illiberal, a. (n.)
(ɪˈlɪbərəl, ɪll-)
[a. F. illibéral (14th c.), ad. L. illiberālis mean, sordid, f. il- (il-2) + liberālis liberal.]
1. Not befitting or of the nature of a free man; not pertaining to or acquainted with the liberal arts (see liberal), without liberal culture, unscholarly; ill-bred, ungentlemanly, unrefined; base, mean, vulgar, rude, sordid.
| 1535 Stewart Cron. Scot. II. 42 Ane Planctius, quhilk wes ane rycht soft man, Without ingyne or jeopardie in weir..Illiberall, and richt seindell wes trew. c 1590 Marlowe Faust. i. 35 This study fits a mercenary drudge..Too servile and illiberal for me. 1599 Hakluyt Voy. II. ii. 92 Mechanicall & illiberall crafts. a 1619 M. Fotherby Atheom. ii. i. §1 (1622) 172 No Art, neither liberall, nor illiberall. 1641 Hinde J. Bruen xxxviii. 120 To celebrate their Festivals with such illiberall plays and sports. 1641 Wilkins Math. Magick i. ii. (1707) 5 In Propriety of Speech those Employments alone may be styled Illiberal, which require only some bodily Exercise, as Manufactures, Trades. 1748 Chesterfield Lett. 27 Sept., Every word or phrase you..cannot find in Caesar, Cicero, Livy, Horace, Virgil, and Ovid, is bad, illiberal Latin. 1751 Ibid. 18 Mar., Your hand-writing is one, which is indeed shamefully bad, and illiberal. 1837–9 Hallam Hist. Lit. I. i. v. §32. 352 Most of the youth..betook themselves to mechanical or other illiberal employments. 1853 Ruskin Stones Ven. II. vi, There should not..be a trenchant distinction of employment, as between..men of liberal and illiberal professions. 1875 Jowett Plato (ed. 2) V. 79 No man will be allowed to exercise any illiberal occupation. |
| transf. 1607 Topsell Serpents (1658) 604 Serpents have many Epithets given unto them, as illiberal, perfidious, treacherous..and such like. |
2. Not generous in respect to the opinions, rights, or liberty of others; narrow-minded, bigoted; opposed to liberal principles in ecclesiastical, political, or commercial relations.
| a 1649 Chas. I (J.), The charity of most men is grown so cold, and their religion so illiberal. 1713 Steele Guardian No. 1 ¶3 The affinity between all works which are beneficial to mankind is much nearer, than the illiberal arrogance of Scholars will..allow. 1759 Robertson Hist. Scot. ii. I. 120 Popery..of the most bigotted and illiberal kind. 1866 Felton Anc. & Mod. Gr. II. x. 459 The unwise and illiberal policy of the great powers [towards Greece]. 1885 Law Times 10 Jan. 181/2 We cannot..think that any court would put so illiberal a construction upon sect. 7. |
3. Not free or generous in giving; stingy.
| 1623 Cockeram, Illiberall, couetous, base. 1695 Woodward Nat. Hist. Earth (1702) 257 Earth did not deal out their Nourishment with an over-sparing or illiberal Hand. 1752 Mason Elfrida 8 More apt..to err, In giving mercy's tide too free a course, Than with a thrifty and illiberal hand To circumscribe its channel. |
4. Comb., as
illiberal-minded.
| 1805 Simple Narrative I. 21 His imperious illiberal-minded wife. |
B. n. (
nonce-use from 2.) One who is not liberal in opinions, etc.; one who is opposed to Liberalism in politics.
| 1818 Lady Morgan Autobiogr. (1859) 1 They all turn moi, pauvre chétive, into political capital in the fund of Illiberals. 1827 Hist. Europe in Ann. Reg. 112/1, I may be a Tory, and an illiberal. 1871 Ruskin Fors Clav. I. i. 6, I am a violent Illiberal; but it does not follow that I must be a Conservative. |
Hence
iˈlliberalism,
iˈlliberalness, illiberality, illiberal principles.
| 1727 Bailey vol. II, Illiberalness, Niggardliness, Unbountifulness, Meanness of Spirit. 1839 in Spirit Metropol. Conserv. Press (1840) II. 370 No real corruption, no real illiberalism, will be tolerated in any administration whatever. 1851 Blackw. Mag. Feb. 197 The now fulfilled prophesies of Illiberalism. 1865 Sat. Rev. 11 Mar. 276/1 This slough of intolerance, and illiberalism, and servility. |