Turgid means swollen, or pompous and tedious in style. Turgid prose, a turgid speech, turgid tissue.
The prose sense is the commoner and it is a serious insult: turgid writing is inflated with words that add nothing. In biology, a turgid cell is full of water and firm, which is what holds a plant up — wilting is loss of turgor. Note that the Latin means swollen.
1adjectiveturgidPompous and tedious in style.
“The report was so turgid that nobody on the committee got past the first page.”
2adjectiveswollenSwollen and firm with fluid.
“After a good watering, the plant's leaves became turgid again.”
turgid is a quality of swelling.
TURGID → swollen with the URGE to sound grand
The prose is swollen with its own importance, the urge to sound grand pushing every sentence too far.
hooks ontourge
Latin turgidus means swollen, from turgere, to swell. Turgor comes from the same swelling.
Latin
turgidus
English, today
turgid
Built from
Borrowed from Latin turgidus. From Latin turgidus (“swollen, inflated”), from turgeō (“to swell”).
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA
Practised in A Song of Ice and Fire