† conˈtemptful, a. Obs.
[f. contempt n. + -ful.]
1. Full of contempt, contemptuous.
| 1604 Drayton Owle 683 Who in this time contemptfull Greatnesse late Scornd and disgrac'd. a 1641 Bp. R. Montagu Acts & Mon. (1642) 285 One onely..charged him with some contemptfull words uttered against Herod. 1683 D. A. Art Converse 28 Not so much to overawe them by a contemptful expression, as by a convincing reason. |
2. Worthy of contempt; contemptible. (Cf. disgraceful.)
| 1613 G. Chapman Rev. Bussy D'Amb. i. Dram. Wks. (1873) II. 113 The Stage and Actors are not so contemptfull, As euery innouating Puritane..Would haue the world imagine. 1627–77 Feltham Resolves i. xx. (1677) 36 Nauseous and contemptful. |