt. & Uplandyshm; (1847) Introd. 36 Though thou shouldest perishe for very ardent thirst.
- 1601 Holland Pliny II. 160 Ardent feuers.
- 1794 Sullivan View Nat. II. 118 Receptacles of molten ore, and ardent liquids within the cavities of mountains.
- 1882 Nature XXVI. 504 The sun was not very ardent.
3. That burns like vitriol; corrosive. Obs.
- 1471 Ripley Comp. Alch. in Ashm. 1652, 190 Waters corrosyve and waters ardent [i.e. acids and spirits].
- 1674 Petty Disc. bef. R. Soc. 93 The Spirituosity of Liquors, or in what proportions several Liquors contein more or less of inflameable or ardent parts.
- 1684 T. Burnet Th. Earth II. 63 Inflammable salts, coal and other fossiles that are ardent.
- 1833 Brewster Nat. Magic iv. 79 Spirits of wine, or any ardent spirit.
4. Glowing or gleaming like fire; flaming, fierce.
- 1799 G. Smith Laboratory II. 437 An Ardent Water to engrave Steel deeply. . .Take a sponge, dipt into ardent water.
5. fig. Glowing with passion, animated by keen desire; intensely eager, zealous, fervent, fervid:
- 1603 Holland Plutarch (1657) 117 Fixing his eyes fast upon a fiery and ardent mirror.
- 1718 Pope Iliad iii. 525 From rank to rank she darts her ardent eyes.
- 1827 Hood Mids. Fairies 3 Fish, Quenching their ardent scales in watry gloom.
a. of persons and their faculties; transf. of ships.
b. of emotions and their expression.
- c. 1374 Chaucer Boeth. iv. iii. 121 3if he [be] ardaunt in auarice.
- 1483 Caxton Gold. Leg. 288/2 He was the more ardaunt to martirdome.
- 1538 Starkey England 144 Yf we desyre wyth pure affecte and ardent mynd.
- 1539 Tonstall Serm. Palm Sund. (1823) 51 He was of all the apostels moste ardent in fayth.
- 1777 Watson Philip II (1793) II. xiv. 221 Ardent to behold him, after an absence of several years.
- 1848 Mariotti Italy II. i. 20 Many an ardent patriot.
- 1867 Smyth Sailor's Word-Bk. , Ardent , said of a vessel when she gripes or comes to the wind quickly.
- c. 1374 Chaucer Boeth. iii. xii. 106 The most ardaunt loue of hys wiif.
- 1485 Caxton Chas. Gt. 1 Their grete strength and ryght ardaunt courage.
- 1651 Hobbes Leviath. iii. xxxii. 196 He finds an ardent desire to speak.
- 1742 Young Nt. Th. viii. 721 Pray'r ardent opens Heav'n.
- 1849 Macaulay Hist. Eng. I. 174 His zeal for Episcopacy..was now more ardent than ever.