πολύς, πολλή (from an older form πολλός, found in Homer, Hesiod, Pindar), πολύ; ((cf. Curtius, § 375)); the Sept. chiefly for רַב; much; used
a. of multitude, number, etc., many, numerous, great: ἀριθμός, Acts 11:21; λαός, Acts 18:10; ὄχλος, Mark 5:24; Mark 6:34; (Mark 8:1 L T Tr WH); Luke 7:11; Luke 8:4; John 6:2, 5; Revelation 7:9; Revelation 19:6, etc.; πλῆθος, Mark 3:7; Luke 5:6; Acts 14:1, etc.; equivalent to abundant, plenteous (A. V. often much), καρπός, John 12:24; John 15:5, 8; θερισμός (the harvest to be gathered), Matthew 9:37; Luke 10:2; γῆ, Matthew 13:5; Mark 4:5; χόρτος, John 6:10; οἶνος, 1 Timothy 3:8; plural πολλοί τελῶναι, Matthew 9:10; Mark 2:15; πολλοί προφῆται, Matthew 13:17; Luke 10:24; σοφοί, 1 Corinthians 1:26; πατέρες, 1 Corinthians 4:15; δυνάμεις, Matthew 7:22; Matthew 13:58, etc.; ὄχλοι, Matthew 4:25; Matthew 8:1; Matthew 12:15 (but here L T WH omit; Tr brackets ὄχλοι); Luke 5:15, etc.; δαιμόνια, Mark 1:34; and in many other examples; with participles used substantively, Matthew 8:16; 1 Corinthians 16:9, etc.; with the article prefixed: αἱ ἁμαρτίαι αὐτῆς αἱ πολλαί, her sins which are many, Luke 7:47; τά πολλά γράμματα, the great learning with which I see that you are furnished, Acts 26:24; ὁ πολύς ὄχλος, the great multitude of common people present, Mark 12:37 (cf. ὁ ὄχλος πολύς, John 12:9 T Tr marginal reading WH; see ὄχλος, 1). Plural masculine πολλοί, absolutely and without the article, many, a large part of mankind: πολλοί simply, Matthew 7:13, 22; Matthew 20:28; Matthew 26:28; Mark 2:2; Mark 3:10; Mark 10:45; Mark 14:24; Luke 1:1, 14; Hebrews 9:28, and very often; opposed to ὀλίγοι, Matthew 20:16 (T WH omit; Tr brackets the clause); ἕτεροι πολλοί, Acts 15:35; ἄλλαι πολλαί, Mark 15:41; ἕτεραι πολλαί, Luke 8:3; πολλοί followed by a partitive genitive, as τῶν Φαρισαίων, Matthew 3:7; add, Luke 1:16; John 12:11; Acts 4:4; Acts 13:43; 2 Corinthians 12:21; Revelation 8:11, etc.; followed by ἐκ with a genitive of class, as πολλοί ἐκ τῶν μαθητῶν αὐτοῦ, John 6:60; add, John 7:31,40; 10:20; 11:19,45; Acts 17:12; πολλοί ἐκ τῆς πόλεως, John 4:39. with the article prefixed, οἱ πολλοί, the many (cf. Winer's Grammar, 110 (105)): those contrasted with ὁ εἷς (i. e. both with Adam and with Christ), according to the context equivalent to the rest of mankind, Romans 5:15, 19, cf. Romans 5:12, 18; we the (i. e. who are) many, Romans 12:5; 1 Corinthians 10:17; the many whom ye know, 2 Corinthians 2:17; the many i. e. the most part, the majority, Matthew 24:12; 1 Corinthians 10:33.
b. with nouns denoting an action, an emotion, a state, which can be said to have as it were measure, weight, force, intensity, size, continuance, or repetition, much equivalent to great, strong, intense, large: ἀγάπη, Ephesians 2:4; ὀδύνη, 1 Timothy 6:10; θρῆνος, κλαυθμός, ὀδυρμός, Matthew 2:18; χαρά (Rec.st χάρις), Philemon 1:7; ἐπιθυμία, 1 Thessalonians 2:17; μακροθυμία, Romans 9:22; ἔλεος, 1 Peter 1:3; γογγυσμός, John 7:12; τρόμος, 1 Corinthians 2:3; πόνος (Rec. ζῆλος), Colossians 4:13; ἀγών, 1 Thessalonians 2:2; ἄθλησις, Hebrews 10:32; θλῖψις, 2 Corinthians 2:4; 1 Thessalonians 1:6; καύχησις, 2 Corinthians 7:4; πεποίθησις, 2 Corinthians 8:22; πληροφορία, 1 Thessalonians 1:5; παρρησία, 2 Corinthians 3:12; 2 Corinthians 7:4; 1 Timothy 3:13; Philemon 1:8; παράκλησις, 2 Corinthians 8:4; συζήτησις (T WH Tr text ζήτησις), Acts 15:7; Acts 28:29 (Rec.); στάσις, Acts 23:10; ἀσιτία, Acts 27:21; βία, Acts 24:7 (Rec.); διακονία, Luke 10:40; σιγή, deep silence, Acts 21:40 (Xenophon, Cyril 7, 1, 25); φαντασία, Acts 25:23; δύναμις καί δόξα, Matthew 24:30; Luke 21:27; μισθός, Matthew 5:12; Luke 6:23, 35; εἰρήνη, Acts 24:2 (3); περί οὗ πολύς ἡμῖν ὁ λόγος, about which (but see λόγος, I. 3 a.) we have much (in readiness) to say, Hebrews 5:11 (πολύν λόγον ποιεῖσθαι περί τίνος, Plato, Phaedo, p. 115{d}; cf. Lex. Plato, iii., p. 148).
c. of time, much, long: πολύν χρόνον, John 5:6; μετά χρόνον πολύν, Matthew 25:19; ὥρα πολλή, much time (i. e. a large part of the day) is spent (see ὥρα, 2), Mark 6:35; ὥρας πολλῆς γενομένης (Tdf. γινομένης), of a late hour of the day, ibid. (so πολλῆς ὥρας, Polybius 5, 8, 3; --but see p. 679^bline 2. ἐπί πολλήν ὥραν, Josephus, Antiquities 8, 4, 4; Ἐμάχοντο... ἄχρι πολλῆς ὥρας, Dionysius Halicarnassus, 2, 54); πολλοῖς χρόνοις, for a long time, Luke 8:29 (οὐ πολλῷ χρόνῳ, Herodian, 1, 6, 24 (8 edition, Bekker); χρόνοις πολλοῖς ὕστερον, Plutarch, Thes. 6; (see χρόνος, under the end)); εἰς ἔτη πολλά, Luke 12:19; (ἐκ or) ἀπό πολλῶν ἐτῶν, Acts 24:10; Romans 15:23 (here WH Tr text ἀπό ἱκανῶν ἐτῶν); ἐπί πολύ, (for) a long time, Acts 28:6; μετ' οὐ πολύ, not long after (see μετά, II. 2 b.), Acts 27:14.
d. Neuter singular πολύ, much, substantively, equivalent to many things: Luke 12:48; much, adverbially, of the mode and degree of an action: ἠγάπησε, Luke 7:47; πλανᾶσθε, Mark 12:27; namely, ὠφελεῖ, Romans 3:2. πολλοῦ as a genitive of price (from Homer down; cf. Passow, under the word, IV. b. vol. ii., p. 1013a; (cf. Winer's Grammar, 206 (194))): πραθῆναι, for much, Matthew 26:9. ἐν πολλῷ, in (administering) much (i. e. many things), Luke 16:10; with great labor, great effort, Acts 26:29 (where L T Tr WH ἐν μεγάλῳ (see μέγας, 1 a. γ.)). with a comparitive (cf. Winer's Grammar, § 35, 1): πολύ σπουδαιότερον, 2 Corinthians 8:22 (in Greek writings from Homer down); πολλῷ πλείους, many more, John 4:41; πολλῷ (or πολύ) μᾶλλον, see μᾶλλον, 1 a. following with the article, τό πολύ, German das Viele (opposed to τό ὀλίγον), 2 Corinthians 8:15 (cf. Buttmann, 395 (338); Winer's Grammar, 589 (548)). Plural, πολλά
α. many things; as, διδάσκειν, λαλεῖν, Matthew 13:3; Mark 4:2; Mark 6:34; John 8:26; John 14:30; παθεῖν, Matthew 16:21; Mark 5:26; Mark 9:12; Luke 9:22, etc., and often in Greek writings from Pindar Ol. 13, 90 down; ποιεῖν, Mark 6:20 (T Tr marginal reading WH ἀπόρειν); πρᾶξαι, Acts 26:9; add as other examples, Matthew 25:21, 23; Mark 12:41; Mark 15:3; John 16:12; 2 Corinthians 8:22; 2 John 1:12; 3 John 1:13; πολλά καί ἀλλά, John 20:30. (On the Greek (and Latin) usage which treats the notion of multitude not as something external to a thing and consisting merely in a comparison of it with other things, but as an attribute inhering in the thing itself, and hence, capable of being co-ordinated with another attributive word by means of καί (which see, I. 3), see Kühner, § 523, 1 (or on Xenophon, mem. 1, 2, 24); Bäumlein, Partikeln, p. 146; Krüger, § 69, 32, 3; Lob. Paral., p. 60; Herm. ad Vig., p. 835; Winers Grammar, § 59, 3 at the end; Buttmann, 362f (311). Cf. Passow, under the word, I. 3 a.; Liddell and Scott, under II. 2.)
β. adverbially (cf. Winers Grammar, 463 (432); Buttmann, § 128, 2), much: Mark (Mark 6:20 T Tr marginal reading (?) WH (see ἀπορέω)); Mark 9:26; Romans 16:6, 12 (L brackets the clause); in many ways, James 3:2; with many words (R. V. much), with verbs of saying; as, κηρύσσειν, παρακαλεῖν, etc., Mark 1:45; Mark 3:12; Mark 5:10, 23, 43; 1 Corinthians 16:12; many times, often, repeatedly: Matthew 9:14 (R G Tr WH marginal reading) (and often in Greek writings from Homer down; cf. Passow, under the word, V. 1 a. vol. ii., p. 1013{b}; (Liddell and Scott, III. a.); Stallbaum on Plato, Phaedo, p. 61 c.); with the article πολλά, for the most part (R. V. these many times) (Vulg. plurimum), Romans 15:22 (L Tr marginal reading πολλάκις) (examples from Greek writings are given by Passow, the passage cited (Liddell and Scott, the passage cited), and by Fritzsche, Ep. ad Romans, iii., p. 281).

BLB Scripture Index of Thayer's