Both Uses of
florid
in
The Great Gatsby
- I had expected that Mr. Gatsby would be a florid and corpulent person in his middle years.
p. 48.9 *florid = having a reddish complexion
- I remember the portrait of him up in Gatsby's bedroom, a gray, florid man with a hard, empty face — the pioneer debauchee, who during one phase of American life brought back to the Eastern seaboard the savage violence of the frontier brothel and saloon.
p. 100.7
Definitions:
-
(1)
(florid as in: a florid style) elaborate (with much decorative detail)
-
(2)
(florid as in: florid color) a reddish color -- (especially about someone's complexion or in various medical contexts)
-
(3)
(meaning too rare to warrant focus) meaning too rare to warrant focus:
In historical writing, florid can also refer to flowers--as when something is covered with flowers.