wretched, a.
(ˈrɛtʃɪd)
Forms: α. 3–5 wrecched (-ede, 4–5 -id, 4 -ide, 5 -yd, -et), 5 wrechched (-id, -yd); 3–5 wreched (3–4 -ede, 3–5 -id, 4 -yde, 5–6 -yd, Sc. -it, -yt), 5 vrechid, wreached, 6 wreiched; 5– wretched (5–6 -id, -yd, Sc. -it, 6 wreteched). β. 3–4 wrichede (4 -ed, 5 -id), 4 wryched, 4–5 wricched, -id, 5 wrycched. γ. Sc. 5–6 wrachit (5 wrochit), 6 wratchet, -eit, -it, ratchit.
[Irreg. f. wretch a. + -ed1. Cf. wicked a.1]
1. a. Of persons, etc.: Living in a state of misery, poverty, or degradation; sunk in distress or dejection; very miserable or unhappy.
| α a 1200 Vices & Virtues 9 Ðanne ic wolde ðe wrecchede saule sa rewliche acwellan. a 1240 Wohunge in O.E. Hom. I. 277 Ihesu..riche ar tu.., and tah poure þu bicom for me, westi and wrecched. a 1300 Cursor M. 24517 Allas! quat es me nu to red, I wrechidest of all! c 1340 Hampole Pr. Consc. 2426 Wreched saul,..what may thou say When þou partes fra þe body away? c 1374 Chaucer Anel. & Arc. 60 Þe wrechid Thebans bretheren two Were slayne. c 1450 Myrr. our Ladye 7 So ye vouchsafe of youre tender charyte..to praye for oure right poure & full wretched soulle. 1482 [see wretchedful a.]. 1538 Starkey England ii. i. 173 Pepul, wych now lyue in idulnes, wrechyd and pore. a 1592 Greene Alphonsus iv. iii, I am..the wretchedst man aliue. c 1622 Fletcher Prophetess iii. i, We are no Spinsters; nor, if you look upon us, So wretched as you take us. 1647 Cowley Mistr., My Heart Discovered 37 What should the wretched Widow do? ? 1705 Berkeley in Fraser Life (1871) 475 Man without God wretcheder than a stone or tree. 1795 Southey Vis. Maid Orleans ii. 238 A most wretched band Groan'd underneath the bitter tyranny Of a fierce dæmon. 1829 Hood Dream Eugene Aram xix, My wretched, wretched soul..Was at the Devil's price. 1858 Carlyle Fredk. Gt. v. i, The poor exasperated Mother, wretchedest and angriest of women. 1882 J. Hawthorne Fort. Fool i. xxiv, A mountain of it can't make you one hair's breadth the happier or the wretcheder. |
| β a 1340 Hampole Psalter ii. 2 Þa ere fendis, þat bigiles wricched saules. |
| γ 1567 Gude & Godlie B. (S.T.S.) 24 We wratcheit sinnaris pure, Our sin hes vs forlorne. |
b. absol., in
sing. or plural sense.
| 1388 Wyclif Isaiah xvi. 4 For whi dust is endid, the wretchid [1382 the wrecche] is wastid; he that defoulide the lond failude. 1576 Whetstone Rocke of Regard i. 41 marg., Others pleasures a griefe to the wretched. 1600 Shakes. A.Y.L. iii. v. 37 Who might be your mother That you insult, exult,..Ouer the wretched? 1730 Thomson Autumn 1192 Let These Insnare the wretched in the toils of law. 1794 Mrs. Radcliffe Myst. Udolpho liv, The delight of having made the wretched happy. a 1806 H. K. White Remains (1825) 306, I heard the wretched's groan, and mourn'd the wretched's doom. 1844 Kinglake Eothen ii, The wretched look often more picturesque than their betters. |
(
b)
spec. in
phr. wretched of the earth [
tr. F.
damnés de la terre (F. Fanon 1961, as book title)].
| 1965 C. Farrington tr. F. Fanon (title) The wretched of the earth. 1970 Guardian 21 Aug. 11/3 Are the refugees, the most wretched of the earth, fertile ground for revolutionary activity on a mass scale? 1979 Country Life 11 Oct. 1236/3 Our own native ‘wretched of the earth’, the alcoholics, the inadequates, the very poor. 1983 C. Driver British at Table viii. 140 Protein alone cannot rescue the wretched of the earth. |
2. a. Of conditions, etc.: Marked or distinguished by misery or unhappiness; attended by distress, discomfort, or sorrow.
| α c 1200 Trin. Coll. Hom. 141 Hwu wunderlich was his hider-cume and hwu wrecchede his her-biwist. a 1300 Cursor M. 949 Ȝee most leue þis lufsum land, Vnto þe wreched werld to gang. c 1340 Hampole Pr. Consc. 557 Þe bygynnyng of man..Es vile and wreched to behalde. 1377 Langl. P. Pl. B. xv. 138 A wrecched hous he helde al his lyf tyme. c 1450 Cursor M. 9573 (Laud MS.), Here now my prayere Of this wrecchid preson. 1538 Starkey England i. ii. 47 Myserabul penury and wrechyd pouerty. 1581 A. Hall Iliad i. 3 You see howe in this wretched warre our people doe decay. 1602 Shakes. Ham. iii. iii. 67 Oh wretched state! Oh bosome, blacke as death! 1697 Dryden Virg. Past. i. 15 The raging Sword and wastful Fire Destroy the wretched Neighbourhood around. 1719 De Foe Crusoe ii. (Globe) 402 The Savages..killed them over again in a wretched Manner, breaking their Arms. 1785 Burns Winter Night ix, Think, for a moment, on his wretched fate! 1847 M{supc}Culloch Acc. Brit. Empire (ed. 3) II. 511 The disorderly and wretched state of the population. 1855 Tennyson Maud ii. v. ii, Wretchedest age, since Time began, They cannot even bury a man. |
| β c 1400 Mandeville (Roxb.) vi. 21 It es lang sen any durst come nere þat wricched place. |
| γ c 1480 Henryson Prais of Aige 25 This wrachit warld may na man trow. 1552 Lyndesay Monarche Prol. 209 In this wracheit vaill of sorrow. 1567 Gude & Godlie B. (S.T.S.) 57 Quhen fra this wratcheit lyfe we wend. |
b. Of weather, etc.: Causing discomfort; very unpleasant or uncomfortable.
| 1711 Swift Jrnl. to Stella 27 March, A rainy wretched scurvy day from morning till night. 1836 Dickens Sk. Boz, Streets—Night, It was such a wretched night out o' doors. 1888 Encycl. Dict. s.v., Wretched weather. |
3. a. Distinguished by base, vile, or unworthy character or quality; contemptible.
| c 1250 Kent. Serm. in O.E. Misc. 28 Þo ilke þinges so bieth bitere to þo wrichede flessce. c 1290 Codicem MS. Digby 86 (1871) 99 Weilawei, wrecchede bali, nou þou shalt to bere. a 1333 W. Herebert in Relig. Lyrics 14th C. (1924) 19 Dame, help at þe noede..Þat uor no wreched gult Ich boe to helle y-pult. c 1375 Lay Folks Mass Bk. (MS. B.) 80 Þat god haue merci..of my wreched synfulnes. 1456 Sir G. Haye Law Arms (S.T.S.) 172 Of this wrechit disobeysaunce cummys untreuth. 1495 Rolls of Parlt. VI. 502/2 Their cursed, myschevous and wreched purpose. 1529 More Dyaloge iii. xi. Wks. 226 We take suche a wretched pleasure in the hearing of their sin. 1568 Grafton Chron. II. 776 margin, Oh depe and wretched dissimulation! 1608 Topsell Serpents 278 The wretched nature of the young man, and his extreame impietie. 1652 Urquhart Jewel Wks. (1834) 213 Compatriots infected with the same leprosy of a wretched peevishness whereof those..rapacious varlets have given such cannibal-like proofs. 1720 T. Innes Crit. Essay (1879) 311 Knox himself..led on the furious mob in this wretched expedition. 1754 Sherlock Disc. (1759) I. iii. 109 The wretched Circumstances which put an end to our Lord's life. 1835 Dickens Sk. Boz, Pawnbroker's Shop, Where the practised smile is a wretched mockery of the misery of the heart. 1868 Freeman Norm. Conq. (1876) II. ix. 421 The thing was clearly some wretched court intrigue. |
b. Of a poor, mean, or paltry character; mean, worthless; sorry, trifling.
| 1375 Barbour Bruce ix. 403 Quhen sic a knycht, sa richt vorthy As this is.., In-to sic perill has hym set To vyn ane vrechit hamlet. c 1450 J. Capgrave St. Augustine 46 His cloþis..wer not ouyr costful, ne ouyr wrecched. 1450 Lincoln Diocese Doc. 45, I gyff..my wrechid body to be Beryd in a chitte with-owte any kyste. 1561 T. Norton Calvin's Inst. iii. 265 This wretched victory they shall obteine, where..the Lord shal suffer them to ouerspreade the darknes of lyes. 1637 Milton Lycidas 124 Their lean and flashy songs Grate on their scrannel Pipes of wretched straw. 1662 J. Davies tr. Olearius' Voy. Ambass. 274 He who play'd upon the Timbrel accompany'd with a wretched inharmonious Voice. Ibid. 406 A wretched coarse Cloth. 1711 Addison Spect. No. 13 ¶6 The wretched Taste of his Audience. 1726 G. Shelvocke Voy. round World (1757) 297 A paper written in such wretched Spanish as we could muster up amongst us. 1778 E. Harwood Eds. Classics (ed. 2) 5 Editions..printed on wretched paper. 1824 Miss Mitford Village Ser. i. 189 That still wretcheder apology for a coat. 1855 Macaulay Hist. Eng. xix. IV. 263 So wretched had his education been. 1891 Farrar Darkn. & Dawn xxx, The wretched little islets of Gyara and Tremerus. |
4. Of persons, etc.: Contemptible in character or quality; despicable, reprehensible; hateful.
| c 1430 Lydg. Min. Poems (Percy Soc.) 79 There stode a dragon,..Wretched and skaled al wyth asure. c 1440 Alph. Tales 82 [When] he hard þis clauce red,..þis wrichid clerk made a skorn þerat & sayd þat it was fals. 1460 J. Capgrave Chron. (Rolls) 62 Nero.., of alle men wrecchidhest, redy to alle maner vices. c 1470 Henry Wallace vii. 400 Had he the warld, and be wrachit off hart, He is no lord as to the worthines. 1526 Pilgr. Perf. (W. de W. 1531) 37 b, Al though they be wretched lyuers & noughty packes. 1560 tr. Fisher's Godly Treat. Prayer C j b, Euery man, be he neuer so extreme and wretched a synner. c 1585 [R. Browne] Answ. Cartwright 68 To eate the Lordes supper with open vnrepentant & wretched persons is not lawfull. 1710 Berkeley Princ. Hum. Knowl. §92 The absurdities of every wretched sect of Atheists. 1809–10 Coleridge Friend (1865) 107 The wretched tyrant..had exhausted the whole magazine of animal terror. 1855 Tennyson Maud x. ii, At war with myself and a wretched race, Sick, sick to the heart of life, am I. |
| transf. 1853 Kane Grinnell Exp. xxxi. (1856) 266 The icebergs are wretched enemies in the dark. |
5. Of persons or animals: Poor in ability, capacity, character, etc.
| c 1482 Monk of Evesham (Arb.) 85 On spurre with the whiche he was compellid to stere his wrechid hors to renne. 1577 B. Googe Heresbach's Husb. iii. 150 Such as are farrowed in winter are commonly poore and wretched. 1668 Evelyn tr. Freart's Idea Perf. Paint. 16 By the hand of some wretched Dauber. 1860 Sala Lady Chesterfield 31 The women who make the wretchedest wives in the world. 1864 Pusey Lect. Daniel (1876) 363 Daniel's omission of the wretched kings between Nebuchadnezzar and Belshazzar. |
† 6. Niggardly; miserly. (
Cf. wretch v.
2)
Obs.| 1652 Urquhart Jewel Wks. (1834) 280 That the minister is the greediest man in the parish,..and that the richer they become..the more wretched they are. |
7. Comb., as
† wretched-fated,
wretched-witched, and
esp. wretched-looking.
| 1591 Sylvester Ivry 425 People..Pleas'd with the blaze, do, wretched-witched Elves, For fuell (fooles) cast-in their willing Selves. 1615 Chapman Odyss. xx. 50 Thou most sowre, and wretched-fated man Of all that breath! 1817 J. Scott Paris Revisit. (ed. 4) 74 The single wretched-looking horse of each, half drowned in the torrent. 1839 Penny Cycl. XIII. 383/2 The cattle of the district are in general wretched-looking. 1864 A. McKay Hist. Kilmarnock 295 The wretched-looking farm-houses of former years. |
Hence
† ˈwretcheddom, misery.
Obs.| c 1320 Cast. Love 408 He..tyed hym..To wreccheddam [v.r. wrecchedam] and serwe i-nouȝ. |