loathsome, a.
(ˈləʊðsəm)
Forms: 4 loþsom, 4–5 loothsom, 4, 6–7 Sc. and north. laithsum, -some, 5 lathesum, loth(e)sum, 6–9 loth(e)som(e, 7–8 loathsom, 6– loathsome.
[f. loath n. + -some; = OHG. leidsam.]
1. Exciting disgust or loathing. (Now always with emotional implication.) a. In physical sense: Exciting nausea; offensive to the senses; noisome, sickening.
| a 1300–1400 Cursor M. 23229 (Gött) Fell dragons and tadis bath..ful laithsum [Cott. wlatsum] on to here and se..þar sal be. 1398 Trevisa Barth. De P.R. v. xvi. (1495) 121 Yf the teeth were bare they were loathsom and nat fayr. c 1460 Pol. Rel. & L. Poems 172 Man is but lothesum eorthe and claye. 1561 Hoby tr. Castiglione's Courtyer iv. (1577) S viij, Unwittinglye otherwhile eate some lothesome and abhorring meate. 1602 Shakes. Ham. i. v. 72 A most instant Tetter bak'd about, Most Lazar-like, with vile and loathsome crust, All my smooth Body. 1671 Milton Samson 480 Thou must not..Lie in this miserable loathsom plight Neglected. 1703 Maundrell Journ. Jerus. (1732) 2nd let. after p. 145 A Gouty scrofulous Substance, very loathsom to look upon. 1748 Anson's Voy. iii. viii. 383 The stench of the hold [was] loathsome beyond all conception. 1847 Grote Greece (1862) III. xxvii. 42 She died shortly of a loathsome disease. 1849 Macaulay Hist. Eng. iv. I. 432 A loathsome volatile salt, extracted from human skulls, was forced into his mouth. |
| Comb. 1897 Allbutt's Syst. Med. II. 671 Covered from head to foot with loathsome-smelling scabs. |
b. In a moral sense: Hateful, distasteful, odious, repulsive, shocking.
| c 1440 Hylton Scala Perf. (W. de W. 1494) i. lxiii, Wyth thy pryde thou defowlest all thy good dedes and makyth hem loothsom in the syghte of thy lorde. 1567 Gude & Godlie Ball. (S.T.S.) 218 How lusting lufe, that laithsum sin, The oppin eyis of sum do blind. 1579 Lyly Euphues (Arb.) 112 If Lawe seeme loathsome unto thee, searche the secrets of Physicke. 1666 Bunyan Grace Ab. ¶84, I was more loathsome in my own Eyes than was a Toad. 1748 Hume Ess. Mor. & Polit. xix. 208 The Mind, unexercis'd, finds every Delight insipid and loathsome. 1872 Holland Marb. Proph. 93 Death can but loose a loathsome bond. 1874 L. Stephen Hours in Library (1892) I. vii. 259 He was free from the errors which make some of Rousseau's confessions loathsome. |
† 2. Affected with loathing or disgust; disgusted. Const.
of.
Obs.| 1577 Harrison England iii. xv. [ix.] (1877) ii. 61 We, as lothsome of this abundance, or not liking of the plentie. 1579 Twyne Phisicke agst. Fort. i. xxiv. 34 a, Thou mayest refresh thy loathsome and weeried minde. |