▪ I. † gory, n. slang. Obs.—1
(See quot.)
| 1812 J. H. Vaux Flash Dict., Gory, a term synonymous with cove, gill or gloak, and like them, commonly used in the descriptive. |
▪ II. gory, a.
(ˈgɔərɪ)
Also 6 gorrie, 6–8 goary, 7 go(a)rie.
[f. gore n.1 + -y1.]
† 1. Of blood: Gore-like, clotted. Obs.
| a 1547 Surrey æneid ii. (1557) B j, Whose sacred fillettes all be sprinkled were With filth of gory blod, and venim rank. 1590 Spenser F.Q. i. xi. 22 Forth flowed fresh A gushing river of blacke gory blood. |
2. Covered with gore, stained with blood, bloody.
| c 1480 Henryson Mor. Fab. 38 Thy gorrie gumes and thy bludie snout. 1605 Shakes. Macb. iii. iv. 51 Neuer shake Thy goary lockes at me. 1637 Milton Lycidas 62 His goary visage down the stream was sent. 1655 Marvell 1st Anniv. Govt. Protector 130 The monster..shrinking to her Roman denn impure, Gnashes her goary teeth. a 1732 Gay Poems (1745) I. 17 He..tears with goary mouth the screaming prey. 1785 Burns Winter Nt. 45 Mad Ambition's gory hand. 1814 Scott Ld. of Isles vi. xvi, Away the gory axe he threw. c 1869 Ld. C. E. Paget Autobiog. vii. (1896) 221 The other [hand] held the gory head of a Greek just decapitated. |
3. = bloody 4.
| 1586 Warner Alb. Eng. i. vi. (1612) 22 Cerberus with goarie blowes did chace The wounded and the wearie Knight. 1601 ? Marston Pasquil & Kath. v. 15 The Pistoll is discharg'd; The Act of gorie murder is perform'd. 1606 Shakes. Tr. & Cr. iv. v. 123 The obligation of our bloud forbids A gorie emulation 'twixt vs twaine. |
4. Resembling gore; blood-red. rare. (Cf. bloody 7.) gory dew: name of a minute freshwater alga (see quot.).
| 1822 Byron Heaven & Earth i. iii. 211 Until the clouds look gory With the blood reeking from each battle-plain. 1861 H. Macmillan Footn. fr. Nature 147 [A] curious plant closely allied to the red snow is the Palmella cruenta or Gory Dew. 1877 A. Brassey Voy. Sunbeam xv. (1878) 268 Waves of blood-red, fiery, liquid lava..rushed up the face of the cliffs to toss their gory spray high in the air. |