great many

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a great many

A very large number of (people, things, etc.). A great many people have joined the protest to voice their concerns over increased taxes.

great many

see under good many.

a good/great many

very many; a lot: A good many people think she’s right. ♢ There are a great many places in the world I’d like to visit.

See also: good, great, many

References in classic literature ?

For if a true survey be taken of counsellors and statesmen, there may be found (though rarely) those which can make a small state great, and yet cannot fiddle; as on the other side, there will be found a great many, that can fiddle very cunningly, but yet are so far from being able to make a small state great, as their gift lieth the other way; to bring a great and flourishing estate, to ruin and decay.

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But there are a great many unreasonable ones, as I suppose you know--not yours, dear mother, for I am bound to say that you never required of me more than was natural.

There are a great many people--and a great many things, too--over here that I should like to perform that operation upon.

I have made a great many pleasant acquaintances in travelling round (both ladies and gentlemen), and had a great many most interesting talks.

I meet a great many Americans, who, as a general thing, I must say, are not as polite to me as the people over here.

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If you will kill for me the Wicked Witch of the West, I will bestow upon you a great many brains, and such good brains that you will be the wisest man in all the Land of Oz."

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* exodus: the departure of a great many people from one place.

The great migration

Indeed in the Shire such a matter would have required a great many more words and bows" (2.300).

The Great War and Tolkien's Memory: an examination of World War I themes in The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings