▪ I. coarse, a.
(kɔəs)
Forms: 5 cors, corse, 6 cours, cowrse, (cowarce), 6–8 course, 7 coorse, 7– coarse.
[First found early in 15th c. No corresp. adj. in Teutonic, Romanic, or Celtic. The general spelling down to the 18th c. was identical with that of the n. course; with that word it is still identical in pronunciation, both in standard English and in the dialects (e.g. Scotch kurs); the spelling coarse appears to have come in about the time when the pronunciation of course changed from (u), to (o). Hence the suggestion of Wedgwood that coarse is really an adj. use of course, with the sense ‘ordinary’, as in the expression of course, ‘of the usual order’. It appears to have been used first in reference to cloth, to distinguish that made or worn in ordinary course from fine cloth or clothes for special occasions or special persons; ‘course cloth’ would thus be ‘cloth of (ordinary) course’. Cf. the history of mean, and such expressions as ‘a very ordinary-looking woman’, a ‘plain person’.
Our first contemporary example of the spelling coarse is in Walton 1653 (where course however also occurs; it became frequent after 1700; course occurs occasionally down to 1800.]
† 1. a. Ordinary, common, mean (in the depreciatory sense of these epithets); base; of inferior quality or value; of little account. (Cf. also coarsely.)
| 1424 E.E. Wills 56 Too [two] cors bordcloþes, and too peire cors sanapes. 1478 Paston Lett. No. 824 III. 237 Anothyr for the workyng days, how corse so ever it be it makyth no matyr. 1530 Palsgr. 210/1 Course towe, tanure. 1552–3 Inv. Ch. Goods, Staffs. in Ann. Litchfield IV. 5, Ij cowarce coopes of redde & yellowe silke. 1570 R. Edwards Damon & P. in Dodsley (1825) I. 200. 1613 Shakes. Hen. VIII, iii. ii. 239 Now I feele Of what course Mettle ye are molded. 1622 Fletcher Span. Curate iv. i. (1647), I shall be most happie To be emploi'd..Even in the coursest Office. 1653 Walton Angler 199 The worst or coarsest of fresh water fish. 1695 Woodward Nat. Hist. Earth vi. (1723) 284 Amongst these coarser Metalls are Copper..and Iron. |
† b. to make coarse account of: to make small account of, treat slightingly.
Obs.| 1579 Lyly Euphues (Arb.) 54 Such fine dames as..make such course accompt of their passionate louers. Ibid. 124 It is a course which we ought to make a course accompt off. |
2. a. Wanting in fineness, smoothness, or delicacy of texture, granulation, or structure; consisting of comparatively large parts or particles; or of such as are too large for beauty. Opposed to
fine.
(
Cf. the early examples referring to cloth in sense 1; it is impossible to say when the notion ceased to be that of ordinary or common quality, and began to be that of the texture which gave this quality.)
| 1582 J. Lyly in Four C. Eng. Lett. 39 White meale, where others thought to show cours branne. 1697 Dryden Virg. Georg. ii. 293 The coarse lean Gravel, on the Mountain sides. 1714 Mandeville Fab. Bees (1725) I. 326 A thick parish gown and a course shirt. 1796 Morse Amer. Geog. II. 605 note, Course black canvas. 1839 Thirlwall Greece I. 289 The same coarse garment served them for summer and winter. 1846 J. Baxter Libr. Pract. Agric. II. 187 The ashes are sometimes spread in drills..if the finest portions are sifted from the coarser, etc. 1860 Tyndall Glac. i. §14. 95 Coarse shingle and débris. |
b. in a wider sense: said of the physical quality of men and beasts, herbs, land, etc.
| 1630 T. Westcote Devon. (1845) 433 We may soon wander and stray [on the moor] and so make longer stay in this coarse place. 1660 Sharrock Vegetables 33 Gardiners that provide cabbage-seed..upon their course ground. 1739 Cibber Apol. xiii. 349 Coarse Mothers may have comely Children. 1751 Johnson Rambler No. 141 ¶7 A form..so coarse as to raise disgust. 1774 Goldsm. Nat. Hist. (1776) IV. 308 They seem to prefer the coarsest weeds. 1863 Kingsley Water-bab. vi. 244 Their jaws grow large and their lips grow coarse. 1883 Lloyd Ebb & Flow I. 38 Two frightfully dressed women with coarse complexions. 1889 Sat. Rev. 16 Mar. 326/1 A rather coarse horse, with great bone and power. |
3. Rough, harsh, or rude, to the taste, perception, or æsthetic sense. (In early use coming near to 1.)
a. of material things;
esp. of diet or ‘fare’.
| [1587 Harrison England ii. xii. (1877) i. 234 He liked better of our good fare in such course cabins.] 1607 Hieron Wks. I. 375 The Lord's supper, as some course, homely, sluttish fare, is..refused with scorne. 1651 tr. Bacon's Life & Death 16 Diogenes..used..tyranny over Himselfe; of a course Diet. 1766 Goldsm. Vic. W. xxxi, Coarser provisions [were] distributed..among the populace. 1859 Tennyson Geraint & Enid 1057 Thou, My lord, eat also, tho' the fare is coarse. |
b. of immaterial things.
| [1604 Hieron Wks. I. 476 That, which I haue framed, is but a homely and course discourse. Ibid. I. 487 The meanest profession, the coursest trade.] 1722 De Foe Col. Jack (1840) 106 It was but very coarse travelling. 1856 Emerson Eng. Traits, Character Wks. (Bohn) II. 58 They are full of coarse strength, rude exercise..and sound sleep. 1878 Morley Crit. Misc., Carlyle 188 [Fatalism] in its coarsest and most childish kind. |
c. Of the weather: Rough, stormy, foul. Now chiefly
dial.| 1774 Gentl. Mag. 242, July 4, Bright morning, coarse midday, wet evening. July 5, a cloudy coarse day. a 1825 Forby s.v., It is a coarse morning. 1854 Badham Halieut. 44 When the weather is too coarse for fishing. 1864 Miss Mulock in Gd. Words 428 In the Highlands just before ‘coarse’ weather sets in. 1877 Blackmore Cripps v. 25 We shall have a coarse night of it, I doubt. 1887 Kentish Gloss., Coarse, rough, snowy, windy weather. |
| fig. 1861 Hughes Tom Brown at Oxf. xxiv, It will be a coarse time for Chanter. |
d. Of sound: Rough and harsh;
spec. in
Pathol. of certain sounds heard on auscultation in diseased conditions of the chest.
| 1879 Stainer Music of Bible 89 The quality of tone produced by the reed-pipes was..very coarse and shrill. 1883 Quain Dict. Med. 1118 If the larger tube be affected, and the narrowing not great, the coarser sound is produced. |
4. Of persons: Wanting in delicacy of perception, apprehension, action; hence of observations, phenomena, etc.: Not refined or delicate, rough.
| 1680 H. More Apocal. Apoc. 308 Exceeding stupid and slow-witted, or of a course perverse Spirit. a 1685 Otway Windsor Castle (R.), We had appetites too coarse to taste. 1788 Priestley Lect. Hist. ii. xii. 96 As nearly..as their coarse observations would enable them to determinate. 1860 Tyndall Glac. ii. §i. 226 The coarser phenomena, which come under the cognizance of the senses. 1870 Huxley Lay Serm. iii. 33 The coarser monitors pleasure and pain. |
5. a. Of personal behaviour, manners, language, etc.: Unrefined; rough, rude, uncivil, vulgar.
| [c 1510 Barclay Mirr. Good Mann. (1570) A j, In barbarike language and wordes course and vile. 1586 A. Day Eng. Secretary ii. (1625) 87 As another said to a rude fellow, you are too course to keepe course in our companie.] 1699 Bentley Phal. Pref. 74 That Language is too course to be given by Me. 1762 J. Brown Poetry & Mus. vii. (1763) 153 Their coarse Manners melted gradually into false Politeness. 1855 Milman Lat. Chr. (1864) IV. vii. v. 160 A coarse age, with that deadness to delicacy which belongs to monastic life. 1880 L. Stephen Pope ii. 52 That style of coarse personal satire of which Swift was a master. |
b. The sense ‘gross, indelicate’ passes into that of ‘indecent, obscene’. (Chiefly of language.)
| 1711 Addison Spect. No. 119 ¶5 The most coarse uncivilized Words. 1771 Junius Lett. liv. 281 Any coarse expressions..are unfit..to make use of. 1858 Doran Crt. Fools 332 Coarse jokes, acceptable to coarse people in coarse times. 1880 V. Lee Stud. Italy iii. i. 86 Comic operas were most often coarse and even gross. |
6. Used
advb. = coarsely.
| 1680 Otway Orphan i. iv. 345 No hungry Churl feeds courser at a Feast. |
7. Comb. a. parasynthetic, as
coarse-featured,
coarse-haired,
coarse-handed,
coarse-lipped,
coarse-minded,
coarse-mouthed,
coarse-tongued adjs.;
b. adverbial, as
coarse-spun adj. (also as
n. = coarse-spun stuff),
coarse-wrought adj.| 1850 Mrs. Carlyle Lett. II. 113 A *coarse-featured red-haired squat woman. |
| 1871 Palgrave Lyr. Poems 48 The *coarse-lipped Austrian tyrant. |
| 1832 F. Trollope Dom. Manners Amer. II. xxv. 86 The *coarse-minded custom which sends alternate groups of males and females into the room. 1855 Macaulay Hist. Eng. IV. 171 The rancorous and coarseminded Countess. |
| 1768–74 Tucker Lt. Nat. (1852) II. 558 A ballad tune sung by the *coarse-piped chambermaid. |
| 1649 G. Daniel Trinarch., Hen. V, cclxvi, Forraging Bees..Not recking *course-spun Thistles. |
| 1703 Moxon Mech. Exerc. 15 The Rough or *Course-tooth'd File. |
| 1768–74 Tucker Lt. Nat. (1852) II. 373 His *coarse-wrought texture. |
| 1898 O. Wilde Ballad Reading Gaol 4 Some *coarse-mouthed Doctor. |
c. Special comb., as
coarse-fibred,
coarse-grained a., having coarse fibres, ‘grain’ or texture; also
fig. having a coarse nature, wanting in refinement; hence
coarse-grainedness;
coarse fish, any fresh-water fish except the Salmonidæ (or game-fish); so
coarse fisherman,
coarse fishing;
coarse groove, the type of groove used on a 78 r.p.m. gramophone record;
coarse-stuff: see
stuff.
| 1872 O. W. Holmes Poet Breakf.-t. x. (1885) 251 *Coarse-fibred and fine-fibred people. |
| 1768–74 Tucker Lt. Nat. II. 79 The *coarse-grained heron. 1818 Syd. Smith Lett. cxxxv, Rather a coarse-grained fellow. |
| 1876 Tait Rec. Adv. Phys. Sc. xiii. 315 The *coarse-grainedness of what appears..even to our most powerful microscopes, to be absolutely uniform matter. |
| 1881 Mechanic 629 The plaster used by plasterers is generally classified as ‘*coarse-stuff’, ‘fine stuff,’ and ‘gauged stuff’. |
| 1895 C. J. Cornish Wild England of To-day 178 Autumn and winter are the proper seasons in which to take *coarse fish. 1897 Encycl. Sport I. 16/1 The taking of spinning-baits by grayling, and by the minor coarse fish. Ibid. 29/2. 1898 Daily News 9 Mar. 5/1 The coarse-fish men who aspire to baskets of pike, perch, and roach. 1959 J. Clegg Freshwater Life (ed. 2) xvii. 280 To the Carp family belong the majority of the so-called ‘coarse fish’. |
| 1959 Times 7 Feb. 9/3, I do not suggest that *coarse fishermen should ‘lay on’ with small roach to catch bigger ones. |
| 1966 New Statesman 11 Nov. 694/3, I like the small scale and puny ambition of *coarse fishing. |
| 1958 Chambers's Techn. Dict. (ed. 2) 967/1 *Coarse groove, in disc/sound-recording for transcription and gramophone records the technique for shellac 78 r.p.m. discs, as distinct from fine groove or microgroove, used for vinylite long-playing discs. 1958 Times 18 Oct. 9/5 Why should the abridged version of The Rape of Lucretia languish on coarse-groove records? 1962 A. Nisbett Technique Sound Studio 255 Coarse-groove... Approximate dimensions: width 6 mils, depth 2·5 mils. |
▪ II. coarse obs. f. corse, corpse,
course.