▪ I. malign, a.
(məˈlaɪn)
Forms: 4–7 maligne, 5 malyng, 6 malygne, 7– malign.
[a. OF. maligne, malin (mod.F. malin), ad. L. malignus evil-disposed, f. mal-us evil. Cf. benign a.]
1. Of persons and their dispositions: Characterized by ill-will; desiring, or rejoicing in, the suffering of others; malignant, malevolent. Now rare.
| c 1450 Mirour Saluacioun 1602 Synnere vile & maligne. c 1485 Digby Myst. iii. 428 Spirits malyngny. [? Meant for L. spiritus maligni.] Ibid. 434 How, how, spirits malyng. 1583 Stubbes Anat. Abus. i. Ep. Ded. (1877) 6 Whose gentle fauour..shall counterpoyse..the maligne stomacks and stearn countenances of the other. 1667 Milton P.L. iv. 503, vii. 189. 1674 Govt. Tongue vi. §10 Some tempers are so malign, that they wish ill to all, and believe ill of all. 1747 Wesley Char. Methodist 9 The Love of God has purified his heart..from every unkind Temper or malign Affection. 1790 Cowper Odyss. xx. 344 Guiltless of heart piercing scoffs Malign. 1862 Lytton Str. Story I. 190 Or whether he was actuated by a malign and impish desire to upset the established laws of decorum. |
| absol. 1557 Sarum Primer, Dirige I j, The maligne [L. malignus; Ps. v. 6] shall not dwell neare thee. |
2. Of things: Evil in nature and effects; baleful, gravely injurious. † Of sin: Heinous.
| c 1315 Shoreham Poems i. 411 So feawe stondeþ styf To fytte aȝenis senne Maligne. Ibid. 1999 Treuþe hys, þat þer no gile be Þourwe spousebreche maligne. 1500–20 Dunbar Poems lxxxv. 17 All thing maling we dovne thring, Be sicht of his signakle. 1594 Plat Jewell-ho. iii. 18 We shall finde the hop farre to exceede the wormwood in his maligne qualitie. 1603 Florio Montaigne iii. xii. (1632) 586 It [War] is of so ruinous and maligne a Nature; that together with all things els, she ruineth her selfe. a 1716 South Serm. (1717) V. 434 A dark malign Shade always obscuring and eclipsing them. 1693 Sir T. P. Blount Nat. Hist. 116 Meconium is the courser and weaker [Gum], yet the more malign. 1727 Harte Ps. cvii. 13 Poems 236 The broad expance of heav'n Their canopy, the ground of damp malign, Their bed nocturnal. 1854 Longfellow Catawba Wine ix, A poison malign Is such Borgia wine. 1871 R. Ellis tr. Catullus lxviii. 101 Tomb'd in Troy the malign, in Troy the unholy reposing. 1888 Bryce Amer. Commw. III. cxv. 663 A struggle between two forces, the one beneficent, the other malign. |
3. Of diseases: Malignant.
| 1541 R. Copland Galyen's Terap. 2 D ij b, Suche an vlcere. I call it entyerly malygne & cacoethes. 1563 T. Gale Antidot. ii. 12 This vnguent is good against old and maligne vlcers. 1622 Bacon Hen. VII (1876) 12 A malign vapour flew to the heart, and seized the vital spirits. 1671 Salmon Syn. Med. iii. xxii. 415 It quencheth thirst, and abates the heat of Malign Feavers. 1899 Allbutt's Syst. Med. VIII. 813 In cases of so-called ‘precocious malign’ syphilis. |
4. Astrol. Having a baleful influence or effect.
| 1626 Bacon Sylva §353 Saturn which is a planet Maligne. 1652 Gaule Magastrom. 85 Whether the planets have..those prime elementary qualities..in such different measures..as to make some of them benign, others of them malign in their influences [etc.]. 1667 Milton P.L. vi. 313 Two Planets rushing from aspect maligne Of fiercest opposition. 1738 Wesley Ps. cxxi. v, Thee the Moon's malignest Ray Shall never blast by Night. |
b. transf.
| 1605 Bacon Adv. Learn. ii. Ded. §8 This dedicating of foundations and dotations to professory learning hath..had a malign aspect and influence upon the growth of sciences. 1842 S. Lover Handy Andy xvi. 147 The Genius of Disaster, with aspect malign, waved her sable wand. |
▪ II. malign, v.
(məˈlaɪn)
Forms: 5 malyngne, 5–6 -ygne, 5–7 -igne, 6 Sc. malligne, malyng, 6–7 Sc. maling, 6– malign.
[a. OF. malignier, maliner to plot, deceive, ad. L. malign-āre to do or contrive maliciously, f. malignus malign a.]
† 1. intr. To speak evil, inveigh (against). Obs.
| 1426 Lydg. in Pol. Poems (Rolls) II. 135 Ageins which noman may maligne, But that he stondith in the veray ligne,..as descendid is Of the stok and blode of seint Lowys. ― De Guil. Pilgr. 20391 And who that euere ageyn malygnes, They be but markys [etc.]. 1526 Pilgr. Perf. (W. de W. 1531) 223 Luther and his adherentes, that moost of all maligneth agaynst this present article. 1549 Compl. Scot. iv. 30 Parchance sum inuyful detrakkers vil maling contrar me, sayand that [etc.]. |
† 2. To entertain malice or ill-will. Const. against, at. Obs.
| 1494 Fabyan Chron. v. cxxiv. 103 Euer after they malygned agayne Theodobert. 1530 Palsgr. 632/1, I malygne agaynst one, I beare hym malyce. 1577–87 Holinshed Chron. III. 865/1, I nothing maligne for that you haue doone to me. 1652 C. B. Stapylton Herodian xvii. 142 Maligning much at this her Daughters Honour. |
† 3. To plot; to contrive (against). Obs.
| 1430–40 Lydg. Bochas ix. i. (1494) E v b, Whan any kingdom fyll in rebellyon Or gan malygne ageyn rome toun. a 1450 Paston Lett. I. 96 Hugh Wythom hath said he wold be in rest and peese with me, and not to maligne agayn me otherwise than lawe and right wold. 1494 Fabyan Chron. v. cii. 77 Thyse .ii. Bretherne newely maligned agayn theyr neuwe Theodobert,..and entendyd by theyr malyce to byreue hym of the Lordshyp of Austracy. 1539 Cromwell in Merriman Life & Lett. 21 Jan. (1902) II. 168 The said bishop..contynually studyeth and maligneth, howe he might annoye or greve hym. a 1578 Lindesay (Pitscottie) Chron. Scot. (S. T. S.) II. 85 They..still mallignit aganis the quene. |
† 4. trans. To regard with hatred or bitter dislike. Also, to resent, take amiss. Obs.
| 1513 More Rich. III Wks. 37/1 The Queene and the Lordes of her bloode whiche highlye maligned the kynges kinred. 1560 Becon Catech. Wks. 1564 I. 411 b, S. Stephen..did so litle malign his enemies, that he did not only frely forgeue them, but he also prayed vnto God for them. a 1594 Kyd Sp. Trag. iii. ii. 34 What cause had they Horatio to maligne? 1604 R. Cawdrey Table Alph., Maligne, to hate, with purpose to hurt. 1611 Speed Theat. Gt. Brit. xlvi. (1614) 92/1 The people of Dublin sent for him, and made him their king, which Mure-card King of Ireland maligning raised war. 1662 Stillingfl. Orig. Sacr. ii. i. §4 Can we think that a Nation and religion so maligned as the Jewish were, could have escaped discovery, if [etc.]. 1667 South Twelve Serm. (1697) II. 35 An ungrounded, odious, detestable Interest, so heartily, and so justly maligned. |
† 5. To regard with envy; to grudge, begrudge.
Very frequent during the 17th c.
| 1590 Nashe Almond for Parrat 3 Didst thou so muche malign the successeful thriuings of the Gospell, that thou shouldst filche thyselfe..into our gouernement? 1594 Kyd Cornelia iv. ii. 75 And rendring thanks to heauen as we goe, For brideling those that dyd maligne our glory, Lets to the Capitoll. 1599 Hakluyt Voy. II. i. 285 The King of Spaine,..maligning the quiet trafique which they vsed to and in the dominions..vnder the obedience of the Great Turke, had [etc.]. 1611 Bible Ecclus. xlv. 18 Strangers conspired together against him, and maligned [Gr. ἐζηλωσαν] him in the wildernesse. 1638 H. Shirley Mart. Souldier iii. iv. in Bullen O. Pl. I. 218 No, no; the envious Gods Maligne our happinesse. 1645 Milton Colast. Wks. (1847) 228/2 This odious fool..maligning that anything should be spoke or understood above his own genuine baseness. 1653 H. Cogan tr. Pinto's Trav. lvi. 220 They reap no benefit by their maligning the prosperity of others. 1706 Phillips (ed. Kersey), To Malign, to envy; as To malign one's Happiness. |
† b. fig. Obs.
| 1601 ? Marston Pasquil & Kath. ii. 165 But now no more, bright day malings our loue. 1613 Purchas Pilgrimage iii. i. 188 The scarcitie of wood and water, with the barrennesse of the Soyle..shew how it is maligned of the Elements. 1661 Boyle Style of Script. (1675) 87 Those Grounds, whose Surface bears no Fruit-Trees, (too much malign'd by the Arsenical and resembling fumes). |
6. To speak ill of (one), to traduce, slander.
| 1647 Clarendon Hist. Reb. i. §189 He was always maligned and persecuted by those who were of the Calvinian faction. 1718 Entertainer No. 30. 205 He is represented as a Tyrant and his Ministers malign'd of Persecution. a 1758 J. Edwards Hist Redempt. iii. ii. (1793) 350 No religion ever was so maligned, age after age. 1831 Brewster Newton (1855) II. xv. 47 The party who had first disturbed the tranquillity of science by maligning its most distinguished ornament. 1882 M. E. Braddon Mt. Royal II. x. 238, I don't want to malign a man who has treated me with exceptional kindness and cordiality. |