worn-out, ppl. a.
[See wear v.1 9 b, 10 b, 11, 17. Cf. outworn.]
1. Of material things: Injured, damaged, defaced by wear, usage, attrition, or exposure, esp. to such a degree as to be no longer of use or service. † Of graphic characters: Obliterated.
| 1612 Selden Illustr. Drayton's Poly-olb. iv. 72 The errour I imagine to be from restoring of wooren out times in Bede and others. 1615 Sandys Trav. 40 The bases whereof did beare these now worne out characters. 1637 Spelman in Lett. Lit. Men (Camden) 153 A single letter in a worne-out worde, is a great help to revive what wanteth. a 1653 Gouge Comm. Heb. xiii. 1 It is a very obscure and almost worn-out stamp of that glorious Image in which at first God made man. 1683 Moxon Mech. Exerc., Printing xiii. ¶2 For..Triangular Punches, I commonly reserve my worn out three square Files. 1756 C. Smart tr. Horace, Epist. i. xix. 38 For the bribe of a worn-out coat. 1835 Dickens Sk. Boz, Pawnbroker's Shop, The worn-out thin shoes. 1851 Richardson Geol. (1855) 439 A worn-out vein of ironstone. 1865 Trollope Belton Est. xxii. 259 The worn-out carpets and old-fashioned chairs. 1874 Burnand My Time xxxiv. 372 There was a worn-out old safe in a corner. |
b. Of a colour: Dull; not bright or vivid.
| 1731 Miller Gard. Dict. s.v. Apocynum, Small Umbels of worn-out purple-colour'd Flowers. 1812 New Bot. Garden i. 6 These [flowers of Asclepias Syriaca] are of a worn-out purple colour. |
2. Of persons, living things, etc.: Utterly exhausted and wasted in strength or vitality.
| a 1700 Evelyn Diary 17 Feb. 1695 The Hospital design'd to be built at Greenwich for worn-out seamen. 1758 P. Williamson Life (1812) 49 They used all proper means to recover my worn-out spirits. 1789 Wesley Minutes Wks. 1872 VIII. 327 Every worn-out Preacher shall receive, if he wants it, at least ten pounds a-year. 1793 Cowper To Mary 55 Thy worn-out heart will break at last. 1795–6 Wordsw. Borderers ii. 927 We kill a worn-out horse, and who but women Sigh at the deed? 1796 Marshall Planting I. 93 The rough and the worn-out Hedges. 1851 D. Jerrold St. Giles xi. 105 Her father was a worn-out, broken merchant. 1852 C. W. Hoskyns Talpa 78 The specific operation of lime upon a worn-out soil. 1854 Poultry Chron. I. 595 This practice of crossing with a Gamecock was much in vogue with the old breeders, to improve a worn-out stock. 1876 Bancroft Hist. U.S. V. xiv. 496 There, in the woods, worn-out men sank down on the bare, frozen ground. |
b. Of a smile: Faint, feeble, ‘wan’.
| 1842 S. Lover Handy Andy xiv, At last, with ‘bated breath,’ and a very worn-out smile, [she] faltered forth. |
3. Of ideas, devices, etc.: Hackneyed by use, trite, stale, out of fashion. Of institutions: Effete.
| 1713 Addison Cato i. iii. 7 Your cold Hypocrisie's a stale Device, A worn-out Trick. 1782 Cowper Mutual Forbearance 5 Those hangings, with their worn-out graces. 1801 Ht. Lee Canterb. T. IV. 5 Under the claims of a sort of antiquated and worn-out nobility. 1819 in Croker Papers 3 May, His speech..treated a worn-out subject so as to make it appear a new one. 1841 W. Spalding Italy & It. Isl. II. 23 This composition..exhibits the worn-out Grecian mythology in an aspect of picturesque novelty. 1851 Kingsley Yeast xv, I am too old for that worn-out quibble. 1882 Besant All Sorts xxviii. (1898) 194 The House of Lords..was an effete and worn-out institution. |
† 4. Of time: Past, departed. Obs.
| 1593 Shakes. Lucr. 1350 This patterne of the worne-out age. |
Hence worn-outness (also -outiness).
| 1844 J. T. J. Hewlett Parsons & W. ii, The worn-outiness of the old pony on which he used to ride. 1898 B. Gregory Side Lights 434 Receiving allowances..on the same plea of wornoutness. |