turpitude
(ˈtɜːpɪtjuːd)
Also 5 turpytude.
[a. F. turpitude (a 1417 in Godef. Compl.), or directly ad. L. turpitūdo, f. turpi-s base: see -tude.]
1. Base or shameful character; baseness, vileness; depravity, wickedness.
| 1490 Caxton Eneydos xxii. 83 In sygne of vengaunce of the dethe of hys fader, And turpytude dyshonest of clytemnestra his moder. 1589 Puttenham Eng. Poesie iii. xxiv. (Arb.) 295 All maner of conceites that stirre vp any vehement passion in a man, doo it by some turpitude or euill and vndecency that is in them. 1606 Shakes. Ant. & Cl. iv. vi. 33 How would'st thou haue payed My better seruice, when my turpitude Thou dost so Crowne with Gold. 1659 Hammond On Ps. cxix. 137–8 Paraphr. 609 Those which have a natural turpitude and indispensable sinfulnesse in them! a 1711 Ken Preparatives Poet. Wks. 1721 III. 25 Some for their Turpitude had Shame, And Terrors of infernal Flame. 1794 Ld. Auckland Corr. (1862) III. 261 Indignation and horror at the infatuated turpitude of some of the allied powers. 1849 Macaulay Hist. Eng. iii. I. 402 The artists corrupted the spectators, and the spectators the artists, till the turpitude of the drama became such as must astonish all who are not aware that extreme relaxation is the natural effect of extreme restraint. 1879 Temple Bar Mag. Oct. 172 A career great from the historical importance of the period..but inglorious and almost without a parallel in recent times for moral turpitude and unscrupulous self-seeking. |
b. With a and pl. An instance of this.
| 1597 J. Payne Royal Exch. 28 Every Christian ought..to lament to se suche turpitudes. 1607 Coke Charge at Norwich Assizes 5 Partialitie in a Judge is a Turpitude, which doth soyle and stayne all the Actions done by him. 1810 Bentham Packing (1821) 71 A picture in which all deformities and turpitudes are plaistered over with the most brilliant colours. 1833 Chalmers Const. Man (1835) I. iii. 157 Temptation to a turpitude or a crime. 1913 19th Cent. Aug. 393 The minor offences and turpitudes which are condemned in the court of conscience. |
† c. Rendering L. turpitudo of the Vulgate: ‘nakedness’; ‘shame’. Obs. rare.
| 1570 Foxe A. & M. 157/2 The holy lawe of God forbiddeth to reueale the turpitude of thy blood or kyndred. Ibid., Thou shalt not reueale the turpitude of thy father. |
† 2. in lit. sense: Foulness, offensiveness, unsightliness. Obs. rare.
| 1684 tr. Bonet's Merc. Compit. xix. 719 This Medicin helps notably any cutaneous turpitude whatsoever. |