Emily Dickinson Lexicon

SU-PER'FLU-OUS, a. [L. superfluus, overflowing; super and fluo, to flow.]

1. More than is wanted; rendered unnecessary by superabundance; as, a superfluous supply of corn.
2. More than sufficient; unnecessary; useless; as, a composition abounding with superfluous words. Superfluous epithets rather enfeeble than strengthen description. If what has been said will not convince, it would be superfluous to say more. Superfluous interval, in music, is one that exceeds a true diatonic interval by a semitone minor. – Cyc. Superfluous polygamy, [Polygamia superflua,] a kind of inflorescence or compound flower, in which the florets of the disk are hermaphrodite and fertile, and those of the ray, though female or pistiliferous only, are also fertile; designating the second order of the class Syngenesia of Linnæus. – Martyn. Superfluous sound or tone, is one which contains a semitone minor more than a tone. – Cyc.