ugly, a., adv., and n.
(ˈʌglɪ)
Forms: α. 3 uglike (iglic), 4–5 vg-, ugli, 4– ugly (4–7 vgly, 5 igly, Sc. wgly, 5, 7 vgely), 6 vg-, uglye, 6–7 vg-, uglie (6 Sc. wg-); 4 uggeli, 5–6 vggely(e, vggly(e, 5–7 vggly; 4 ogli, 6 oglie, oggly. β. 5 oughlye, 7 oughly; 5–6 owgly, 6 ouglye, 6–7 ougly, -lie, 9 dial. oogly. γ. 4 hoggyliche, hogely, 6 hogly; 4–6 hugly, 5 hughely, 5–6 houghly, 6 hougly.
[ad. ON. ugglig-r to be feared or dreaded, f. ugga ug v.: see -ly1.
The forms iglic in Gen. & Ex. 2918 and igly in the Harl. MS. of Chaucer Clerk's T. 673 are difficult to account for.]
A. adj.
1. Having an appearance or aspect which causes dread or horror; frightful or horrible, esp. through deformity or squalor. (Now merged in sense 3.)
| α c 1250 Gen. & Ex. 2805 [Moses] it warp vt of hise hond, And wurð sone an uglike snake. Ibid. 2918 Moyseses migtful wond..wurð bi-foren pharaon An Iglic snake sone on-on. a 1300 Cursor M. 11606 Þar þai þam thoght to rest and slepe, Þar did þai mari for to light, Bot son þai sagh an vgli sight. c 1340 Hampole Pr. Consc. 860 Nathyng es swa ugly, Als here es a mans dede body. Ibid. 6683 Swylk filthe and stynk es in þat ugly hole. 1423 Jas. I Kingis Q. clxii, And vnderneth the quhele sawe I there Ane vgly pit, was depe as ony helle. c 1470 Henry Wallace ii. 247 Thai chargyt the geyler..to..bryng him wp out of that vgly sell. 1500–20 Dunbar Poems xi. 20 Ȝit may thow be, within ane ȝeir, Ane vgsum, vglye tramort. a 1547 Surrey æneid iv. 626 Agamemnons son:..That sitting found within the temples porche The vglie furies his slaughter to revenge. 1594 Kyd Cornelia ii. 13 Fayne would I die, but darksome vgly Death With-holds his darte, and in disdaine doth flye me. 1613 Purchas Pilgrimage viii. vi. 639 The faces of their Priests are painted as vgly as they can deuise. 1643 A. Rosse Mel Helic. 77 His snakie hairs doe shew how uggly he [sc. Cerberus] is in the sight of good men. 1667 Milton P.L. xi. 464 O sight Of terrour, foul and ugly to behold, Horrid to think, how horrible to feel! 1680 Otway Orphan ii. i, I struck The ugly brindled Monster to the heart. 1789 T. Russell Sonn. xi, Uglier far than have been feign'd or fear'd, Ten thousand Phantoms to my sight appear'd. |
| β 1426 Lydg. De Guil. Pilgr. 11036 Somwhyle, off dyrknesse And off the owgly ffoul thyknesse,..Thow shalt lese the syht off me. c 1430 Lydg. Min. Poems (Percy Soc.) 145 Yif he hadde..Seyn that owgly careyn lamentable. 1550 Crawley Epigr. 376 A greate mastyfe dogge and a foule ouglye beare. 1587 Holinshed Chron. III. 835/1 Suddenlie came out..eight wildmen,..with ouglie weapons & terrible visages. 1595 Locrine iii. i. 7 Those ougly diuels of black Erebus, That might torment the damned traitors soule! 1601 Holland Pliny xxvi. i. II. 240 These new⁓come diseases verely were..so foule and filthie, so loathsome and ougly, that a man would have chosen rather to die..than to bee so disfigured. 1633 P. Fletcher Purple Isl. i. xl, Darknesse headlong fell, Frighted with suddain beams,..And plung'd her ougly head in deepest hell. 1640 H. Glapthorne Ladies Privilege iii, But know the shape of Death Is not ougly to me. |
| γ 13.. Adultery 85 in Herrig Archiv LXXIX. 420 He ledd hym to an hogely hylle; þe erthe openyd & in þei ȝede. c 1375 Sc. Leg. Saints ii. (Paul) 1151 Þan come a schadow full hugly, blak & blay, & stud hyme by. c 1470 Harding Chron. cvii. vi. (1543) 107 b, Echeon their nose and ouer lippe ful right Cut of anone which was an hougly [v.r. hogly] sight. 1555 W. Watreman Fardle Facions i. iv. C ij, There be in it [Ethiopia] dyuers peoples of sondry phisonomy and shape, monstruous and of hugly shewe. 1565 Stapleton tr. Bede's Hist. Ch. Eng. 95 These foure fyres encreasing by litle and litle so farr at the length extended, that ioyning altogether they grew to a great and houghly flame. |
† 2. a. Of events, times, etc.: Dreadful, terrible.
| a 1300 Cursor M. 22519 Uggeli sal be þe fift dai, Mare þan ani tung can sai. a 1340 Hampole Psalter ix. 37 Vgly is it to fall in þere hend, for þou bihaldis þe trauaile and þe sorow þat he has doen till haly men. 13.. E.E. Allit. P. B. 892 Bot þay wern wakned..Of on þe vglokest vnhap þat euer on erd suffred. c 1460 Towneley Myst. xvi. 142 Sich panys hard neuer man tell, For vgly and for fell. a 1586 Sidney Ps. (1823) vi. iii, Turn thee, sweete Lord, and from this ougly fall, My deere God, stay me. 1597 J. Payne Royal Exch. 41 This wylie feynd geves not his onsett after his vglie and terrible maner. |
b. Of sounds. (Passing into sense 6.)
| c 1400 Destr. Troy 3701 With an ugli noise, noye for to here, Hit sundrit þere sailes & þere sad ropis. c 1400 Mandeville (Roxb.) xxxi. 138 In þis vale er oft tymes herd..voices vggly and hidous. c 1440 York Myst. xxxvii. 101 What! heris þou noȝt þis vggely noyse. 1513 Douglas æneid iii. iv. 31 The Harpyes..voce also was wglie for to heir. 1550 Lyndesay Sq. Meldrum 738 Than rais the reik with vglie crakkis. a 1585 Montgomerie Flyting 503 The cry was sa ouglie, of elfes, aips, and owles. 1603 G. Owen Pembrokeshire (1892) 249 At certaine tymes there is vgglye and terrible noyses and soundes hard to proceede from the same pitte. 1725 De Foe Voy. round World (1840) 87 Great numbers came down to the shore, staring at us, and making confused ugly noises. |
3. Offensive or repulsive to the eye; unpleasing in appearance; of disagreeable or unsightly aspect:
a. Of persons.
| α c 1375 Sc. Leg. Saints ii. (Paul) 778 Þan sperit he [sc. Nero] rycht besyly, gyf þat he wes sa wgly Quhen he wes borne. c 1386 Chaucer Clerk's T. 673 This vgly sergeant..Hath hent hire sone þat ful was of beautee. c 1400 Mandeville (Roxb.) xvii. 77 Þir wymmen er riȝt blak and vggly to behold. c 1480 Henryson Test. Cres. 372 He luikit on hir vglye Lipper face, The quhilk befor was quhite as Lillie flour. 1509 Barclay Ship of Folys (1570) 198 The uggly Maurians are also of this sect. a 1548 Hall Chron., Hen. VIII, 130 b, If the Frenche Quene, whiche was lame and ugly were dedde,..then waies might bee founde. 1580 H. Gifford Gilloflowers, Dream xv, An oggly creature, all in blacke. 1606 Shakes. Ant. & Cl. ii. v. 96 Had'st thou Narcissus in thy face to me, Thou would'st appeere most vgly. 1634 Sir T. Herbert Trav. 49 They are the most vgly and impudent Whoores, in all Persia. a 1687 Villiers (Dk. Buckhm.) Speeches (1775) 237 Like ugly foolish children, whom, because of their deformity and want of wit, the parents are ashamed of. 1717 Prior Alma ii. 350 Dames, who Native Beauty want, Still uglier look, the more They paint. 1742 Berkeley Lett. Wks. 1871 IV. 286 You would be less zealous were the Queen old and ugly. 1794 S. Williams Vermont 195 They have all the same sallow complexion, deformed features, ugly appearance. 1815 Scott Guy M. liii, The fairy bride of Sir Gawaine..was more decrepit probably, and what is commonly called more ugly, than Meg Merrilies. 1858 Hawthorne Fr. & It. Note-bks. (1871) I. 98 A very ugly old man indeed—wrinkled, puckered, shrunken. 1879 Farrar St. Paul (1883) 390 The ugly Greek who was the noblest of all Greeks. |
| absol. 1766 Goldsm. Vic. W. xxxi, After having tried in vain [to find a wife], even amongst the pert and the ugly. |
| β c 1400 Rom. Rose 3038 He was so hidous and so oughlye, I mene this that Trespasse hight. c 1407 Lydg. Reson & Sens. 1934 This lady, Dame hatrede, To-rent and owgly in her wede. 1548 Udall Erasm. Par. Mark i. 16 Hence with this ougly and abhominable creature. 1598 R. Haydocke tr. Lomazzo ii. 133 Though a woman be faire, merry, and healthy and yet be dishonest, shee must needes seeme most ougly to an ingenuous and honest minde. 1610 Shakes. Temp. iv. i. 192 And, as with age, his body ouglier growes, So his minde cankers. |
| γ 1562 W. Bullein Bulwarke, Sicke Men 13 Keepe the mouth, teeth, and tongue cleane,..whych els shalbe corrupted, defiled, and so anoyed, that it shalbe..hugely and noysome to the beholders. |
b. Of animals.
| c 1375 Sc. Leg. Saints ii. (Paul) 780 Þat vgly padok þan gert he ta. 1444 Pol. Poems (Rolls) II. 218 The owgly bakke wyl gladly fleen be nyght Dirk cressetys and laumpys that been lyght. 1508 Dunbar Flyting 185 Thow pure⁓hippit, vgly averill, With hurkland banis, holkand throw thy hyd. 1587 Turberv. Trag. T. (1837) 31 Two monstrous mastyves eke he sawe that ran Close by her side, two ugly curres they were. 1614 Sylvester Bethulia's Rescue ii. 175 Millions of millions of foule Frogs hee makes To cover Memphis with their ougly Frie. 1643 Sir T. Browne Relig. Med. i. 102 16, I cannot tell by what Logick we call a Toad, a Beare, or an Elephant, ugly. 1699 W. Dampier Voy. II. ii. ii. 59 The Monkies that are in these Parts are the ugliest I ever saw. 1774 Goldsm. Nat. Hist. (1776) V. 355 In quadrupedes, the smallest animals are noxious, ugly and loathsome. |
c. In miscellaneous uses.
| α 13.. Seuyn Sages (W.) 2782 With lang noses and mowthes wide, And vgly eres on ether syde. ? a 1400 Morte Arth. 1086 Erne had he fulle huge, and vgly to schewe, Wiþ eghne fulle horreble. c 1440 York Myst. xi. 265 Full vgly and full ill is it, Þat was ful faire and fresshe before. 1561 T. Norton Calvin's Inst. i. 52 Although we graunt that the Image of God was not altogether defaced and blotted out in him, yet was it so corrupted, that all that remaineth, is but vggly deformitie. 1577 in Hakluyt Voy. (1589) 626 For her ougly hewe and deformitie, we let her goe. 1604 E. G[rimstone] D'Acosta's Hist. Indies v. xii. 360 They entred backward to their idol, and so went bending their bodies and head, after an vglie manner. 1680 C. Nesse Church-Hist. 122 An ugly image, half a fish and half a man. 1687 A. Lovell tr. Thevenot's Trav. i. 26 The streets of Constantinople are very ugly, being for the most part narrow, crooked, up-hill and down-hill. 1763 J. Brown Poetry & Music xiii. 227 note, May not the Voice and Figure of a distressed or joyous Object be so..ridiculous or ugly, as..to destroy the Sympathy of those who hear and see it? 1803 M. Edgeworth Manufacturers i, She made him pronounce an absurd eulogium on the ugliest thing in the room. 1865 Trollope Belton Est. i. 5 The house itself was an ugly residence..built in the time of George II. 1875 J. P. Hopps Princ. Relig. i. (1878) 6 Even poor savages who have never been taught any better, cling to an ugly idol,..rather than be without a god at all. |
| β 1547 Baldwin Mor. Philos. (Palfr.) 124 Wherewith..the figure of man is as it were by enchantment transformed into an ougly and loathsome image. 1581 A. Hall Iliad x. 181 This Dolon was of ougly shape. 1600 Fairfax Tasso vii. cxvi, Heau'ns glorious lampe wrapt in an ouglie vaile Of shadowes darke. 1607 Norden Surv. Dial. 222 Without the aid and industrie of a skilfull husband, fairest grounds will become ougly. |
d. In figurative contexts.
| c 1440 Jacob's Well 246 Thynke of goddys presence, and be raysed to heuen be holy thouȝt. Þanne se þe world foul & vggly, voyde of al goodnes. 1576 Fleming Panopl. Epist. 339 An infinite number, whose malice is infected with many a foule and ougly disease. a 1586 Sidney Arcadia v. (1605) 445 While each conceite an ougly figure beares. 1601 R. Yarington Two Lament. Trag. ii. i. in Bullen O. Pl. IV, Where shall we hide this trumpet of your shame, This timelesse ougly map of crueltie? 1615 J. Castle in Crt. & Times Jas. I (1848) I. 378 Those holy men..had made him see this fearful error, and the ugly face of his sin. 1663 Davenant 2nd Pt. Siege of Rhodes iv. i, Amazement is the uggli'st shape of fear. 1884 Congregationalist Jan. 14 The honest man must allow that there are ugly truths and lies with beautiful faces. |
e. ugly duckling, a young person who shows no promise of the beauty, success, etc., that will come with maturity (in allusion to the story by Hans Andersen first translated into English in 1846). Also
transf.| [1871 Geo. Eliot Middlem. (1872) I. p. vii, Here and there a cygnet is reared uneasily among the ducklings. 1877 M. W. Chapman in H. Martineau Autobiogr. II. 151 Those early days..when she seems to have been like the ‘ugly duckling’ of Hans Christian Andersen.] 1885 A. Edwardes Girton Girl I. xiv. 258 As a girl she never went through that chrysalis or ugly-duckling stage. 1927 M. Sadleir Trollope 138 He [sc. Trollope] rose in the hierarchy of the Post Office... His ugly-duckling days were done. 1934 G. B. Shaw Too True to be Good Pref. 10 When one of their ugly ducklings becomes a revolutionist it is not because countryhouse life is idle, but because its activities are uncongenial. 1940 V. W. Brooks New England: Indian Summer xxi. 440 He had grown up in a Boston family, a strange, alien, lonely child, a duckling, far from ugly, in whom perceptive eyes foresaw the swan. 1963 B. Friedan Feminine Mystique xiv. 356 The feminine mystique..often forced the unhappy ones, the ugly ducklings, to find themselves while the girls who fitted the image became adjusted ‘happy’ housewives. 1977 D. Ramsay You can't call it Murder i. 49 A big, gawky ugly duckling like me. 1978 Nature 26 Jan. 303/3 Mass spectrometers have been something of an ugly duckling in magnetospheric research. Initially too heavy, magnetically dirty and ill suited for hot plasma measurements, they have come of age and are now invited to all the best satellite projects. 1982 M. Hinxman Telephone never Tells xviii. 134 The ugly duckling gawkiness of her youth had matured and mellowed. |
4. a. Morally offensive or repulsive; base, degraded, loathsome, vile. In later use also in weaker sense: Offending against propriety; highly objectionable.
| α a 1300 Cursor M. 1106 Þai thoght þat kynd him mond for-bede To haf don suilk an ogli dede. Ibid. 27612 Þai þat sua vgli athes suers, wonder es hou þis erth þam bers. c 1340 Hampole Prose Tr. 33 A full forsakynge of..syne and of unclennes, with a gastely syghte of it how foule how vggly and how paynfull þat it es. c 1440 Alph. Tales 142 On a tyme þer was a scoler at Parissh, þat had done many vglie syn. 1583 Babington Commandm. (1590) 54 Sight of vglie sinne lodging still in mee..will make mee praise His name. 1608 Willet Hexapla Exod. 393 The most vile monstrous and vgely sinnes. 1650 Bulwer Anthropomet. 199 Tokens that God was grievously offended with such ugly deeds. a 1658 Cleveland Rustick Ramp. (1687) 431 An abominable Ceremony, which had made their Impiety more ugly. 1732 Berkeley Alciphr. iii. §11 Is it not..an ugly system in which you can suppose no law and prove no duty? 1816 J. Wilson City of Plague ii. v. 110 But cutting throats in a churchyard Is something new, and 'tis an ugly practice. 1879 Geo. Eliot Theo. Such 128, I cannot consider such courses any the less ugly because they are ascribed to temper. 1894 Simpkinson Life & Times Laud vi. 118 Gentlemen..who were sentenced to..do public penance in their own parish church for ugly acts of immorality. |
| β 1584 Constable Diana iii. ii, Like catife wretch by time and travell taught, His ougly ills in others good to hide. 1594 T. B. La Primaud. Fr. Acad. ii. To Rdr., Surely of all Sathans delusions wrought by him in the hearts of vnbeleeuers, this monstrous error of atheisme is most ougly. 1602 Warner Alb. Eng. xiii. lxxvii. (1612) 320 Wherein were acted ouglier things than to be found mong'st beasts. 1611 Cotgr., Landie deschiquetée, an ouglie nickname for an ouerridden Hackney (or Harlot). |
b. Ugly (or ugly) American (in allusion to the title of the book: see
quot. 1958), an American who behaves offensively abroad.
| 1958 Lederer & Burdick (title) The ugly American. 1965 Atlantic Monthly May 152 A host of odd and funny foreigners: bogus Russian counts, semi-aristocratic Slavic ladies, German officers, and an early type of the ugly American abroad. 1968 Sat. Rev. (U.S.) 9 Mar. 76 I don't think we were Ugly Americans; perhaps just unaware, or Unlettered. 1980 D. Williams Murder for Treasure x. 100 That awful man..thinks you're swinging the deal and he needs Edgar to blow it by acting the Ugly American. |
5. Offensive or unpleasant to the smell or taste; noisome, nasty.
| c 1400 Destr. Troy 8732 How the korse might be keppit..likyng to se; And not orible, ne vgly of odir to fele. 1668 Culpepper & Cole Barthol. Anat. i. xxviii. 70 Stinking things have filthy and ugly Vapors. 1693 Evelyn De la Quint. Compl. Gard. II. 148 Those kinds of rotten Dung are accompanied with an unpleasing smell that infects the Plants raised upon such Beds, and gives them an ugly Taste. 1707 Mortimer Husb. (1721) II. 43 It yields an ugly stench in burning. 1712 W. Rogers Voy. (1718) 149 The wind always blowing fresh over the land, brought any ugly noisome smell aboard from the Seals ashore. 1876 Geo. Eliot Dan. Der. x, Archery has no ugly smell of brimstone. |
6. a. Offensive to refined taste or good feelings; objectionable, disagreeable, unpleasant, not nice.
| 1621 Burton Anat. Mel. i. iv. iii. i. 272 In the midst of these squalid, vgly, and such irksome dayes, they seek at last..to be eased of all by death. 1671 Clarendon Hist. Reb. xi. §243 When a Man might reasonably believe that less than a universal Defection of three Nations, could not have reduced a great King to so ugly a fate. 1697 tr. C'tess D'Aunoy's Trav. (1706) 126, I thought it very ugly, that an Old Woman such as that was which I saw there, should come and spurt Water out of her Mouth, in my Face. 1720 Lett. Lond. Jrnl. (1721) 48 It would be very pleasant, if it were not for the Abuse and ugly Language you meet with. 1722 De Foe Plague (1754) 204 They call'd me..to an ugly and dangerous Office. 1754 W. Goodall Exam. Lett. Mary Q. Scots I. i. 33 To affirm that it was to be found there, when it is not, has an extreme ugly aspect. 1806 T. S. Surr Winter in Lond. III. 128 The idea of having a daughter of sufficient age to be presented carries with it..an ugly memento of the age of her mother. 1874 ‘Max Adeler’ Out of Hurly-burly xiv. (Rtldg.) 176 With an ugly word upon his lips, he sprang from his seat. 1888 Burgon Lives 12 Gd. Men II. v. 18 The one person who comes out of that strife with an ugly stain upon his shield..was the Prime Minister. |
b. Causing disquiet or discomfort; of a very troublesome or awkward nature.
| 1645 in Verney Memoirs (1904) I. 328 Sir Ralph replies at great length about ‘this ugly business’. 1660 Marvell Corr. Wks. (Grosart) II. 40 The last of December here was an ugly false report got abroad, that his Majesty was stabb'd. 1672 ― Reh. Transp. i. 105 After things have been laid with all the depth of humane Policy, there happens lightly some ugly little contrary Accident. 1687 A. Lovell tr. Thevenot's Trav. ii. 11 Fearing that the Galleys..might serve him some ugly trick, he caused the Entry of it to be stopt up. 1711 Swift Jrnl. To Stella 4 Jan., I had an ugly giddy fit last night in my chamber. 1751 Affect. Narr. of Wager 17 For the more expeditiously retrieving this ugly Accident, the Commodore ordered several Carpenters on board her. 1792 Burke Let. to Sir H. Langrishe Wks. 1842 I. 550 It is putting things into the position of an ugly alternative, into which I hope in God they never will be put. 1826 Disraeli Viv. Grey ii. xi, A horse which he was endeavouring to cure of some ugly tricks. 1852 Thackeray Esmond i. xiii, My Lord Mohun (of whose exploits and fame some of the gentlemen of the University had brought down but ugly reports). 1890 Spectator 19 Apr., The Under-Secretary for Foreign Affairs..admitted some ugly facts. |
7. a. Somewhat hazardous or perilous.
| 1654 Nicholas Papers (Camden) II. 45, I know it is an ugly time to mention goeing into England. 1711 Swift Jrnl. to Stella 21 Jan., It is very ugly walking; a baker's boy broke his thigh yesterday. 1889 in Eng. Dial. Dict. |
b. Suggestive of trouble or danger.
| 1660 Trial Regic. 161, I was in the hall when that ugly Proclamation was proclaimed. 1719 De Foe Crusoe ii. (Globe) 352 They..let fall some dangerous ugly Words. 1780 Cowper Lett. Mar., A long preface such as mine is an ugly symptom and always forebodes great sterility in the following pages. 1801 S. & Ht. Lee Canterb. T. IV. 376, I had an ugly presentiment of what was to be the subject of our conversation. 1853 Kane Grinnell Exp. xxix. (1856) 244 Poor Sir John Franklin! this night-drift is an ugly omen. 1888 E. Money Dutch Maiden 133 You think this looks ugly, but..a stern chase is a long chase. |
c. Of the weather, sea, etc.: Unpleasantly or dangerously rough, stormy, or boisterous.
| 1744 Lond. Mag. 143 But little Wind, and an ugly Swell. 1781 Archer in Naval Chron. (1804) XI. 289 Hold fast! that was an ugly sea... Another ugly sea: sent a Midshipman to bring news from the pumps. 1840 R. H. Dana Bef. Mast xxxv, It is blowing harder, and an ugly head sea is running. 1844 Kinglake Eothen xvii, With an ugly black sky above, and an angry sea beneath. 1847 Alb. Smith Chr. Tadpole xxiii. (1879) 207 The flashes of lightning..shewed that it was going to be an ugly night. 1900 J. H. Harris Our Cove ii. 14 You know the weather is going to be ‘ugly’, which means anything from tricky to downright bad. |
d. In
phr. ugly customer, a person who is likely to cause trouble, or be difficult to deal with.
| 1811 Sporting Mag. XXXVIII. 56 He is a very ugly customer. 1819 Metropolis I. 241 Coachee, you've picked up an ugly customer there. 1844 Dickens Mart. Chuz. xliii, In any such a cause you will find me, my young sir, an Ugly Customer! 1884 E. Yates Recoll. II. 207 The tone of the letter was exceedingly offensive and dictatorial, and it was evident that he was a very ugly customer. |
e. the ugly man, the actual perpetrator of an act of garroting, as distinguished from his two accomplices. (
Cf. nasty a. 6.)
| 1888 Cassell's Encycl. Dict. |
8. a. Cross, angry, ill-tempered.
| 1687 Alice Hatton in H. Corr. (Camden) II. 65, I am sorry my ugly letter gave you any disturbance. 1848 Dickens Dombey liv, He turned upon her with his ugliest look. 1855 Haliburton Nat. & Hum. Nat. I. ix. 286 Don't rile me, for I have an ugly pen, an ugly tongue, and an ugly temper. 1894 H. H. Gardener Unoff. Patriot 163 I've had to buck up to some pretty ugly talk first and last. |
b. In predicative use,
esp. to feel ugly or
look ugly.
| 1796 R. Bage Hermsprong xxv, Lord Grondale looked ugly; the doctor did not know how to look. 1836 Haliburton Clockmaker Pref., I don't know as ever I felt so ugly afore since I was raised. Ibid. i. xii, Don't say that are any more.., for it makes me feel ugly. 1864 Louie's Last Term 122 You make me ten times worse every time I see you, you make me so ugly I don't know myself. 1896 Daily News 25 Feb. 3 It is amusing to see the clever promptitude with which they manage the brutes who look at all ugly. |
9. Comb., as
ugly-clouded,
ugly conditioned,
ugly faced,
ugly-headed,
ugly-tempered,
ugly visaged adjs.; also
ugly-looking adj.| (a) 1593 Marlowe & Chapman Hero & Leander iv. 331 So most vgly clowded was the light, That day was hid in day. 1602 Carew Cornwall i. 34 b, The Seale..is..not vnlike a Pigge, vgly faced, and footed like a Moldwarp. 1634 Milton Comus 695 What grim aspects are these, These oughly-headed Monsters? 1655 in Verney Mem. (1904) II. 25 The Example of very many..might somewhat excuse my signing that ugly conditioned Bond. 1849 Cupples Green Hand xi. (1856) 113 Ye're too tarnation ugly-faced for it, let alone colour. 1885 J. G. Waller in Archaeologia XLIX. 205 On the opposite side is another ugly visaged figure. 1897 Outing XXIX. 590/2 A good-sized, well-fed, ugly-tempered creature, with a pair of magnificent tusks. |
| (b) 1771 Smollett Humph. Cl. 31 May, A parcel of ugly-looking fellows came running into the water, and laid hold on our boat with great violence. 1820 Belzoni Egypt & Nubia iii. 425 A sort of short ugly-looking fellow, turned up nose, long teeth out of his mouth, and uncommon thick lips. 1839 Sir C. Napier in Bruce Life iv. (1885) 132 A hundred fellows may get ugly-looking gashes. |
B. adv. Horribly; terribly; uglily.
| c 1375 Sc. Leg. Saints xxxiv. (Pelagia) 232 Þe feynde þarfor hye can cry, Þat mony herde, ful vgly. c 1420 Chron. Vilod. 3988 An horribulle, foulle grome..hoggyliche lokede vpone herre w{supt} horrible chere. c 1440 Alph. Tales 51 Yone yong man..stynkis more vglie in þe sight of God..þan done all þe carion of þis werld. c 1440 Promp. Parv. 509/2 Vggely, or vggely wyse, horribiliter. 1678 Bunyan Pilgr. (ed. 2) i. 187 But they desired him to let them go; with that he looked ugly upon them. 1876 [see plug-ugly]. 1897 E. Phillpotts Lying Prophets iii. xi. 344 I'm punished ugly enough. |
C. n. 1. An ugly person, animal, etc.
| 1755 H. Walpole Lett. (1846) III. 100 There were all the beauties, and all the diamonds, and not a few of the uglies of London. 1790 Mrs. Wheeler Westmld. Dial. (1821) 16 Monny a lump ea brass he hes teaan frae his poor barns an me, to carry to thor uglys. 1889 Pall Mall G. 27 June 6/1 Artists and actors,..peers and judges, beauties and uglies—they were all in the highest spirits. 1895 J. G. Millais Breath fr. Veldt (1899) 161 There lay old Ugly in extremis with his..fine tusks directed towards us. |
2. a. A kind of hood or shade attached to the front of a lady's bonnet or hat as a protection to the eyes. (In use
c 1850.)
| 1850 Thackeray Kickleburys on Rhine (1851) 25 ‘Those hoods!’ she said; ‘we call those hoods Uglies!’ 1856 H. Mayhew The Rhine 107 The broad eaves project so far over that they remind you almost of a lady's ‘ugly’. 1891 Eng. Illustr. Mag. Dec. 197 Most hideous folding shades of silk drawn on wires were affixed to the front of these bonnets, and deservedly called ‘uglies’. |
b. A knitted face-protector formerly worn in Canada.
| 1895 Funk's Standard Dict. |
3. the uglies (
slang), depression, bad temper; (see also
quots. 1903 and 1974).
| 1846 Swell's Night Guide 77, I know as how I've got the uglies. 1903 Farmer & Henley Slang VII. 251/1 Ugly,..In pl. = delirium tremens; the horrors. 1939 N. Last Diary 18 Oct. in N. Last's War (1983) 20 A gloom seems over us all. I've shaken off my fit of the uglies, but I felt I'd just like to crawl into a hole. 1974 Petroleum Rev. XXVIII. 672/1 Nitrogen narcosis, popularly called ‘raptures of the deep’ but perhaps more accurately described as ‘the uglies’, is the malady caused by nitrogen under pressure, interfering with the normal function of the nervous system. |
Hence
ˈugly v. trans., to make ugly; to uglify; also with
up.
| 1740 Richardson Pamela (1824) I. 97 It is impossible I should love him; for his vices all ugly him over, as I may say. 1770 C. Jenner Placid Man v. iv, The idea of a ticket-porter stuck to every part of him, and uglied him all over. 1946 Sun (Baltimore) 5 Feb. 8/7 Hands uglied by winter weather? 1965 New Statesman 26 Nov. 850/2 He uglies up the very places where one expects an opposite treatment. 1979 Listener 23 Aug. 248/2 Ever since Grease uglied up the Fifties..the nostalgia industry has taken a curiously tough turn. |
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ugly sister n.with allusion to Cinderella's ugly and unpleasant stepsisters in the fairy tale
Cinderella allusive (also with capital initials) a person or thing considered unattractive, inferior, or unpleasant compared to others of the same type or group; an unpleasant or undesirable counterpart.
| 1874 F. Boyle Camp Notes 84 Only the extreme tips of the ‘nipas’,—that *ugly sister in the graceful family of palms,—rose above the flood. 1906 Econ. Jrnl. 16 355 A monthly Parliamentary return..together with its ugly sisters, the immigration figures. 1909 Times 3 Apr. 20/3 A hydroplane shoves her nose in and, with a sea like a millpond such as the Bay presents this afternoon, the ugly sister may give her competitors a good race. 1969 Daily Gleaner (Kingston, Jamaica) 3 Dec. 8/7 They are the Ugly Sisters of politics who are determined to pare down the size of people in order that they may be made to fit into some System. 1997 Cosmopolitan (U.K. ed.) May 218/1 It's oestrogen's ugly sister, progesterone, that accounts for PMS prickliness. |