The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:
Excess \Ex*cess"\, n. [OE. exces, excess, ecstasy, L. excessus a
going out, loss of self-possession, fr. excedere, excessum,
to go out, go beyond: cf. F. exc[`e]s. See Exceed.]
1. The state of surpassing or going beyond limits; the being
of a measure beyond sufficiency, necessity, or duty; that
which exceeds what is usual or proper; immoderateness;
superfluity; superabundance; extravagance; as, an excess
of provisions or of light.
[1913 Webster]
To gild refined gold, to paint the lily,
To throw a perfume on the violet, . . .
Is wasteful and ridiculous excess. --Shak.
[1913 Webster]
That kills me with excess of grief, this with excess
of joy. --Walsh.
[1913 Webster]
2. An undue indulgence of the appetite; transgression of
proper moderation in natural gratifications; intemperance;
dissipation.
[1913 Webster]
Be not drunk with wine, wherein is excess. --Eph. v.
18.
[1913 Webster]
Thy desire . . . leads to no excess
That reaches blame. --Milton.
[1913 Webster]
3. The degree or amount by which one thing or number exceeds
another; remainder; as, the difference between two numbers
is the excess of one over the other.
[1913 Webster]
Spherical excess (Geom.), the amount by which the sum of
the three angles of a spherical triangle exceeds two right
angles. The spherical excess is proportional to the area
of the triangle.
[1913 Webster]
Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0:
149 Moby Thesaurus words for "excess":
Saturnalia, aggrandizement, amplification, ballyhoo, big talk,
blowing up, burlesque, caricature, crapulence, crapulency,
crapulousness, de trop, debauchery, dilatation, dilation,
disentitlement, dispensable, dissipation, dissoluteness,
drunkenness, empty claim, empty title, enhancement, enlargement,
exaggerating, exaggeration, excessive, excessiveness, exorbitance,
exorbitancy, expansion, expendable, expletive, extortionateness,
extra, extravagance, extreme, false claim, fat, glut, gluttony,
grandiloquence, gratuitous, heightening, huckstering, hyperbole,
hyperbolism, immoderacy, immoderateness, immoderation, impropriety,
in excess, inappropriateness, incontinence, indiscipline,
indulgence, inflation, inordinacy, inordinateness, intemperance,
intemperateness, inundation, invalid claim, lack of claim,
leftover, leftovers, magnification, needless, nimiety, no claim,
nonessential, outrageousness, overabundance, overage, overbalance,
overdoing, overemphasis, overestimation, overflow, overflowing,
overgrowth, overindulgence, overkill, overmeasure, overmuch,
overpass, overplus, overproduction, overrun, overrunning,
overspill, overspreading, overstatement, overstock, oversupply,
pleonastic, plethora, plus, preposterousness, prodigality,
profuseness, profusion, prolix, puffery, puffing up, redundancy,
redundant, remaining, residual, self-indulgence, self-restraint,
sensationalism, spare, stretching, superabundance, supererogation,
supererogatory, superfluity, superfluous, superiority, superlative,
supernumerary, surfeit, surplus, surplusage, swinishness,
tall talk, tautologic, tautologous, to spare, too much,
too-muchness, touting, travesty, uncalled-for, unconscionableness,
unconstraint, uncontrol, undeservedness, undeservingness,
undueness, unentitledness, unessential, unmeritedness, unnecessary,
unneeded, unreasonableness, unrestraint, verbose
The Devil's Dictionary (1881-1906):
EXCESS, n. In morals, an indulgence that enforces by appropriate
penalties the law of moderation.
Hail, high Excess -- especially in wine,
To thee in worship do I bend the knee
Who preach abstemiousness unto me --
My skull thy pulpit, as my paunch thy shrine.
Precept on precept, aye, and line on line,
Could ne'er persuade so sweetly to agree
With reason as thy touch, exact and free,
Upon my forehead and along my spine.
At thy command eschewing pleasure's cup,
With the hot grape I warm no more my wit;
When on thy stool of penitence I sit
I'm quite converted, for I can't get up.
Ungrateful he who afterward would falter
To make new sacrifices at thine altar!