▪ I. bestial, n.1 Obs. exc. Sc.
(ˈbɛstɪəl)
Forms: 4 beestaile, 4–5 bestayle, -lle, 4–7 bestaile; also 5–7 beastial, bestiall(e, -yal(l, (7 beastal, bestuall), 8 bestail, -eill, 6– bestial. (As sing. 6 bestyll.)
[Two forms: α. ME. bestaile, a. OF. bestaille (sing. fem.):—L. bestiālia, used in late L. in sense of L. pecudes cattle, beasts of the farm, pl. neut. of bestiālis adj. (see below), f. bestia beast; β. mod.Eng. and Sc. bestial, a. OF. bestial (still in 17th c., now dial.), sing. of mod.F. bestiaux, later substantive use of bestial adj., ad. L. bestiālis.]
1. A collective term for domestic animals, especially of the bovine kind, kept for food or tillage. It took the place of the OE. féoh, ME. fee; and has, since 17th c., been displaced in England by cattle, but is retained in Scotland as a legal and technical word of the farm.
| α a 1300 Cursor M. 2444 Be-twyx him and loth · his neuow Of bestaile [Cott. fee, Fairf. bestayle, Trin. beestaile] hade þai plente enow. 1393 Gower Conf. II. 138 And that they shulde also forth drawe Bestaile. 1433 E.E. Wills (1882) 95 Alle the meuable Catell of bestall that y haue in Sussex. 1481 Earl of Worcester Tulle on Friendsh. C j b, To gete them grete plente of bestaylle. [1607 Cowell has Bestaile; 1678 Phillips Beastal; 1721 Bailey Bestail; obs.] |
| β a 1470 Tiptoft Cæsar xiii. (1530) 18 There was found a great nomber of bestyall. c 1470 Henry Wallace iii. 5 Als bestiall..Weyle helpyt ar be wyrken of natur. 1510 Act 1 Hen. VIII, xx. § 1 Every maner of fresshe fysshe, bestyall and wyne. 1611 Speed Hist. Gt. Brit. ix. xv. 41 Leauing the Country bare of men and bestiall. 1631 Heylin Sabbath ii. (1636) 171 Hee might..kill and skinne his bestiall which were fit for sale. a 1670 Spalding Troub. Chas. I, (1829) 96 They..lived royally upon the corns and bestial of the said ground. 1828 Scott F.M. Perth I. 22 It is not my business where they get the bestial, so I get the hides. 1833 Act 3 & 4 Will. IV, xlvi. §83 No person shall drive cattle or bestial of any description on Sunday through..such burgh. |
2. A single beast; (with pl.)
| c 1430 Lydg. IV. in Cleveland Wks. (1687) 388 Void of Discretion that other Beastial. a 1450 Knt. de la Tour (1868) 103 Alle his bestailes and richesses. 1562 J. Heywood Prov. & Epigr. (1867) 56 A good bestyll is woorth a grote. 1670 Blount Law Dict., Bestials, Beasts or Cattle of any sort..generally and properly used for all kind of Cattle. 1725 Bradley Fam. Dict., Besteills. a 1788 Mickle Ode i. (R.) No joy, no hope it knows Above what bestials claim. 1813 Sismondi's Lit. Eur. (1846) II. xxxviii. 523 And each lulled in his shade, The bestials sleep. 1863 J. Keble Bp. Wilson viii. 280 The produce of the island, their ‘bestials’ especially. |
▪ II. † ˈbestial, n.2 Obs. Sc.
[Erron. form of bastaille, -ailȝe: see bastille 2 a.; prob. after the substitution of bestial for bestaille in prec. word.]
A wooden tower used in sieges.
| c 1470 Henry Wallace vii. 977 Ramsay gert byg strang bestials [ed. 1570 bastailȝeis] off tre. Ibid. xi. 877 On the north syd his bestials had he wrocht. |
▪ III. bestial, a.
(ˈbɛstɪəl)
Forms: 4–7 bestyall(e, -iall(e, 6 beestyal, 6–8 beastial(l, (7 beastual), 5– bestial.
[ME.: a. OF. bestial (13th c. in Littré), ad. L. bestiāl-is like a beast, f. bestia beast.]
1. Of or belonging to the lower animals, esp. four-footed beasts.
| 1393 Gower Conf. I. 140 To take a mannes hert aweie And sette there a bestiall, So that he lich an oxe shall Pasture. 1470 Harding Chron. xxxvi, Moruile, Kyng of Britaine, was slayne.. with a fysshe bestyall of the sea. 1528 Paynell Salerne Regim. O ij b, Bestiall fyshe as the see swyne, dogge fyshe, and dolphin. 1549 Compl. Scot. vi. 64 The scheip and nolt..pronuncit there bestial voce. 1607 Topsell Four-f. Beasts (1673) 29 At length her parents..found their little Daughter in the Bears den, who delivered her from that savage and beastual captivity. 1687 Dryden Hind & P. i. 167. 1706 Phillips s.v., Bestial Signs of the Zodiack are Aries, Taurus, Leo, and Capricornus. 1709 Steele Tatler No. 49 ¶3 A Satyr; of Shape, part Humane, part Bestial. 1831 Carlyle Sart. Res. i. v, Lurking for his bestial or human prey. |
2. transf. Like a beast in its want of intelligence; ‘below the dignity of reason or humanity’ (J.); brutish, untaught, irrational; rude, barbarous.
| c 1400 Mandev. xxii. 224 Thei weren but bestyalle folk, and diden no thing but kepten Bestes. c 1400 Rom. Rose 6718 If a man be so bestial, That he of no craft hath science. 1484 Caxton Chyualry 16 They gyue doctryne to the peple laye and bestiall. 1538 Starkey England 10 Men were brought from theyr rudenes and beestyal lyfe to thys cyvylyte. 1547 Bauldwin Mor. Philos. (Palfr.) ii. 2 There is no nation so savage and beastiall. 1615 G. Sandys Trav. i. 60 To please beastiall Ignorance. 1816 Scott Bl. Dwarf iv, The slavish and bestial doctrine. |
3. esp. Like a beast in obeying and gratifying the animal instincts and sensual desires; debased, depraved, lustful, cruel, brutal, beastly, obscene.
| 1447 O. Bokenham Seyntys (1835) 95 That he wold be so bestyal To forsakyn hys glorye pontifical. 1509 Barclay Shyp of Folys (1570) 245 Thy faythfull felowe is bestiall dronkennes. 1594 Shakes. Rich. III, iii. v. 80 Beastiall appetite in change of Lust. 1755 Young Centaur vi. Wks. 1757 IV. 267 The bestial abyss of a few year's debauch. 1878 S. Cox Salv. Mundi i. (ed. 3) 13 Sodom was a synonym for the most utter and bestial corruption. |
4. quasi-n. The nature of a beast or animal.
| 1667 H. More Div. Dial. iii. §24 (1713) 238 That more full and sensible Sweetness of the Animal or Bestial. 1878 B. Taylor Deukalion i. iv. 36, I see the bestial, base unpurified, Its hideous features smeared with filth and blood. |