brutish, a.
(ˈbruːtɪʃ)
Also 5–6 brutisshe, -ysshe, 7–8 bruitish.
[f. brute + -ish.]
1. Of or pertaining to the brutes, or lower animals, as opposed to man.
| 1534 More Wks. 402 (R.) A beaste, out of whose brutishe beastely mouthe, cometh such a fylthie forme of blasphemys. 1596 Spenser Astroph. 98 There his welwoven toyles..He laid the brutish nation to enwrap. 1614 T. Adams in Spurgeon Treas. Dav. lxvi. 13 The Lord takes not delight in the blood of brutish creatures. 1667 Milton P.L. i. 481 Wandring Gods disguis'd in brutish forms Rather then human. 1878 Browning La Saisiaz 35 Without the want, Life, now human, would be brutish. |
2. Pertaining to, resembling, or characteristic of the brutes: a. in want of intelligence or in failure to use reason: dull, irrational, uncultured, stupid.
| 1555 Eden Decades W. Ind. (Arb.) 50 Slowe and brutysshe wyttes. 1672 Marvell Reh. Transp. i. 114 As the Opinion is brutish, so the Consequences are devilish. 1728 Morgan Algiers I. i. 8 No People in the Universe, how savage and brutish soever they be, want a sufficient share of Reason. 1866 Rogers Agric. & Prices I. xxix. 693 He is..dull and brutish, reckless and supine. |
b. in want of control over the appetites and passions: passionate, sensual, furious.
| 1567 Triall Treas. (1850) 27 You bridled that brutishe beaste Inclination. 1615 R. C. Times' Whis. v. 1651, I now am come to brutish gluttonie. 1663 Cowley Verses & Ess. (1669) 70 It is only a Demonstration of Brutish Madness or Diabolical Possession. 1709 Steele Tatler No. 45 ¶3 The Servant of his brutish Lusts and Appetites. 1731 Swift Strephon & Ch. Misc. V. 36 How could a Nymph so chaste as Chloe..Permit a brutish Man to touch her? 1869 J. Martineau Ess. II. 213 He scolds at [it] as a propensity absolutely brutish. |
† 3. Rough, rude; savage, brutal. ? Obs.
| 1494 Fabyan v. cxl. 127 To oppresse in partye theyr brutisshe blastis, I wyll bryng in here y⊇ sayinge of Guydo. 1599 Greene Alphons. iii, Therefore, fair maid, bridle these brutish thoughts. 1645 Kings's Cabinet opened in Select. Harl. Misc. (1793) 343 The rebels new brutish general hath refused to meddle with foreign passes. 1726 Cavallier Mem. i. 42 The Count Brollio is..fierce, haughty, cruel and brutish; having no Manner of Politeness. 1773 Burke Let. Wks. IX. 135 We shall sink into surly, brutish Johns. |
† 4. = brute a. 3. Of thunder: striking blindly, random. [after L. brutum fulmen.] Obs.
| 1586 C. Fetherstone (title) The Brvtish Thunderbolt: or rather Feeble Fier-Flash of Pope Sixtus the fift, against Henrie king of Navarre. 1640 G. Sandys Christ's Pass. 29 (L.) Vainly we thy brutish thunder fear. ― Notes 100 The philosophers will have two sorts of lightning..the other brutish, that is accidental and flying at random. 1871 R. Ellis Catullus lxiv. 164 Yet to the brutish winds why moan I longer unheeded? |
5. quasi-adv.
| 1647 W. Browne Polexander i. 202 Bruitish bred men. |