deformed, ppl. a.
(dɪˈfɔːmd)
Also 5 dyffourmed, difformed.
[f. deform v. + -ed1.]
† 1. Marred in appearance; disfigured, defaced.
| c 1450 St. Cuthbert (Surtees) 4115 His face was deformed and bolnyd. 1535 Coverdale Isa. lii. 13 Y⊇ multitude shal wondre vpon him, because his face shalbe so deformed & not as a mans face. 1553 Eden Treat. Newe Ind. (Arb.) 23 Theyr women are deformed by reason of theyr greate eyes, greate mouthes and greate nosethrilles. 1631 Weever Anc. Fun. Mon. 791 Beholding the deformed ruines, he could hardly refraine from teares. 1632 Lithgow Trav. vi. 253 In all this deformed Countrey, wee saw neyther house, nor Village. |
2. Marred in shape, misshapen, distorted; unshapely, of an ill form. Now chiefly of persons: Misshapen in body or limbs.
| c 1400 Mandeville (1839) v. 47 A monster is a þing difformed aȝen kynde. 1483 Caxton Gold. Leg. 427/2 The most dysfourmed and most myserable he sat nyghe hym. 1574 tr. Littleton's Tenures 24 a, One that hath but one foote, or one hande, or is deformed. c 1600 Shakes. Sonn. cxiii, The most sweet fauor, or deformedst creature. 1665 Sir T. Herbert Trav. (1677) 338 Many deformed Pagotha's are here worshipped. 1675 Traherne Chr. Ethics vi. 69 Lions have an inclination to their grim mistresses, and deformed bears a natural affection to their whelps. 1752 Johnson Rambler No. 196 ¶7 Of his children, some may be deformed, and others vicious. 1869 W. P. Mackay Grace & Truth (1875) 247 A poor deformed fellow. |
† 3. Of irregular form; shapeless, formless. Obs.
| 1555 Eden Decades 200 Branches full of large and deformed leaves. 1567 Satir. Poems Reform. iii. 7 Ane King at euin..At morne bot ane deformit lumpe of clay. 1655–60 Stanley Hist. Philos. (1701) 186/1 Which..he from a deformed confusion reduced to beautiful order. 1677 Hale Prim. Orig. Man. iv. ii. 297 The great Moles Chaotica..in its first deformed exhibition of its appearance..had the shape of Water. |
4. fig. Perverted, distorted; morally ugly, offensive, or hateful.
| 1555 Eden Decades To Rdr. (Arb.) 53 The monstrous and deformed myndes of the people mysshapened with phantastical opinions. 1604 Marston Malcontent iv. iii, Sure thou would'st make an excellent elder in a deformed Church. 1628 Prynne Love-lockes 49 What a deformed thing is it for a man to doe any womanish thing! 1667 Milton P.L. vi. 387 Deformed rout Enter'd, and foul disorder. 1860 Pusey Min. Proph. 182 Deformed as is all oppression, yet to oppress the poor, has an unnatural hideousness of its own. |