horrid, a. (adv.)
(ˈhɒrɪd)
Also 7 horred, horride.
[ad. L. horrid-us bristling, rough, shaggy; rude, savage, unpolished; terrible, frightful, f. horrēre: see horre v. Cf. It. orrido.]
A. adj.
1. Bristling, shaggy, rough. (Chiefly poetic.)
| 1590 Spenser F.Q. i. vii. 31 His haughtie Helmet, horrid all with gold. 1621 Burton Anat. Mel. i. ii. iii. xiv. (1651) 125 A rugged attire, hirsute head, horrid beard. 1654 Evelyn Diary 27 June, There is also on the side of this horrid Alp a very romantic seate. a 1700 Dryden (J.), Horrid with fern, and intricate with thorn. 1717 Pope Eloisa 20 Ye grots and caverns shagg'd with horrid thorn! 1740 Gray Let. in Poems (1775) 72 They [Apennines] are not so horrid as the Alps, though pretty near as high. 1772–84 Cook Voy. (1790) IV. 1255 Nothing in nature can make a more horrid appearance than the rugged mountains that form Table Bay. 1817 G. S. Faber Eight Dissert. Mighty Deliv. (1845) II. 179 The Roman Capital was horrid with sylvan thickets. |
| fig. 1731 Blackwall Sacr. Class. II. 132 (T.) This makes the style look rough and horrid. |
2. Causing horror or aversion; revolting to sight, hearing, or contemplation; terrible, dreadful, frightful; abominable, detestable.
In earlier use nearly synonymous with horrible; in modern use somewhat less strong, and tending to pass into the weakened colloquial sense (3).
| 1601 Shakes. Twel. N. iii. iv. 220, I wil meditate the while vpon some horrid message for a Challenge. 1602 Marston Ant. & Mel. i. Wks. 1856 I. 16 We might descry a horred spectacle. 1616 Bullokar, Horride, terrible: fearefull to looke on. c 1645 Howell Lett. (1650) III. 2 Within these twelve yeers ther have the strangest revolutions, and horridst things happen'd. 1662 Dryden Astræa Redux 7 An horrid stillness first invades the ear, And in that silence we the tempest fear. 1678 Lady Chaworth in 12th Rep. Hist. MSS. Comm. App. v. 53 The horrid murther of Sir Edmondbury Godfrey is not yet discovered. 1720 De Foe Capt. Singleton iv. (1840) 66 They set up the horridest yell. 1751 Act 25 Geo. II, c. 37 title, An Act for better preventing the horrid Crime of Murder. 1827 D. Johnson Ind. Field Sports 77 The fierce horrid look of the tiger. 1827–39 De Quincey Murder Wks. 1862 IV. 105 Stupefied with the horrid narcotic which he had drunk. |
3. colloq. in weakened sense. Offensive, disagreeable, detested; very bad or objectionable.
Noted in N.E.D. as especially frequent as a feminine term of strong aversion.
| 1666 J. Davies Hist. Caribby Isls 281 Making horrid complaints that..treated them ill. 1668 Pepys Diary 23 Oct., My Lord Chief Justice Keeling hath laid the constable by the heels..which is a horrid shame. 1676 Wycherley Pl. Dealer ii. Wks. (Rtldg.) 110/2 O horrid! marriage!.. I nauseate it of all things. 1697 W. Dampier Voy. I. 362 We began to work on our Ships bottom, which we found very much eaten with the Worm: for this is a horrid place for Worms. 1749 Fielding Tom Jones xi. i, Neither can any one give the names of sad stuff, horrid nonsense, &c. to a book, without calling the author a blockhead. 1782 F. Burney Cecilia iv. ii, He said he supposed we were only talking some scandal, and so we had better go home, and employ ourselves in working for the poor! Only think how horrid! 1858 Lytton What will he do i. vi, I should not wear those horrid dresses. 1864 Princess Alice in Mem. (1884) 78 The horrid weather has kept me in these three days. 1883 Harper's Mag. 866/1 She's so horrid, you know. |
B. as adv. ‘Horridly’, ‘abominably’, very objectionably. colloq. or vulgar.
| 1615 Crooke Body of Man 410 All things become horred wanne and pale. 1697 tr. C'tess D'Aunoy's Trav. (1706) 214 His Father in Law..lives at a horrid profuse rate. 1753 Scots Mag. XV. 37/2 Went to bed horrid soon. a 1899 (Cockney) It's 'orrid 'ot. 1867 S. Hale Lett. (1919) 25 I'm horrid sorry there was such a gap in my letters then. 1899 Kipling Stalky 135 Fags bully each other horrid. 1932 ― Limits & Renewals 80 The New Armies are horrid quick on the trigger. |