a. (Biogeography) Pertaining to or designating the arid division of the Austral zone, including the warmer parts of the western United States and central Mexico. It is divided into the
Upper Sonoran, which lies next to the Transition zone, and the
Lower Sonoran, next to the Tropical. [ Webster 1913 Suppl. ]

a. [ L. sonor, -oris, a sound + facere to make. See Sonorous. ] Producing sound; as, the sonorific quality of a body. [ R. ] I. Watts. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ L. sonoritas. ] The quality or state of being sonorous; sonorousness. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. [ L. sonorus, fr. sonor, -oris, a sound, akin to sonus a sound. See Sound. ] 1. Giving sound when struck; resonant; as, sonorous metals. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. Loud-sounding; giving a clear or loud sound; as, a sonorous voice. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. Yielding sound; characterized by sound; vocal; sonant; as, the vowels are sonorous. [ 1913 Webster ]

4. Impressive in sound; high-sounding. [ 1913 Webster ]

The Italian opera, amidst all the meanness and familiarty of the thoughts, has something beautiful and sonorous in the expression. Addison. [ 1913 Webster ]

There is nothing of the artificial Johnsonian balance in his style. It is as often marked by a pregnant brevity as by a sonorous amplitude. E. Everett. [ 1913 Webster ]

5. (Med.) Sonant; vibrant; hence, of sounds produced in a cavity, deep-toned; as, sonorous rhonchi. [ 1913 Webster ]

Sonorous figures (Physics), figures formed by the vibrations of a substance capable of emitting a musical tone, as when the bow of a violin is drawn along the edge of a piece of glass or metal on which sand is strewed, and the sand arranges itself in figures according to the musical tone. Called also acoustic figures. --
Sonorous tumor (Med.), a tumor which emits a clear, resonant sound on percussion. [ 1913 Webster ]

-- So*no"rous*ly, adv. -- So*no"rous*ness, n. [ 1913 Webster ]