ˈnoughty, a. Obs. exc. Sc.
Forms: 4 noȝt-, 5–6 nowght-, noght-, 6 Sc. nochth-, 7– Sc. nocht-, 4– noughty; also 5–6 -i, 6 -ie, -ye.
[f. nought n. + -y: cf. naughty a.]
† 1. Of actions, etc.: Bad, immoral, wicked. Obs.
| 13.. E.E. Allit. P. B. 1359 Hit is not innoghe to þe nice al noȝty þink [= thing] vse, Bot if alle þe worlde wyt his wykked dedes. 1450–80 tr. Secreta Secret. 14 Leue þe noughti lyf of bestis that euyr lyve in filthis. 1533 More Debell. Salem i. Wks. 931/2 Of many noughti thinges I touch there but a fewe, and suche as were in no wise to be dissembled. 1541 Act 33 Hen. VIII, c. 21 §1 A woman, whiche was priuie to hir noughtie life before. 1603 J. Davies (Heref.) Microcos. xxxv. Wks. (Grosart) I. 26/2 Sin, noughty Nothing that mak'st all things nought. |
† 2. Of persons: Abject, worthless, vile, bad.
| c 1395 Plowman's Tale iii. 1097 And they were noughty, foule, and horowe, To worship god men wolde wlate. 1461 Paston Lett. II. 26 Be ware howe ye ryd or go, for nowgty and evyll desposyd felacheps. 1477 Earl Rivers (Caxton) Dictes 24 Yf he geue by wil to noughty folkis..it puteth aweye the courage of his goode seruauntis. a 1529 Skelton Agst. Scottes 56 Ye for to sende such a citacion, It shameth all your noughty nacion. 1563 Googe Eglogs vii. (Arb.) 79 Let noughtye men saye what they lyst to the[e]. |
| Comb. 1553 T. Wilson Rhet. (1580) 121 It is a folie to suffer the fome of a horse, or the strikyng of his foote, and not abide any thyng that a foole doeth, or a noughtie dis-posed fellowe speaketh. |
† b. noughty pack = naughty pack.
Obs.| 1526 Pilgr. Perf. (W. de W. 1531) 37 b, Al though they be wretched lyuers & noughty packes amonge. 1553 T. Wilson Rhet. (1580) 140 Euery one thinketh it a better and a meter deede, to punishe noughtie packes, then to scoffe at their euill demeanour. |
3. Of things:
a. Good for nothing; worthless or of little worth; also in
mod. Sc., insignificant, trifling.
| 1508 Fisher 7 Penit. Ps. cii. Wks. (1876) 198 Syth he hath gyuen vnto this noughty worlde so many grete pleasures. 1551 Turner Herbal 141 That whiche is..sharpe or rough or darke and full of asshes..is greuous and noughty. 1655 Sess. Rec. Lesmahagow, Ann. viii. (1864) 128 Ye Session taking into y{supr} consideration that M{supr} Thomas' school has been very nochtie. 1835 Webster Rhymes 203 When he lifts his mole-like een, With a nochty nose between. 1882 W. Alexander Ain Folk 101 The farmers did not wish to have a Highland cow, and the coupers who passed sneered at it as a ‘nochty beastie’. |
† b. In bad condition; of a bad kind.
Obs.| 1541 Copland Guydon's Quest. Chirurg. O ij b, They that..be rotten, and founde in noughty waters be daungerous. 1578 Lyte Dodoens 361 The same put into the holes of corrupt and noughtie teeth, swageth the tooth-ache. 1657 S. Purchas Pol. Flying-Ins. ii. 296 They may not after build upon a rotten, noughty, or weake foundation. |