▪ I. viˈtuperate, ppl. a. rare—1.
[ad. L. vituperātus, pa. pple. of vituperāre: see next.]
Vituperated; worthy of vituperation.
| 1832 Westm. Rev. XVI. 7 Wealth was to be discreditable, unmanly, vituperate, because it was found greatly to indispose men to be active thieves. |
▪ II. vituperate, v.
(vaɪˈtjuːpəreɪt, vɪ-)
[f. L. vituperāt-, ppl. stem of vituperāre to censure, blame, disparage, find fault with, etc., f. vitu- for viti-, stem of vitium blemish, fault, vice n.1 + parāre to prepare. See also vituper v.]
trans. To blame, speak ill of, find fault with, in strong or violent language; to assail with abuse; to rate or revile.
Not in common use until the beginning of the 19th c.
| 1542 Boorde Dyetary xvi. (1870) 273 They louyth not porke nor swynes flesshe, but doth vituperat & abhorre it. 1611 Cotgr., Vituperer, to vituperate, dispraise, discommend. [Hence in Cockeram, Blount, Bailey, etc.] 1638 Penkethman Artach. C ij, Whatsoever transcends their sedulous apprehension..without any favourable expostulation..they will unworthily and unwittingly vituperate and reprehend. |
| 1819 Scott Ivanhoe xxxiii, The incensed priests..continued to raise their voices, vituperating each other in bad Latin. 1826 Lamb Elia Ser. ii. Pop. Fallacies iv, A speech from the poorest sort of people which always indicates that the party vituperated is a gentleman. 1860 Froude Hist. Eng. V. 477 He vituperated from the pulpit the vices of the court. 1883 A. Forbes in Fortn. Rev. 1 Nov. 671 Englishmen are not in the habit of vituperating Monk as a traitor. |
| refl. 1812 H. & J. Smith Rej. Addr. x. (1873) 96 Deviation from scenic propriety has only to vituperate itself for the consequences it generates. |
b. absol. or intr. To employ abusive language.
| 1856 R. A. Vaughan Mystics viii. v. 46 Vituperated and vituperating, he became a wanderer throughout Germany. 1877 Mrs. Oliphant Makers Flor. vi. 168 He loses his temper and begins to vituperate. |
Hence viˈtuperated ppl. a.
| 1841 Emerson Conservative Wks. (Bohn) II. 272 You are yourself the result of this manner of living, this foul compromise, this vituperated Sodom. |