ETYMOLOGY
from Latin celebris (crowded, much frequented; festive), variant of celeber (famous, well-known) + -ous
EXAMPLE (for adj. 1.)
“… Howe happy are those men, who for their constant standing in the gappe, against Sathan & Antichrist, are every day illustrated, and made celebrious, by the maligning
of the adversaries of truth? Their soules are in peace, and their glory is promulgated by their enemies trumpets, who the more they oppugne them, the more we doe loue them, and eternise the memory of them. …”
From: The Reasons vvhich Doctour Hill hath brought, for the vpholding of papistry, which is falselie termed the Catholike religion
By George Abbot, 1604
Lexicophilia 