accursed, accurst, ppl. a.
(əˈkɜːsɪd, əˈkɜːst)
Forms: 2–5 acursed(e, acorsed; 3 akursid, akursede; 4 acursid; 5–6 accursed, accurst.
[f. acurse, later accurse v. + -ed.]
1. Lying under a curse or anathema; anathematized; doomed to perdition or misery.
| c 1220 S. Marherete 10 Þu ouercume..þene acursede gast. c 1230 Ancren Riwle 234 Efter þreottene ȝer com þe akursede gost þet hefde hire itented. 1388 Wyclif Gal. i. 8 Be he acursid [1526 Tindale Holde him as a cursed. 1611 Let him be accursed.] 1393 Langl. P. Pl. C. xxi. 97 And calde hem ‘caytifs a-corsed’: for þis was a vil vilanye. c 1450 Lonelich Grail xxix. 453 Therfore acursed schalt thou be Thorwh-owt alle the erthe ful sikerle, And the erthe, a-corsed I wel it be do. 1588 Shakes. Tit. A. v. iii. 5 Take you in this barbarous Moore, This Rauenous Tiger, this accursed deuill. 1611 ― Wint. T. iii. iii. 52 Most accurst am I To be by oath enioyn'd to this. 1611 Bible Joshua xxii. 20 Did not Achan the sonne of Zerah commit a trespasse in the accursed thing? 1718 Pope Iliad vi. 174 A wretch accurst and hated by the gods! 1829 Hood Eug. Aram xxviii. [I] sought the black accursed pool With a wild misgiving eye. 1855 Tennyson Letters 36 Thro' you, my life will be accurst. |
2. Worthy of the curse, or bringing a curse along with it; execrable, damnable; detestable, hateful.
| 1591 Shakes. Two Gent. v. iv. 71 The priuate wound is deepest: oh time, most accurst: 'Mongst all foes that a friend should be the worst. 1713 Steele Englishm. No. 48, 308 That accursed Quality..or Disorder of the Mind, called Ambition. 1858 O. W. Holmes Aut. Breakf. T. xii. 119 I never saw the accursed trick performed. 1863 Kemble Resid. in Georgia 97 This accursed system of slavery. |
3. absol. quasi-n.
| 1611 Bible Joshua vii. 12 Neither will I bee with you any more, except yee destroy the accursed from amongst you. 1814 Southey Roderick xii. (1853) IX. 113 Swear that thy soul Will make no covenant with these accursed. |