verminous, a.
(ˈvɜːmɪnəs)
[f. vermin n. + -ous, or ad. L. verminōs-us (whence OF. verminous, vermenous, -eux, etc., = mod.F. vermineux, -euse, It., Sp., Pg. verminoso, Prov. vermenos):—vermis worm.]
1. Of the nature of, consisting of, vermin; like or resembling vermin in character; noxious, objectionable, offensive: a. Of animals or persons.
| 1621–3 Middleton & Rowley Changeling iii. iv, Do you place me in the rank of verminous fellows, To destroy things for wages? 1624 ― Game at Chess iv. iv, Like that verminous labourer [sc. the mole], which thou imitat'st In hills of pride and malice. 1691 Ray Coll. Words (ed. 2) 128 A Fowmart, a Polecat, is a noted Beast of this verminous kind. 1795–6 Wordsw. Borderers ii. 587 That soft class of devotees who..spare The verminous brood, and cherish what they spare While feeding on their bodies. 1830 Southey Lett. (1856) IV. 177 Both in Russia and Poland I believe they [i.e. Jews] are a verminous population, preying upon others. 1887 Swinburne Stud. Prose & Poetry (1894) 140 He has exactly as much claim to a place beside Dante as any..other murderous and verminous muckworm. |
b. Of things.
| c 1616 Chapman Batrachom. Ded., If yet the vile soul of the verminous time Love more the sale-muse and the squirrels chime. 1846 Landor Imag. Conv. Wks. I. 201/2 The smoky, verminous, unconcocted doctrine of passive obedience. 1884 Browning Ferishtah, Sun 14 Fancies verminous Breed in the clots there. |
2. Infested with, full of, vermin,
esp. parasitic vermin; foul or offensive on this account.
| 1632 Brome Crt. Beggar i. i, Note the necessity, that they [perruques] be well made Of..No verminous or sluttish locks or combings, But [etc.]. 1641 Milton Prel. Episc. 11 Searching among the verminous and polluted rags dropt overworn from the toyling shoulders of Time. a 1691 Boyle Hist. Air (1692) 230 He..found that divers drugs, salves, and..especially ointments, were verminous. 1774 Goldsm. Nat. Hist. (1862) I. xix. 110 In these tropical climates also,..drugs and plasters lose their virtue, and become verminous. 1819 Metropolis III. 128 The lively companions of a verminous bed. 1865 Pall Mall G. No. 211. 1/2 A verminous, over⁓crowded vagrant ward. 1899 Allbutt's Syst. Med. VIII. 866 In ‘verminous persons’ the hair is sometimes matted together by pus, nits, scales and scabs. |
| transf. 1861 Dickens Tom Tiddler's Ground i, How long he had held verminous occupation of his blanket and skewer. |
3. Tending to breed vermin.
rare—1.
| 1666 G. Harvey Morb. Angl. (1672) 39 A wasting of their [sc. children's] flesh..must depend upon some obstruction of the Entrails, or Verminous disposition of body. |
4. a. Of diseases, or morbid conditions, etc.: Caused by, due to, characterized by the presence of, parasitic vermin or intestinal worms.
| 1666 G. Harvey Morb. Angl. (1672) 35 Of a Verminous Consumption. 1684 tr. Bonet's Merc. Compit. x. 366/2 Their hypothesis is sufficiently known, concerning verminous putrefaction. 1733 tr. Belloste's Hosp. Surg. II. 71 Pestilence, Small-pox and all Verminous diseases. 1748 Phil. Trans. L. 837 The lead..might, by its weight, assist in removing the verminous filth, especially as the bowels were made slippery by the oil. 1756 P. Browne Jamaica 25 You may frequently observe..ladies poisoned with bark in verminous inflammations. 1832 Barker Lempriere's Class. Dict. (ed. 2) s.v. æthiopia, Almost all these people die of verminous diseases produced by this food. 1861 Hulme tr. Moquin-Tandon ii. vii. 332 Some families appear to be more predisposed to verminous affections than others. 1897 Allbutt's Syst. Med. II. 1033 There have been many instances of verminous abscess recorded. |
b. Of persons: Subject to vermin or intestinal worms.
| 1860 Encycl. Brit. (ed. 8) XXI. 974/2 Females may be more verminous than males. |
c. verminous bronchitis = hoose,
hooze n.| 1925 [see parasitic a. 5]. 1970 W. H. Parker Health & Dis. in Farm Animals xx. 268 This is the first sign of the disease known as Husk, or Verminous Bronchitis. |
Hence
ˈverminously adv.,
ˈverminousness.
| 1727 Bailey (vol. II), Verminousness, Fulness of Worms, Worm-eatenness. 1860 Worcester (citing Ec. Rev.), Verminously. 1891 Cent. Dict. s.v., Verminously unclean. |