horrible, a. (n., adv.)
(ˈhɒrɪb(ə)l)
Forms: 4–6 or(r)i-, hor(r)i-, h)or(r)y-, -bel(l, -bil(l, -ble, -bull(e, -byl(le, (4 orebil, orble, 5 arrable, horreble, horebyl, 5–6 horrable, -bul, 6 orabill), 4– horrible.
[a. OF. (h)orrible (12th c. in Hatz.-Darm.) ad. L. horribilis, f. L. horrēre: see horre and -ble.]
A. adj. a. Exciting or fitted to excite horror; tending to make one shudder; extremely repulsive to the senses or feelings; dreadful, hideous, shocking, frightful, awful.
| 1303 R. Brunne Handl. Synne 4472 So grete hyt was and so orryble. 1340 Ayenb. 43 Ane greate zenne, dyadlich, and orrible. c 1375 XI Pains Hell 201 in O.E. Misc. 217 Orebil wormys devouryd hem þere. c 1386 Chaucer Frankl. T. 282 Thanne moot I dye of sodeyn deth horrible [v.r. orrible]. 14.. MS. Cantab. Ff. v. 48 lf. 45 (Halliw.) Fendis led hir with arrable song. 1483 Caxton Gold. Leg. 397 a/1 He made the horryblest crye that myght be herde. 1535 Coverdale Job xxxvii. 5 It geueth an horrible sownde, when God sendeth out his voyce. 1535 Stewart Cron. Scot. II. 152 That orabill wes to euerie Cristin man. 1568 Turner Herbal iii. 35 Bitter and horrible thinges destroye the appetite. 1604 Jas. I Counterbl. (Arb.) 112 The horrible Stigian smoke of the pit that is bottomelesse. 1667 Milton P.L. i. 61 A Dungeon horrible, on all sides round As one great Furnace flam'd. 1727 De Foe Hist. Appar. iv. (1840) 31 An apparition and a horrible monster in the night. 1856 Kane Arct. Expl. I. xxvi. 343 It is horrible—yes, that is the word—to look forward to another year of disease and darkness. 1870 Swinburne Ess. & Stud. (1875) 311 Superb instances of terrible beauty undeformed by horrible detail. |
b. as a strong intensive (now colloq.): Excessive, immoderate. (Primarily of things objectionable, but often without such qualification. Cf. awful, dreadful, frightful, tremendous.)
| 1460 J. Capgrave Chron. 155 The Kyng of Frauns [was] toke prisonere be the Soudan, and raunsond to a horibil summe. c 1489 Caxton Blanchardyn vii. 28 Suche an horryble and dysmesurable a strok. 1529 More Comf. agst. Trib. (1573) 36 [Solomon] multipliyng wiues to an horrible number. 1632 J. Hayward tr. Biondi's Eromena 178 [He] ranne his head at the wall with such a horrible force as he therewith dash'd out his braines. 1676 Lady Chaworth in 12th Rep. Hist. MSS. Comm. App. v. 33, I cannot get rid of my horrible cold heere. 1676 Temple Let. to Chas. II Wks. 1731 II. 423 They had a horrible mind to the Peace. 1718 Lady M. W. Montagu Let. to C'tess Bristol 10 Apr., This letter is of a horrible length. |
c. In combination (parasynthetic).
| 1552 Huloet, Horrible sowned, or voyced, horrisonus, horriuocus. 1719 De Foe Crusoe ii. xv, Horrible-shaped animals. |
B. as n. A horrible person or thing; † a being inspiring awe or dread (quot. 1400); a horrible attribute or characteristic; a story of horrible crime or the like (cf. dreadful C.).
| c 1400 Destr. Troy 13260 An old temple..I founde, Of a god, þat with gomes was gretly honouret. At þat orribill I asket angardly myche, Of dethe, & of deire, as destyny willes. 1726 De Foe Hist. Devil ii. vi. (1840) 242 Among all the horribles that we dress up Satan in. 1851 H. Melville Moby Dick I. xxxviii. 273 Such a waggish leering as lurks in all you horribles! 1890 Pall Mall G. 2 Sept. 7/2 Those children of this world, the writers of ‘penny-dreadfuls’ and ‘halfpenny horribles’. 1899 [see penny horrible s.v. penny 11]. 1909 Daily Chron. 3 Sept. 1/6 Both boys said yesterday that they had been reading ‘penny horribles’ about burglaries. 1917 A. Conan Doyle His Last Bow i. 51 There is but one step from the grotesque to the horrible. |
C. as adv. Horribly, terribly; usually as a mere intensive = Exceedingly (cf. horribly).
| c 1400 Apol. Loll. 24 Þei curse more souare & horribelare hem þat þei hatun. c 1489 Caxton Sonnes of Aymon xxiii. 496 By cause of the grete stone that was at his necke whiche was horryble hevy. 1513 Q. Kath. Let. 13 Aug. in Ellis Orig. Lett. Ser. i. I. 83, I am horrible besy with making standerds, banners, and bagies. 1605 Shakes. Lear iv. vi. 3 Glou. Me thinkes the ground is eeuen. Edg. Horrible steepe. 1611 Middleton & Dekker Roaring Girle D.'s Wks. 1873 III. 182 Shee has a horrible high colour indeed. 1623 Webster Devil's Law-Case ii. iii, I am horrible angry. 1708 Ozell tr. Boileau's Lutrin v. 84 Her Den groan'd horrible. 1843 Carlyle Past. & Pr. ii. vi, A far horribler composed Cant. |