▪ I. faulty, a.
(fɔːlt-, ˈfɒltɪ)
Forms: 4–5, 9 dial. fauty, 4–5 fawty(e, 5 fawte, 6 fawtie, fautye, 6–7 faultie, (6 faulte), 7 faultye, 7– faulty.
[f. as prec. + -y1, perh. after F. fautif.]
1. Containing faults, blemishes or defects; defective, imperfect, unsound. a. of material things.
| 1435 Misyn Mending of Life 108 So þow settis þi-self on a fawte grounde. c 1450 St. Cuthbert (Surtees) 4082 Þe walles of cuthbert oratory he fande þaim mekil fawty. 1530 Palsgr. 312/1 Fautye as fruite is that is nat sownde. 1577 Nottingham Rec. IV. 171 Many stretes is owte of order for mendyng vere faulte. 1643 Prynne Open. Gt. Seal 21 Some of the seales for ill cloathes, to have faultie engraven in them. 1697 W. Dampier Voy. (1698) I. 443 Here they made a new Boltsprit..our old one being very faulty. 1697 Dryden Virgil, Life (1721) I. 29 He [the colt] came of a faulty Mare. 1759 tr. Duhamel's Husb. ii. i. (1762) 115 To pluck up the faulty ears as fast as they appeared. 1846 Greener Sc. Gunnery 187 If a barrel be faulty, or locks inferior. 1862 Huxley Lect. Wrkg. Men 47 Faulty as these layers of stone in the earth's crust are, defective as they necessarily are as a record. 1887 S. Chesh. Gloss. s.v. Fauty, ‘These tatoes bin turnin up very fauty.’ 1888 Berksh. Gloss., Vauty, anything..with part decayed is so described. |
b. of immaterial things.
| 1380 Wyclif Wks. (1880) 364 God takiþ þis ordenance in his chirche as..in no wise fawtye. 1535 Joye Apol. Tindale 27 Whether my correccion..be a diligent correccion, and Tindales translacion fautye or no. 1551 T. Wilson Logike (1580) 34 b, It is a faultie argument. 1649 W. Dugdale in Lett. Lit. Men (Camden) 174 If Mr. Leicester do knowe it [my comparing of Domesday] to be faultye..that I will not deny. 1744 Berkeley Siris §68 The origin of the gout lies in a faulty digestion. 1789 Burns Let. to Miss Williams, Where the expression seems to be perplexed or faulty. 1830 Mackintosh Eth. Philos. Wks. 1846 I. 185 Those..may consistently blame the faulty principle, and rejoice in its destruction. |
2. Of persons, their qualities, etc.: Having imperfections or failings; apt to do wrong or come short of duty.
| 1574 tr. Marlorat's Apocalips 40 The cause why our affections are faultie, is for that they runne headlong, and haue no stay of themselues. 1621 Bp. Hall Heaven upon Earth §5 Our best endeuour is.. faulty. 1712 Budgell Spect. No. 506 ¶6 The ladies are generally most faulty in this particular. 1729 Butler Serm. Pref. Wks. 1874 II. 21 To forgive injuries..so peculiarly becomes an imperfect, faulty creature. 1748 Richardson Clarissa (1811) I. iii. 14 His reputed faulty morals. 1878 Browning La Saisiaz 68 The nice distinction 'twixt fast foes and faulty friends. |
3. † a. That has committed a fault, error, or offence; guilty of wrong-doing (obs.). b. That is in fault or to blame (for some undesirable results).
| 13.. E.E. Allit. P. B. 741 Quat if faurty be fre and fauty þyse oþer Schalt þow schortly al schende & schape non oþer. 1380 Wyclif Wks. (1880) 364 Ellis men mosten say þat God is and was fawty in ordenance of boþe his lawis. 1389 in Eng. Gilds (1870) 72 Qwat man or woman be fawty, he schal paye..di. li. wax. c 1440 York Myst. xl. 130 A! fooles þat are fauty and failes of youre feithe. 1481 Caxton Reynard (Arb.) 5 Reynard..knewe hym self fawty and gylty in many thynges. 1509 Barclay Shyp of Folys (1570) 54 Howebeit I knowe my wordes shall suche greue, As them selfe knoweth fawtie and culpable. 1556 Aurelio & Isab. (1608) B vj, What soever person that were founde faultie of like errour. 1611 Beaum. & Fl. Maid's Trag. i. i, Thou art faulty; I sent for thee..Thou cam'st not. 1614 Henley-in-Arden Rolls, Wee Doe present william Kerbee shoomaker ffaulty. 1682 Enq. Elect. Sheriffs 19 How often hath the City been more faulty to divers of our former Kings. 1777 Howard Prisons Eng. (1780) 196 Workshops for faulty apprentices. 1812 H. & J. Smith Rej. Addr. 102 As it now stands, ‘one fiddle’ among many, the faulty individual will I hope escape detection. |
| absol. 1533 More Debell. Salem Wks. 985/1 Yf he would compare the fauty wyth the fauty. 1614 Bp. Hall Recoll. Treat. 759 It is an old policy of the faulty, to complaine first. |
4. Of the nature of a fault; censurable, wrong.
| 1548 Udall, etc. Erasm. Par. Col. ii. 18 A faultie humbleness it is, through Angels to loke for that whiche shuld of Christ himselfe be asked. 1699 Burnet 39 Art. xxii. 247 No reserve is made in Scripture for this [sc. Idolatry] as being faulty only because it was applied wrong. 1851 Hussey Papal Power ii. 66 Thus Rome grew now by means of whatever was faulty in the Church. 1869 Goulburn Purs. Holiness Pref. 11 A faulty habit of mind. |
B. quasi-adv. = faultily adv.
| 1754 Richardson Grandison (1781) II. xix. 208 What an humbling thing is the consciousness of having lived faulty. |
▪ II. faulty
var. of foughty a., musty.