wrong

▪ I. wrong, n.¹ Now dial.
    Also 2 wranga, 3–4 wrange, 3–5, 6 Sc. wrang, 6 Sc. wraing, wrayng; 4–5 wronge.
    [a. ON. *wrǫng, rǫng (gen. rangar), rib of a ship (Norw. rong, raang, vrong, vraang, Sw. dial. vrang), f. *wrangr curved, bent: see wrong a. Hence also MLG. wrange, Du. wrang, F. varengue (14th c.), varangue, Sp. varenga, floor-timber of a ship.]
    † 1. A rib of a ship or other vessel; also, a floor-timber of a ship. (Cf. rung n. 4.) Obs.
    (The sense of the OE. instances is not clear.)

c 1000 Gloss. in Wr.-Wülcker 201 Cauernamen, wrong. c 1100 Ibid. 182 Nomina nauium, et instrumenta earum:..cauernamen, wranga.

1295 Acc. Excheq. K.R. 5/8 m. 3, Et xv.d. in .j. Wrange empt'... Et .v.s. j.d. in .v. Wranges emptis. 1296 Ibid. 5/20 m. 1 dorso, In .lx. arboribus emptis de Priore de Tynemue..ad Wrangas faciendas in Galea, xxv.s. 1336 Ibid. 19/31 m. 6 In xl. lignis emptis in grosso pro Wronges faciendis, xv.s. 1352 Excheq. Acc. Q.R. 20/27 (P.R.O.), Pro fotynges et wrongs inde confectis in nave predicta. 1407 Acc. Excheq. K.R. 44/11 (1) m. 6 In xxiiij. Wronges..infra paruam batellam expenditis. c 1435 Ibid. 53/3 m. 9 Pro lx peciis maeremii..pro Wrangys..dicte balingere Regis inde faciendis. 1513 Douglas æneid v. xii. 164 Thai..gan to forge newlie wrayngis and airis. Ibid. ix. ii. 98 Vpblesis ourloft, hechis, wrangis, and how.

    2. A large crooked branch or bough of a tree, esp. one cut off and lopped for timber. Latterly dial.

1764 Ann. Reg., Chron. 88 An oak..which..contained 13 loads 35 feet of timber, 5 loads of wrongs (pieces not less than six inches girt) [etc.]. 1787 W. H. Marshall Norfolk II. 392 Wrongs, crooked arms..of trees. 1823 E. Moore Suffolk Words 498 The wrongs of oaks..are as valuable nearly as the body or right up timber. a 1825 Forby Voc. E. Anglia, Wrong, a crooked bough.

    3. attrib. (in sense 1), as † wrong-nail, † wrong-rope; † wrong-head = rung-head (cf. wrung-head).

1296 Acc. Excheq. K.R. 5/20 m. 3 dorso, M. C. clauis s[c]ilicet Wrangnayl emptis, iij.d. c 1340 in Nicolas Hist. Navy (1847) II. 477 [Two ropes called] wrangropes, ijs. 1352 Acc. Excheq. K.R. 20/27 (P.R.O.), Pro mmccc. wrong-naill' emptis pro reparatione navis. 1356 in Pipe Roll 32 Edw. III, m. 33/1, ij. wrangeropes..et .xxj. basteropes. 1633 Admiralty Crt. Exam. 50, 6 Nov. (MS.), She was sheathed from her bende to the wrong head.

▪ II. wrong, n.²
    (rɒŋ)
    Forms: α. 1–5, Sc. and north. dial. 6– wrang (4 vrang, 9 north. dial. wrank), 4–5, Sc. 6 wrange. β. 3– wrong (5 worng), 4–6 wronge (5 wronke, 6 wrongue, 7 ronge), 5 wrunge.
    [Substantival use of wrong a.]
    I. 1. That which is morally unjust, unfair, amiss, or improper; the opposite of right or justice; the negation of equity, goodness, or rectitude. (Freq. contrasted with right.)

a 1100 Wulfstan's Hom. xlii. 203 Þa unrihtdeman, ðe..wendaþ wrang to rihte and riht to wrange. c 1200 Trin. Coll. Hom. 193 Talewise men þe..maken wrong to rihte, and riht to wronge. a 1250 Owl & Night. 877 If riht goþ forþ & a back wrong. 1303 R. Brunne Handl. Synne 4381 For wrong ne lefte he nyȝt ne day. 1375 Barbour Bruce i. 177 Degradyt syne wes he Off honour..Quhethir it wes throuch wrang or rycht, God wat it. c 1430 Chev. Assigne 245, I wolle..fyȝte for þe qwene with whome þat wronge seythe. c 1480 Henryson Wolf & Lamb 79 Quhar wrang and reif suld dwell in propertie. a 1578 Lindesay (Pitscottie) Chron. Scot. (S.T.S.) I. 65 They put no difference betuix wrang and right. 1596 Spenser F.Q. v. iv. 1 For to maister wrong and puissant pride. 1606 Shakes. Tr. & Cr. i. iii. 116 Right and wrong, (Betweene whose endlesse iarre, Iustice recides). 1667 Milton P.L. xi. 662 One,..eminent In wise deport, spake much of Right and Wrong. 1737 [see right n.1 3]. 1781 Cowper Conversat. 149 Without the means of knowing right from wrong. 1809–10 Coleridge Friend (1865) 72 The abandonment of all principle of right enables the soul to choose and act upon a principle of wrong. 1878 Browning La Saisiaz 35 Why are right and wrong at strife?

Personif. 1362 Langl. P. Pl. A. i. 61 A wiht þat wrong is i-hote, Fader of Falsness. c 1460 Wisdom 728 in Macro Plays 59 Let se fyrst, Wronge & Sleyght! Dobullnes & Falsnes, schew yowur myght! 1581 A. Hall Iliad ix. 166 But Wrong a mightie monster is. a 1586 Sidney Sonn. Wks. 1922 II. 321 For Love is dead: Sir wrong his tombe ordaineth. 1847 J. C. Mangan Poems (1903) 84 It foretold fair Freedom's triumph, and the doom of Wrong.

    † b. The fact or position of being in the wrong (cf. 8 a). Chiefly in the phr. to have wrong (cf. Fr. avoir tort). Obs.

a 1300 in Map's Poems (Camden) 335 Ic seyȝe, gas[t], thouȝ hast wrong..Al þe wyt on me to leye. c 1369 Chaucer Dethe Blaunche 1282 Whan I had wrong and she ryght She wolde..For-yeve me. 1420–2 Lydg. Thebes ii. 1811 But he hadde wronge, Which thoght..the ȝeer was wonder longe Of his Exil. 1484 Caxton Fables of Alfonse xii, I..thanke yow gretely. For ryght ye haue and I grete wronge. 1587 Golding De Mornay xv. (1592) 241 But let Aristotle alone (for he hath wrong). 1596 Dalrymple tr. Leslie's Hist. Scot. (S.T.S.) I. 121 Sche wil be in wrang to her housband, gif that he knaweng, sche offend. 1604 T. Wright Passions (1620) 117 Whether you have right or wrong, I knowe you must have the last word.

    c. Deviation from fact, accuracy, or correct standard; incorrectness, error.

c 1620 A. Hume Brit. Tongue 2 To command..the schooles to teach the future age right and wrang. 1796 Burke Regic. Peace ii. (1892) 126 Whether..there was some mixture of right and wrong in their reasoning.

    2. Unjust action or conduct; evil or damage inflicted or received; unfair or inequitable treatment of another or others; injustice, unfairness.

α 12.. [see β]. c 1460 Towneley Myst. xxv. 279 Ihesus. I wyrk no wrang, that shall thou wytt. c 1470 Henry Wallace vi. 224 It slakis ire off wrang thai suld radres. c 1520 M. Nisbet N. Test. (S.T.S.) II. 71 Christ heir, in repreifing wrange, did nocht resist it with wyolence. 1570 Satir. Poems Reform. xiii. 71 Wickit men delytis ay in to wrang. a 1598 Fergusson Sc. Prov. (S.T.S.) 108 Wrang hes nea warrand. 17.. Ramsay Address to Town Council i, I've suffer'd muckle wrang.

β a 1200 Moral Ode 168 (Lamb. MS.), Ne scal him [sc. God] na mon mene þer of strengþe ne of wronge [Egerton MS. wrange]. c 1300 Havelok 72 To wronge micht him no man bringe, Ne for siluer, ne for gold. c 1310 in Wright Lyric P. xxv. 68 Ihesu, for love thou tholedest wrong. 1362 Langl. P. Pl. A. i. 117 Alle þat wrong worchen, wende þei schulen After heore deþ-day [etc.]. a 1425 Cursor M. 15922 (Trin.), Ȝe bere me wrong on honde. c 1440 Promp. Parv. 534 Wronge, a-ȝen truthe and ryghtewysnesse,..injuria. a 1500 Gest Robin Hood xciv. in Child Ball. III. 61 The hye iustyce and many mo Had take in to theyr honde Holy all the knyghtes det, To put that knyght to wronge. 1526 Pilgr. Perf. (W. de W. 1531) 301 The false accusacyon & testimonyes of y⊇ iewes was so euydent & playne wronge. 1590 Spenser F.Q. ii. ii. 18 Ne ought he car'd, whom he endamaged By tortious wrong. 1611 Bible Job xix. 7 Behold, I cry out of wrong [marg. or, violence], but I am not heard. 1624 Wotton Archit. 111 Which mention..I haue willingly made of his Name,..with much wrong to his other vertues. 1671 Milton Samson 76 Expos'd To daily fraud, contempt, abuse and wrong. 1749 W. Melmoth Fitzosb. Lett. lxxii, Ye plaintive crew, that suffer wrong. 1793 R. Gray Poems 126 He doth conceive..of high affront And mighty wrong committed. 1846 A. Marsh Father Darcy II. vii. 131 One who never sees wrong, without the noble resolution to revenge it. 1874 J. Sully Sensation & Intuition 154 A man who never knows the deep anguish of conscious wrong until [etc.].

    b. Law. Violation, transgression, or infringement of law; invasion of right to the damage or prejudice of another or others: injury, harm, mischief. In early use Sc.

12.. [see thwert-nay]. 1318 in Acts Parlt. Scotl. I. (1844) 471/1 Torth & noun raysoun quod dicitur wrang & unlaw. a 1400 Ibid. 647/1 Quoniam attachiamenta sunt principia et origo placitorum de wrang et unlaw. 1538 Starkey England i. iv. 117 So justyce ys oppressyd..and wrong takyth place. 1609 Skene Reg. Maj., etc. i. 95 b, Vnjustlie, and against the law, with wouch, wrang, and vnlaw. 1670 Blount Law Dict., Tort-feasor, a Doer of wrong, a Trespasser. 1875 Maine Hist. Inst. ii. 45 The ancient Irish Law of Civil Wrong.

    c. to do ({ddd}) wrong, to act unjustly or unfairly (to a person or thing, or with dative).

c 1220 Bestiary 798 Bimene we us, we hauen don wrong. c 1250 Gen. & Ex. 2683 He..broȝte vn-warnede on hem fiȝt; He hadden don egipte wrong. a 1300 Cursor M. 29084 Man dos to fasting mikel wrang. c 1330 Spec. Gy Warw. 222 If man wole chese to don wrong. 1372 in Relig. Lyrics 14th C. (1924) 71 Þe child þouthte sche dide him wrong. c 1440 Promp. Parv. 126/2 Do wronge a-ȝene resone (P. ayenst reason or lawe), injurior, prejudico. 1481 Caxton Reynard xxviii. (Arb.) 71 The lawe and right doth noman wrong. 1540–1 Elyot Image Gov. 28 That he whiche hath done wrong, be compelled to make restitution. 1573 Tusser Husb. (1878) 87 Place doong heape a low..Where water all winter time did it such wrong. 1610 Shakes. Temp. i. ii. 440, I feare you haue done your selfe some wrong. 1649 Milton Eikon. 102 As the King of England can doe no wrong, so neither can he doe right but..by his Courts. 1737 Pope Hor., Ep. ii. ii. 12 To say too much, might do my honour wrong. 1831 Scott Cast. Dang. xiii, By which she has done me great wrong. 1850 Tennyson In Mem. lii. ii, Thou canst not move me from thy side, Nor human frailty do me wrong.

    † d. to have ({ddd}) wrong, to suffer injustice, prejudice, or harm; to receive injury. Obs.

c 1250 Gen. & Ex. 3077 ‘Hu! haue ȝe wrong,’ quad pharaon, ‘Ȝu wapmen giue Ic leue to gon’. 1303 R. Brunne Handl. Synne 9582 Quyte þe weyl oute of borghgang, Þat þou ne haue for hyt no wrang. c 1410 Lantern of Light 45 Glotenye..drowneþ þe wittis of þe peple, til þat þei be vnresonable & kunnen not knowe whanne þei han wrong. c 1450 Mirk's Festial i. 5 Þogh þay haue moche wrong, þay may not gete amendes. 1509 Coventry Leet Bk. 626 He had grete wrong in certeyn ffyldes..by the comens of Couentre. 1560 J. Daus tr. Sleidane's Comm. 10 Suche as thinke they haue wronge at his hande. 1617 Moryson Itin. ii. 12 In their opinion he had wrong to be so charged. [1821 Scott Kenilw. v, He thinks he hath wrong, and is not the mean hind that will sit down with it. 1828 ― F.M. Perth x, I own you have had some wrong.]

    3. In various prepositional phrases: † a. with or mid ({ddd}) wrong, wrongly, wrongfully, unjustly. (Cf. 4.) Obs. [Cf. ON. með rǫngu wrongly.]

1124 O.E. Chron. an. 1124, [They] sæidon þet se king heold his broðer Rotbert mid wrange on heftnunge. a 1200 Moral Ode 209 (Lamb. MS.), Þa þe ledden hore lif mid unriht and mid wrange. c 1290 Beket 839 in S. Eng. Leg. I. 130 Me þinchez with gret wrong þe chalangez þe king. 1338 R. Brunne Chron. (1810) 110 Steuen..suore, Þat..Þe kyng, no non of his, suld chalange þat of fe, With wrong no with right. c 1400 Brut 257 Þe Kyngus person bare..þe blame, wiþ wrong. 1481 Caxton Reynard xlii. (Arb.) 115 Suche false extorcionners..oppresse the poure peple wyth grete wronge. a 1500 Gest Robin Hood cclxviii. in Child Ball. III. 69 There I holpe a pore yeman, With wronge was put behynde. 1598 Yong Diana 27 Rather then blame discredit me,..Let me with wrong forgotten be.

    b. in wrong or by wrong. (Cf. 4 b.)

a 1400 Sir Degrev. 542 That y shalle faythly fyeght, Both in worng and in ryght. 1548 Udall, etc. Erasm. Par. Matt. v. 18 For mekenesse obteyneth more..than violence..can purchase or obtayne by right or wronge. 1590 Spenser F.Q. ii. iv. 42 His am I Atin, his in wrong and right. Ibid. vii. 30 None could weene Them to efforce by violence or wrong. 1611 Bible Jer. xxii. 13 Woe vnto him that buildeth..his chambers by wrong. 1855 Tennyson The Letters 11 Then we met in wrath and wrong.

    † 4. Claim, possession, or seizure that is unjustifiable or unwarranted on legal or moral grounds. Esp. in phr. with or † mid ({ddd}) wrong. Obs.

c 1205 Lay. 27300 For heo al mid wronge wilneden of ure londe. c 1300 Havelok 2806 Þat þe swike Haues it [sc. the kingdom] halden with mikel wronge. a 1325 MS. Rawl. B. 520 fol. 56 b, Ȝif þe Eir mid wronge vsurped þe seisine of Eldere þoru deseisine. 1375 Barbour Bruce i. 209 And gyff that ony man thaim by Had ony thing that wes worthy,..With rycht or wrang it have wald thai. c 1410 Lantern of Light 45 Couetise of hem þat purchasen wiþ wrong her neiȝ boris ground & her catel. c 1450 Godstow Reg. ii. 540 That..none other for hym or in his right, myght neuer clayme..ony thyng of right, or of clayme, or of wronge, in the forsaid acre of lond. 1590 Spenser F.Q. i. iv. 12 Proud Lucifera..did vsurpe with wrong and tyrannie Vpon the scepter.

    b. In the phr. by, in, † o, or † of ({ddd}) wrong.

a 1300 Cursor M. 28795 Vr lauerd..receues..nan Almus þat o [v.r. of] wrang es tan. 1528 in Star Chamber Cases (Selden) II. 23 [He] hathe of his owne auctoryte and wronge enteryd into the premissis. 1548 Elyot, Iure uel iniuria, by right or wronge. 1588 Kyd Househ. Philos. Wks. (1901) 278 Riches, either miserably gotten or encreased by wrong. 1594 ― Cornelia v. 439 Must I liue to see great Pompeys house..Vsurpt in wrong by lawlesse Anthony? 1628 Coke On Litt. 181 Therefore no relation of an estate by wrong can helpe him. 1729 Jacob Law Dict. s.v. Right, An Estate gain'd by Wrong. 1818 Cruise Digest (ed. 2) V. 141 The defendants had done nothing to vest the freehold in them, either by right or by wrong.

    5. With possessive pron. or genitive: † a. Injustice, harm, or evil inflicted upon another or others; wrong-doing. Obs.

c 1275 Duty of Christians 59 in O.E. Misc. 143 We schule to criste grede, And bidde mylce of vre wrong. 1303 R. Brunne Handl. Synne 6430 Now we þe executore haue mysseyd, And of hys wrong he haþ vpbreyd. 13.. E.E. Allit. P. B. 76 More to wyte is her wrange, þen any wylle gentyl. 14.. in Acts Parlt. Scot. I. (1844) 352/2 Of a man grantand his awne wrang. c 1440 Pallad. on Husb. xiii. 84 Gramerci, Lord, that list eek mortifie My wronge. 1513 Douglas æneid i. i. 63 Sen Pallas mocht on Grekis tak sic wraik..for Aiax Oilus wrang? c 1600 Shakes. Sonn. xl, Loue knowes it is a greater griefe To beare loues wrong, then hates knowne iniury. 1631–2 Star Chamb. Cases (Camden) 168 He shall therefore pay 500li..and make recognition of his fault and wrong. 1642 J. M[arsh] Argt. conc. Militia 17 It is against the rule of Law, that any man should take advantage of his owne wrong.

    b. Injury, hurt, harm, or prejudice received or sustained by a person or persons. Also in phr. to or † in one's (own) wrong.

13.. E.E. Allit. P. A. 15 Ofte haf I wayted wyschande þat wele, Þat wont was whyle deuoyde my wrange. 1399 Langl. Rich. Redeles Prol. 13 Whom all þe londe loued,..And ros with him rapely to riȝtyn his wronge. a 1400–50 Wars Alex. 2812 As me is wa for þi woȝe, & þi wrange bathe. 1560 J. Daus tr. Sleidane's Comm. 57 b, It is not lawfull for anye Christian to reuenge his owne wronge. 1596 Spenser F.Q. v. viii. 11 What meane ye thus vnwise Vpon your selues anothers wrong to wreake? 1612 Drayton Poly-olb. ii. 229 That she, to her own wrong, and every other's grief, Would needs be telling things exceeding all belief. 1656 H. Phillips Purch. Patt. (1676) 93 He will rebate in his own wrong. 1660 Waller To King on his Return 62 Armies and fleets..redressed his wrong. a 1740 Spotswood in W. S. Perry Hist. Coll. Amer. Col. Ch. I. 204 Be cautious how you dispose of the profits of your parish; least you pay it in your own wrong. a 1768 Secker Serm. (1770) II. 364 The Abilities of the Man, that uses them to his Neighbour's Wrong. 1822 Shelley Dirge 8 Wail, for the world's wrong! ― Calderon's Mag. Prodig. ii. 139 My words..shook Heaven, Proclaiming vengeance, public as my wrong.

fig. 1633 G. Herbert Temple, Storm iii, There it stands knocking, to thy musicks wrong, And drowns the song.

    6. Physical hurt or harm caused to or sustained by some thing or person; treatment causing material injury or damage. (Cf. 11.) Now rare.

1382 Wyclif Acts xxvii. 10 With wrong and harm..of charge and schipp..bygynneth seiling for to be. 1398 Trevisa Barth. De P.R. v. xxxii. (Bodl. MS.), For þe more ese withstonding and putting of wronge and of hurting [of the marrow]. c 1440 Pallad. on Husb. x. 12 In wanyng of Phebes be they toflonge, So may hit meest auayle and do leest wronge. 1573 Tusser Husb. (1878) 32 Light ladder and long doth tree least wrong. 1577 B. Googe Heresbach's Husb. 39 Flaxe..the more wrong it suffereth, the better doth it prooue. 1596 Spenser F.Q. v. iv. 5 There before them stood a Coffer strong,..But seeming to have suffred mickle wrong. 1602 Chettle Hoffman iv. (1631) H 2 b, A powder..Being set on fire to suffocate each sence Without the sight of wound, or shew of wrong. c 1660 in Verney Mem. (1907) II. 262 Small forts..to defend the merchants and their goods from wrong. 1726 Pope Odyss. xxi. 429 Lest time or worms had done the weapon [sc. a bow] wrong. 1873 A. G. Murdoch Lilts 44 Dinna dae the door-boards wrang, An absent tenant canna see ye.

    7. the wrong, that which is wrong; the opposite of justice or equity; absence of right or fairness; unjust or wrongful action.

a 1300 Cursor M. 17458 Þof it neuer haf lasted sua lang, A-wai to wrenk he dos þe wrang. c 1330 Spec. Gy de Warw. 749 Here ȝe muwen se þe wrong. 1388 Wyclif Acts vii. 24 Moises..dide veniaunce for hym that suffride the wronge. 1411 26 Pol. Poems 44 My swerd..Shal shede þe riȝt fro þe wrong. 1513 Douglas æneid vi. xiv. 25 Brutus..can revenge the wrang in his cuntre. 1556 Lauder Tractate 131 And ȝour fals glosing of the wrang, Sall nocht mak ȝow to rax heir lang. 1671 Milton Samson 1030 Capacity not rais'd to apprehend Or value what is best In choice, but oftest to affect the wrong. 1831 Scott Cast. Dang. iv, If the Scottish have not had the right upon their side, they have..defended the wrong with the efforts of brave men. 1861 Paley æscylus (ed. 2) Supplices 337 note, If the wrong has been wholly on one side.

    8. The fact or position of acting unjustly or indefensibly; the state of being wrong in respect of attitude, procedure, or belief. (Cf. 1 b.) † a. In the phr. to have the wrong. Obs.

a 1300 Cursor M. 6029, I haue þe wrang, And al þis wrak on me es lang. c 1330 Amis & Amil. 908 The steward was so strong, And hadde the right and he [= Amis] the wrong. 13.. Seuyn Sages (W.) 2900 Than sal thou thiseluen se Wha haue the wrang, the wife or he. c 1430, 1828 [see right n. 6 b].

    b. In the phr. to be or put in the wrong.

a 1400 Chron. R. Glouc. (Rolls) II. 795 Þou wolt..þi soule to helle bringe, Vor þou ert in þe wronke [v.r. wronge]. 1489 Caxton Sonnes of Aymon xvii. 390 Ye knowe ye were in the wronge. 1513 West in Ellis Orig. Lett. Ser. i. I. 74 Your Grace was in the right and he in the wronge. 1561 T. Hoby tr. Castiglione's Courtier ii. (1900) 186 Thinking that he himselfe had bine in the wronge. 1603 Shakes. Meas. for M. v. i. 86 You are i' the wrong To speake before your time. 1700 T. Brown Amusem. Ser. & Com. Wks. 1720 III. 91, I am in the wrong, I own it. 1795 Hutton Hist. Birmingham (ed. 3) 223 The authors I have seen are all in the wrong. 1849 Macaulay Hist. Eng. vii. II. 266 He had now put himself in the wrong. 1859 H. Kingsley G. Hamlyn xi, I quarrelled with her last night. I was quite in the wrong. 1895 Cornh. Mag. Oct. 380 It puts Lord Tennyson so brutally in the wrong.

    † c. to give the wrong to, to regard as being in the wrong. Obs.^—1

1471 Caxton Recuyell (Sommer) 558 They shall gyue the wronge and blame to the Troians, And to vs the loose.

    II. 9. A wrongful, unjust, or unfair action; a violation or infringement of one's rights; an injury received or inflicted; a mischief. a. With any, no, that, this, etc.

1067–77 Ags. Laws (Liebermann) I. 486/1 Ic nelle ᵹeþolian, þæt ænig man eow æniᵹ wrang beode. c 1290 Beket 230 in S. Eng. Leg. I. 113 Þar-of nolde he þolien no wrong. c 1330 Arth. & Merl. 1363 (Kölbing), Ȝif y may atake þis wrong, He worþ to drawe & to hong. c 1374 Chaucer Troylus iii. 1008 Þer-with mene I fynally þe peyne..Fully to slen and euery wrong redresse. c 1470 Golagros & Gaw. 90 That sege wald sit with none wrang, Of berne that wes borne. 1481 Caxton Reynard ix. (Arb.) 19 That he myght auenge this ouer grete wronge. 1502 W. Atkynson tr. De Imitatione iii. li. (1893) 239 If any wronge be layde vnto hym. a 1586 Sidney Arcadia ii. xxii, She resolved to spende all her yeares..in bewayling the wrong, and yet praying for the wrong-dooer. 1611 Bible Ecclus. x. 6 Beare not hatred to thy neighbour for euery wrong. 1667 Milton P.L. ix. 300 Thou thy self with scorne..wouldst resent the offer'd wrong. 1715 Pope Iliad ii. 300 Durst he, as he ought, resent that wrong, This mighty tyrant were no tyrant long. 1781 Cowper Conversat. 25 All shall give account of ev'ry wrong, Who dare dishonour or defile the tongue! 1795–6 [see wrong-doer 1]. 1859 Tennyson Geraint & Enid 36 That each had suffer'd some exceeding wrong. 1862 Shirley (J. Skelton) Nugæ Crit. x. 444 The wrong indeed was redressed, as far as redress was possible.

    b. With a and pl.

α a 1300 Cursor M. 6447 Quar thoru in right þai suld be gett, In smale wranges þat þar war. c 1340 Hampole Pr. Consc. 5541 Alle þas þat has tholed here Falshedes and wrangs. c 1400 Destr. Troy 11616 God, þat..wrangis in his wrathe writhis to ground. 1500–20 Dunbar Poems xc. 70 Quhen thow art ald, and ma na wrangis wyrke. 1596 Dalrymple tr. Leslie's Hist. Scot. II. 302 Quha war woundet or had gottin vtheris wrangis. 1786 Burns Author's Cry & Prayer xii, Then echo thro' Saint Stephen's wa's Auld Scotland's wrangs. 1818 Scott. Hrt. Midl. xxxvii, We are for righting our ain wrangs.

β 1303 R. Brunne Handl. Synne 11154 God..late hem neuer here soules lese For no wronges þat þey chese! 1362 Langl. P. Pl. A. xi. 19 As cloþers..Þat Conterfeteþ disseites and Conspiret wronges. 1422– [see redress v.1 11]. c 1450 Myrr. our Ladye ii. 145 My sowlle suffereth pacyently wronges and contraryous thinges. a 1547 Surrey æneid ii. 867 May such a wrong passe from a father's mouth? 1612, etc. [see redresser]. 1697 Dryden Virg. Georg. iv. 740 Trees bent their Heads to hear him sing his Wrongs. 1794–6 Coleridge Relig. Musings 306 The innumerable multitude of wrongs By man on man inflicted. 1811 W. R. Spencer Poems 11 Thy wrongs his guilty soul shall sting. 1874 Green Short Hist. iv. §4. 191 A wrong of brother against brother was also a wrong against the general body of the gild.

    c. Law. An invasion of right, to the damage, harm, or prejudice of another or others; a violation of law or statute; a tort or trespass.

1386 Rolls of Parlt. III. 225/1 The folk of the Mercerye of London [compleynen]..of many wronges subtiles, and also open oppressions. c 1400 Brut i. 265 He was at þe parlement at Wynchestre forto haue amendede þe wronges and trespasses þat were done amongus þe peple. 14.. in Acts Parlt. Scotl. I. (1844) 337/2 Þe quhilk wrang was amuffyt betuen þaim in þe lande. 1518 in Leadam Star Chamber Cases (Selden) II. 128 They came to make their humble peticion..and sewed their grevys and wronges afforseid. 1588 Jas. VI in 3rd Rep. Hist. MSS. Comm. 419/2 A puir man that dar nocht seik redres of this wrang be the ordinar course of iustice. 1617 ― in Halliwell Lett. Kings Eng. (1846) II. 143 Every wrong must be judged by the first violent and wrongous ground whereupon it proceeds. 1671 F. Phillips Reg. Necess. 259 The parties..endeavouring such breaches of Priviledge, should not take advantage..of their own wrongs or tortious doings. 1768 Blackstone Comm. III. 2 Wrongs are divisible into two sorts or species; private wrongs, and public wrongs. 1770 Cases temp. Hardwicke 35 The declarations must fall likewise as grafted on a wrong. 1838 W. Bell Dict. Law Scot. 498 Where there is reparation due on account of wrongs suffered through gross carelessness. 1888 Pollock in Encycl. Brit. XXIII. 454 Civil wrongs..for which there is a remedy by action in courts of common law jurisdiction. Ibid. 454/2 An actionable wrong.

    d. In the phr. to do the ({ddd}) wrong (to or unto a person, or with dative).

c 1330 Spec. Gy de Warw. 602 Þenk..Off þe wrong and þe vilte, Þat men to Iesu Crist dede. c 1375 Sc. Leg. Saints vi. (Thomas) 666 Þe wrange þat to myn god is done. a 1400 Pauline Ep. (Powell) 2 Cor. vii. 12 Not for hym þat has don þe wrong, nor for hym þat is suffryd. 1556 J. Heywood Spider & Fly 4 The wrong that I have done the flies here among. 1585 T. Washington tr. Nicholay's Voy. i. vii, The great wrong & iniurie that was done vnto him. 1643 Caryl Expos. Job I. 663 Only the creditor can remit the debt, and he the offence to whom we have done the wrong. 1671 Acts Privy Council Scotl. III. 345 She was the person who did the wrong. 1828 Scott F.M. Perth ix, The Earl deeply resented the wrong done to himself. 1883 D. C. Murray Hearts xxviii, In spite of the wrong he had done and the wrong he meant to do him.

    e. Similarly with a, any, etc., or pl.

1382 Wyclif Matt. xx. 13 Frend, I do thee no wronge [1388 noon wrong]. c 1386 Chaucer Melib. ¶845 That ye causelees..han doon grete Iniuries and wronges to me. c 1400 Rule St. Benet (Prose) vii. 13 Yef man dos yu ani wrang. 1479 Paston Lett. III. 267 Th' enjuryes and wrongys done..to John Paston. 1560 Bible (Genev.) 2 Macc. iii. 12 That it were altogether vnpossible to do this wrong to them. 1591 Shakes. Two Gent. ii. vii. 80 As thou lou'st me, do him not that wrong. 1638 R. Baker tr. Balzac's Lett. (vol. III) 28, I do not think I shall do you any wrong to send you a better companion. 1676 in 12th Rep. Hist. MSS. Comm. App. V. 30 The wrongs Lord Marshall doth him, and all the younger children. 1813 Nat. Intelligencer (Washington, D.C.) 29 July 1/3 The wrongs done us by the British government. 1855 Tennyson Maud i. x. iv, I might persuade myself then She would not do herself this great wrong. 1861 Mill Utilit. (1863) 73 In each case the supposition implies two things—a wrong done, and some assignable person who is wronged.

    † 10. An incorrect or improper procedure. Obs.

c 1440 Pallad. on Husb. viii. 53 The figtre now teneye [L. inoculare] hit is no wronge In weet lond. Ibid. x. 3 The same ek is no wronge Rather to do.

    † 11. A physical or material injury, hurt, or damage. (Cf. 6.) Obs.

1398 Trevisa Barth. De P.R. xvii. cxvii. (Tollem. MS.), By þe leues þe spray is defendid..aȝens colde and hete, and aȝens all wronges of frostes and snowe. c 1440 Pallad. on Husb. i. 339 Yf me ferne hit wel..That in the tre the morter do no wronge.

    † 12. Something obtained or held wrongfully. rare.

c 1440 Jacob's Well 133 Þerfore, restoryth ȝoure wrongys, & caste out þe wose of false coueytise! Ibid. 136 Ȝoure nede þanne excusyth ȝou nouȝt fro dedly synne, but ȝe ȝerne ȝelde to hem ȝoure dette & ȝoure wrong!

    III. 13. Comb. (chiefly objective), as wrong-repressing, wrong righting; wrong-redresser, wrong-righter; also wrong-caused, wrong incensed, wrong-vexed; wrong-proof adj.

a 1586 Sidney Ps. xxxv. i, Speake thou for me against wrong speaking foes. a 1586 ― Arcadia i. ii, Striving..which coulde..recount their wrong-caused sorow. 1594 Shakes. Rich. III, ii. i. 51 These swelling wrong incensed Peeres. 1595 Daniel Civ. Wars i. lxxxi, Wrong-worker Riot. 1608 Sylvester Du Bartas 210 Long wrong-vext, in a not-Need-less Cause. a 1816 Bentham Offic. Apt. Maximized, Introd. View (1830) 17 A penal, or say a wrong-repressing code. 1831 Wordsw. Highland Hut 12 Some gentle heart wrong-proof, Meek, patient, kind. 1849 Lytton K. Arthur v. lxxxiii, The great Wrong-Redresser. 1869 Kingsley in Life & Lett. (1877) II. 296 The most unexpected forms of actual wrong-saying and doing. 1889 J. K. Stephen Lapsus Calami (1891) 51 A nursery of wrong-righters.

▪ III. † wrong, n.³ Obs. rare.
    = leaf n.¹ 13.

1688 Holme Armoury iii. 374/1 All the Nicks or Notches in the [watch] Wheels are termed Teeth, and those in the Pinions are called Wrongs.

▪ IV. † wrong
    obs. variant of wring n.¹ 1.

c 1440 Pallad. on Husb. i. 495 Oilmilles, whelis, wrongis [L. prelum], not bigonne Of new.

▪ V. wrong, a. and adv.
    (rɒŋ)
    Forms: α. 1–5, 6– Sc. and north. dial. wrang (6, 9 vrang, 9 north. dial. wrank), 4–5 wrange. β. 3– wrong (3 wronk, 5 rong), 3– 6 wronge; 9 north. dial. wrung, wrunk.
    [Late OE. wrang, a. ON. *wrangr, rangr awry, unjust (Norw. vrang, rang, MSw. vranger (Sw. vrång), (M)Da. vrang), = MLG. wrange, wrangh sour, bitter, MDu. wrangh, wranc bitter, unpleasant, hostile (Du. wrang acid, tart; whence WFris. wrang); related to wring v.
    The adoption of the word in the OE. period is shown by its use as a n. (see wrong n.²), but examples of the adj. are lacking, unless on wrangan hylle in a Berkshire document of 944, preserved only in a 13th century copy (Birch Cartul. II. 557), is accepted as original, and as representing this word. Early ME. instances may occur in the following place-names:—
    a 1153 in Coucher Bk. Kirkstall Abbey (1904) 52 Confirmo donacionem terre quam eis fecerunt Rogerus de Wrangebroc et Henricus Walensis. 1167–8 Pipe Rolls Hen. II, 56 Pro murdro in Wrongedichhundred [in Rutland]. 1198 Pipe Rolls Rich. I, 23 Terra in eadem uilla [in Suffolk] s. ad Wrangaker i acr'. et i rodam.]
    A. adj. I. † 1. a. Having a crooked or curved course, form, or direction; twisted or bent in shape or contour; wry.

c 1200 Ormin 9207 All þatt ohht iss wrang & crumb Shall effnedd beon & rihhtedd. Ibid. 9653. c 1220 Bestiary 78 His [sc. the eagle's] bec is ȝet biforn wrong. [a 1252 in Cartul. Mon. Rameseia (Rolls) I. 353 Fulbrocfurlange; Wrongelande; Wylokescroft.] 1388 Wyclif Lev. xxi. 19 A man..[that] is ether of litil, ether of greet, and wrong [L. tortus] nose. 1426 Lydg. De Guil. Pilgr. 19656 The crookydnesse..off my crok, Wrong at the ende, as ys an hook. a 1470 H. Parker Dives & Pauper viii. xv. (1493) F ii, The bowe is made of ii. thynges, Of a wronge tree, and a right strynge. a 1500 Hist. K. Boccus & Sydracke (? 1510) P j, A cocatryce..hath..many teth crokyd and wronge. 1611 Cotgr., Gauche, left, left-handed;..wrong, sinister, awry. 1613 in North Riding Records IV. 143 Thone acre a brode wrangland, stinting att the strete, lying between six narrow wranglandes, towards the north, and one narrow wrangland..towardes the south.

fig. 1340 Ayenb. 159 Yef þe onderstondingge is wrong, oþer yef he tuysteþ oþer wyþwent.., al þe inwyt ssel by þiestre and þe hieap of uirtues.

    † b. Marked by deviation; deflected. Obs.

c 1440 Promp. Parv. 197/1 Glacynge, or wronge glydynge of boltys or arowys,..devolatus.

    † c. Of an oblong shape. Obs.

c 1440 Promp. Parv. 517/1 Warpyn, or wex wronge or avelonge, as vesselle, oblongo. Ibid. 534/1 Wronge, or avelonge.., oblongus.

    2. Of persons: Mis-shapen; deformed. Latterly dial.

c 1430 Pilgr. Lyf Manhode iii. xxx. (1869) 152 Boistows j am, and haltinge, and wronge. To the virly j go hippinge. 1787 Grose Prov. Gloss., Wrong, crooked. A wrong man or woman. Norf. a 1825 Forby Voc. E. Anglia, Wrong,..deformed; mishapen in person.

    II. 3. a. Of actions, etc.: Deviating from equity, justice, or goodness; not morally right or equitable; unjust, perverse. Also absol.

α a 1300 Cursor M. 16498, I sal me-seluen on me wreck For þis marchandis wrang. 13.. E.E. Allit. P. C. 384 Wepande ful wonderly alle his wrange dedes. c 1340 Hampole Pr. Consc. 5994 Alle wrang haldyngs of gudes sere. c 1400 Rule St. Benet (Verse) 2248 For wit þai wele þat þai sal cum To reknyng on þe day of dome..Als sche sal for hir warkes wrang. c 1420 Anturs of Arth. 421 (Douce MS.), Þou has wonene hem in werre, with a wrange wille. 1500–20 Dunbar Poems ix. 11 The wrang spending of my wittis fyve. 1786 Har'st Rig cix, The beding time does now begin... Now, tho' they're a' together mixt, There's naething wrang. 1822 Scott Nigel ii, I hope there was naething wrang in standing up for ane's ain country's credit.

β a 1275 Prov. ælfred B. 596 Þe woke ginne þu coueren, þe wronke ginne þu rihten mid alle þine mihten. c 1350 Will. Palerne 4582 Alle þe werre & þis wo is our wronge dedes. 1382 Wyclif Lev. xix. 13 Thow shalt not doo wronge chalenge to thi neiȝbore. c 1425 Cursor M. 22276 (Trin.), Anticrist..shal him shewe in þo d[a]yes..his werkes wronge to fulfille. c 1440 York Myst. xxxv. 26 So þat oure wirkyng be noght wronge. 1535 Coverdale Hab. i. 4 This is the cause, y{supt} wronge iudgment procedeth. 1579 Spenser Sheph. Kal. May 102 So often times, when as good is meant, Euil ensueth of wrong entent. 1620 T. Peyton Glasse of Time i. 50 That none by wrong oppression might Be crost, by..wrestling guile. 1651 Hobbes Leviath. ii. xxvi. 144 A wrong Sentence given by authority of the Soveraign. 1704 Swift T. Tub Auth. Apol. ¶13 One of the wrongest attempts in nature to turn into ridicule..a work which had cost so much time. 1728 Vanbrugh & Cib. Prov. Husb. iii, When a sad wrong word is rising just to one's tongue's end, I..swallow it. 1763 Tucker Lt. Nat. (1834) I. 211 If the finger rest against the trigger of a loaded musket, and a man stand just before, you cannot do a wronger thing. 1853 C. M. Yonge Heir of Redclyffe ix, She did not awaken her mind to consider that anything could be wrong that Philip desired. 1861 Mill Utilit. (1863) 9 [That] creed holds that actions are wrong..[in proportion] as they tend to produce the reverse of happiness. 1878 Jevons Pol. Econ. 65 There is nothing..morally wrong in a strike..when properly conducted.

    b. In the phrase it is (would be, etc.) wrong to (do some thing).

1596 Spenser Hymn Heav. Love 180 Had he required life of vs againe, Had it beene wrong to aske his owne with gaine? 1781 Cowper Conv. 291 'Tis wrong to bring into a mixt resort What makes some sick. 1857 Borrow Romany Rye xlii, I confess it was wrong in me to interrupt you. 1879 M{supc}Carthy Donna Q. I. iv. 87 It was very wrong of him to make such a request. 1881 W. H. Mallock Rom. 19th C. II. 93 It would be indeed wrong..to say he was making love at all.

    4. a. Of persons: Deviating from integrity, rectitude, or probity; doing or prone to do that which is evil, noxious, or unjust; opprobrious, vicious.

a 1300 Cursor M. 29 Þe wrang to here o right is lath. 13.. Ibid. 2204 (Gött.), Þis nembrot..was wrang werour, Reuer and manqueller grett. 1382 Wyclif Isaiah iii. 12 My puple his pleteres, or wrong axers [L. exactores], spoileden. a 1470 H. Parker Dives & Pauper viii. xv. (1493) F ii, Of them y{supt} ben wronge throughe synne. Ibid. F ii b, So Crist at the doome shal sett the wrong lyuers on his left honde. 1715 De Foe Fam. Instruct. i. iv. (1841) I. 78 For I think..we have all been wrong, and..it is my part to submit. 1784 Cowper Tiroc. 780 Th' incorrigibly wrong, the deaf, the dead! a 1845 Barham Ingol. Leg. Ser. iii. Truants 58 Queer little devils were they! Cob was the strongest, Mob was the wrongest.

    b. Actively opposed († to another); antagonistic.

1340 Ayenb. 204 Ssarpnesse of liue to do his uless onderuot þet is wrang to þe goste. 1780 Cowper Rep. Adjudged Case 2 Between Nose and Eyes a strange contest arose,—The spectacles set them unhappily wrong.

    c. Criminals' slang. Untrustworthy, unreliable; not sympathetic to or co-operative with criminals. Cf. right a. 8 e.

1908 J. M. Sullivan Criminal Slang 27 Wrong, man too familiar with police; not to be trusted. 1928 E. Booth in Amer. Mercury May 81/2 Aw, don't rap [i.e. speak indiscreetly] to that guy; he's wrong. 1953 W. Burroughs Junkie (1972) vi. 58 By and large, the reason a man can't score is because he is known to be ‘wrong’. 1955 D. W. Maurer Whiz Mob ix. 130 He [sc. a pickpocket] tries to avoid those cities or those districts which are known to be wrong, or where the police will not have any part of protecting him. Ibid. 140 He was what thieves call a wrong copper; that is, he did not take the fix.

    5. a. Not in conformity with some standard, rule, or principle; deviating from that which is correct or proper; contrary to, at variance with, what one approves or regards as right.

a 1310 in Wright Lyric P. viii. 31 Y-wis hit is al wrong. Al wrong y wrohte for a wyf, that made us wo in world ful wyde. 1362 Langl. P. Pl. A. xi. 67 Whi wolde God..suffre such a worm In such a wrong wyse þe wommon to bi-gyle? 1390 Gower Conf. I. 169 Of here wrong condicion To do justificacion. c 1459 in Plumpton Corr. (Camden) p. xxxix, Her hosband cometh..and seyeth the feyrest langwage that ever ye hard. But all is rong; he is ever in trouble. 1550 Crowley Epigrams 916 Ye must saye as they saye, Be it wrounge or ryght. 1591 Spenser Daphn. 243 She fell away in her first ages spring;..For age to dye is right, but youth is wrong. 1676 Hale Medit. Lord's Pr. 183 When I look into my Conscience, I find her easily bribed, and brought over to the wrong party. 1690 Locke Hum. Und. iv. xxi. §16 The foundation of vice in wrong measures of good. 1709 Pope Ess. Crit. 338 But most by Numbers judge a Poet's song; And smooth or rough, with them is right or wrong. 1732 Berkeley Alciphr. ii. §19 Revenues that in ignorant times were applied to a wrong use. 1753–4 Richardson Grandison (1781) III. xxviii. 333 Permitting the interview, which they suppose the wrongest step that could have been taken.

    b. Not in consonance with facts or truth; incorrect, false, mistaken.

c 1420 Prose Life Alex. 34 And ȝe haffand in vs a wrange consayte, blamez vs. 1528 More Dyaloge iii. Wks. 210/1 Our hart euer thinketh the iudgement wrong, that wringeth us to the worse. 1594 Shakes. Rich. III, ii. i. 54 If any heere By false intelligence, or wrong surmize Hold me a Foe. 1611 Bible Deut. xix. 16 If a false witnes..testifie against him that which is wrong. 1670 in Buccleuch MSS. (Hist. MSS. Comm.) I. 475, I do not use to be found in a wrong story. 1690 Locke Hum. Und. ii. xi. §13 Mad Men put wrong Ideas together, and so make wrong Propositions. Ibid. §69 Fashion and the common Opinion having settled wrong Notions. 1728 Chambers Cycl. (1751) s.v. Errour, Some philosophers define error [as]..a wrong judgment, disagreeing with the things whereon it is passed. 1730 Bailey (fol.), Misacceptation, a wrong understanding or apprehending of any thing. 1865 Williams Mem. M. Henry 304 A wrong date is assigned to the delivery of this Sermon. 1871 Le Fanu Rose & Key II. 27 Her watch..being seldom more than twenty minutes wrong, either way. 1884 tr. Lotze's Logic 370 An allegation..if wrong..deviates more or less from the truth. 1891 C. Roberts Adrift Amer. 111 There is something wrong in this, deer do not stand up..to be shot down that way.

    c. Of belief, etc.: Partaking of or based on error; erroneous.

c 1400 Rule St. Benet (Prose) 42 Þat þai ne falle in wrang trouȝ. 1591 Shakes. 1 Hen. VI, ii. iii. 31 Marry, for that shee's in a wrong beleefe, I goe to certifie her Talbot's here. 1656 Cowley On Death of Crashaw 56 His Faith perhaps in some nice Tenents might Be wrong; his Life..was in the right. 1733 Pope Ess. Man iii. 306 For Modes of Faith let graceless zealots fight; His can't be wrong whose life is in the right. 1755 Johnson, Misbelief,..false religion; a wrong belief.

    d. Of a painting: having an erroneous attribution.

1969 C. Irving Fake! (1970) xiv. 173 It's an ugly thing..when you have to tell a client he's bought a fake. Of all things in this business..the thing I dislike most is being called in to tell if a painting is right or wrong... Fernand..brazenly offered Juviler a genuine Roualt in exchange for the ‘wrong’ Dufy. 1979 Daily Tel. 28 Feb. 10/2 There are huge numbers of ‘wrong’ paintings and other works on the market, not strictly fakes, although they often become fakes when resold with the intention to deceive. ‘Forty per cent. of the pictures we see are wrong,’ said Mr Peter Nahum, the Victorian paintings expert at Sotheby's Belgravia. ‘They are wrongly attributed, have a false signature or are genuine contemporary copies.’ 1983 Sunday Times 10 July 2/3 They invited Ronald Alley, deputy director of the Tate to inspect the pictures. He pronounced them ‘wrong’—in art world parlance, fakes.

    6. Not right or satisfactory in state or order; in unsatisfactory or bad condition; amiss.
    what's wrong with (mod. colloq.), what is the matter with (see matter n.¹ 25 b), what objection is there to, why not have (etc.)?

a 1425 tr. Arderne's Treat. Fistula, etc. 58 Also flowyng emoroydez somtyme ar hidde.., þat of som þai ar demed to be dissenterikez and yuelz wrong. a 1450 Knt. de la Tour (1868) 80 What aylithe you? y trow there be sum thinge wronge with you. c 1460 Towneley Myst. iii. 188 If any thyng wrang be, Soyne is she wroth. 1567 Satir. Poems Reform. vi. 131 In thy default se that na thing be wrang. a 1568 Wyfe of Auchtermuchty 103 (Bann. MS.), Scho fand all wrang that sowld bene richt. 1781 Cowper Expost. 301 Policy is busied all night long In setting right what faction has set wrong. 1793 [Earl Dundonald] Descr. Estate of Culross 56 We shall never get right till we get as far wrong as we can. 1824 Scott St. Ronan's xv, ‘Something wrong here,’..said the traveller, pointing to his own forehead significantly. 1835– [see put v. 25 b]. 1857 Dickens Dorrit ii. ix, You see,..it might put us wrong with our son-in-law. 1860 A. Leighton Trad. Sc. Life 52 Nothing wrong with Mrs. Græme, I hope? 1925 R. A. Knox Viaduct Murder ix. 90, I want to know what's wrong with a game of bridge?

    7. a. Not adapted, according, or answering to intention, requirement, or purpose; not proper, fitting, or appropriate; unsuitable. † Also const. to.

a 1400 Bk. Curtasye 99 in Babees Bk. 302 Yf hit go þy wrang throte into, And stoppe þy wynde. c 1440 Pallad. on Husb. xii. 109 Kitte of euery roten thyng or drie, For grene yf that me kitte of, that is wronge. 1514 Barclay Cit. & Uplondyshman (Percy Soc.) 11 Than was no cocko..To laye wronge egges within a straunge nest! 1549 Compl. Scotl. x. 83 The iueis interpret it to the vrang sens. 1550, 1560 [see wrest v. 5 b]. 1598 Shakes. Merry W. iii. i. 110, I haue directed you to wrong places. 1598 B. Jonson Ev. Man in Hum. ii. i, He..claps his dish at the wrong mans dore. 1673 Essex Papers (Camden) I. 63 Of which if he thinks to make me y⊇ first example he will find he has fixed upon a wrong man. 1698 Fryer Acc. E. India & P. 126 They brought me to the wrong side of a pretty Square Tank, or Well. 1706 Phillips (ed. Kersey), To Misrepresent, not to represent fairly, to give a wrong or false Character of. 1727 Bailey (vol. II), Misplace, to put in a wrong Place. 1736 [see wrongness 2]. a 1778 Top-lady Anecd. Wks. 1794 IV. 152 To put your hand into the wrong pocket. 1793 W. Roberts Looker-on No. 38 (1794) II. 60 This was the wrongest time that could be chosen. 1821 Lamb Elia i. Mrs. Battle, An adversary, who has slipt a wrong [playing] card. 1836–7 Dickens Sk. Boz, Scenes xvii, Shoving the old and helpless, into the wrong buss. 1871 Geo. Eliot Middlem. xl, The fatal step of choosing the wrong profession. 1884 E. Yates Recoll. II. 67 Never did a man so persistently..do the wrong thing in the wrong place.

    b. In various allusive phrases: (see quots. and bark v.¹ 2, box n.² 21, shop n. 8 b, sow n.¹ 3). to catch (a person) on the wrong foot, to get off, etc., on the wrong foot: see foot n. 29.

1554 Ridley in Foxe A. & M. (1563) 931/1 If you wil heare how Saint Augustine expoundeth that place, ye shal perceaue that ye are in a wronge boxe. 1562 J. Heywood Prov. & Epigr. ii. ix. (1867) 75 Ye tooke..the wrong sow by theare. 1616 Withals' Dict. 584 Vlulas Athenas, you bring your Corne to a wrong market. 1639 J. Clarke Parœm. 7 You bring your hogs to a wrong market. 1761 Brit. Mag. II. 440 You'd have sworn he had got the wrong pig by the ear. 1833 Jas. Hall Leg. West 46 You are barking up the wrong tree, Johnson. 1836 Dickens Sk. Boz, Tales xii, Does he want..money? meat? drink? He's come to the wrong shop for that, if he does. 1877 ‘Saxon’ (Mrs. Trotter) Gall. Gossip 190 Ye've got the wrang soo by the lug this time. 1897 Daily News 4 March 6/1 The now well-quoted phrase of Lord Salisbury's, ‘we put all our money upon the wrong horse’. 1907 N. & Q. 19 Jan. 46/2 ‘You will find yourself in the wrong shop!’ is a vague threat.

    c. the wrong end, the end, extremity, or limit less adapted, suitable, or proper for a required or particular purpose. Occas. fig. Also quasi-adv. (quot. 1897).

1587 T. Underdown tr. Heliodorus vi. (1895) 166 Calasiris carried Cariclias quiver.., the wrong ende downeward on his shoulders. 1602 2nd Pt. Return Parnass. iii. iii. 1323 My master..then turning..the wrong end of the booke vpward. 1690 Locke Hum. Und. iii. xi. §24 They..begin at the wrong end, learning Words first. 1692 R. L'Estrange Fables clxxv. 147 Till a Vain Repentance Minds us of it at the Wrong End on't. 1737 [see go v. 1 c]. 1809 Malkin Gil Blas vi. iii. ¶5 This was setting up the trade of a steward, but beginning at the wrong end. 1836 [Hooton] Bilberry Thurland III. 252 He looked prodigiously cruel, having, as our country folks term it, got out of bed the wrong end first. 1878 [see end n. 24]. 1886 T. L. Kington-Oliphant New English I. 491 We talk of the wrong end of the stick. 1890– [see stick n.1 15 e]. 1897 Kipling Capt. Cour. 125 Patent rockets that went off wrong-end-first. 1902 S. E. White Blazed Trail xxxii, Daly knew men. He was at the wrong end of the whip.

    d. Typog. Not of the proper size, character, or face. Freq. in wrong fount (abbrev. w.f.); also attrib.

1771 Luckombe Hist. Printing 444 Letters that..are of a wrong Fount. 1808 C. Stower Printer's Gram. 216 Plate, The Exemplification of Typographical Marks... Stet. Ital...w.f. 1896 Moxon's Mech. Exerc., Printing p. xviii, Wrong-font characters, broken space-lines, and bent rules.

    e. Not of requisite social standing.

1859 Lever D. Dunn xxxii, She is ‘tres grande dame’,..and never knows wrong people,..such as are to be met with in society; not by claim of birth and standing, but because they are very rich, or very clever, in some way or other.

    f. Mus. wrong note: a note such as one would not expect in a given key, a discordant note. Freq. attrib.

1934 C. Lambert Music Ho! ii. 127 The spicing up of a simple harmonic basis by the addition of what are popularly—and rightly— known as ‘wrong notes’, such as we find in Auric. 1946 C. Mason in A. L. Bacharach Brit. Music x. 139 The ‘wrong-note lyricism’ of Prokofiev's Third Piano Concerto is as vulgar as the street tunes it distorts. 1958 Listener 16 Oct. 623/3 The fierce new musical idioms that had been developed by those whom he [sc. Vaughan Williams] called ‘wrong-note’ composers. 1979 Oxf. Jun. Compan. Mus. (ed. 2) 269/2 His [sc. Poulenc's] style was neo-classical, full of unexpected twists and delightful ‘wrong-note’ harmonies.

    8. a. Of a way, course, etc.: Leading in, having a trend or aspect to, a direction other than one intends, desires, or expects.
    to go the wrong way, of food, etc.: see way n.¹ 4 e.

c 1440 Promp. Parv. 527/2 Wylgate, or wronge gate, deviacio. 1568 Grafton Chron. II. 765 Some brekyng downe the walles to bring in the next way, and some yet drew to them that holpe to carye a wrong way. 1572 Gascoigne Hearbes Wks. 1907 I. 349 He much mistooke and shot the wronger way. 1601 R. Johnson Kingd. & Commw. (1603) 158 The Russe Emperor..leading foorth his armie to incounter him marched a wrong way. 1632 Holland Cyrupædia 94 They chaunced upon a wrong by-lane. 1778 F. Burney Evelina xxi, That he had himself ordered the man to go a wrong way. 1787 ‘G. Gambado’ Acad. Horsem. 39 Only take care to point his head the wrong way. 1833 Redding Shipwrecks I. 71 They were steering a wrong course. 1835 Macaulay Mackintosh Ess. (1897) 324 Were their faces set in the right or in the wrong direction? 1856 Sara Robinson Kansas (ed. 3) 40 We..took the wrong road when nearly there. 1883 Stevenson Treas. Isl. xxxii, This here crew is on a wrong tack, I do believe.

    b. fig. and in fig. context.

1412–20 Lydg. Chron. Troy ii. 1818 Þoruȝ myst of errour falsely to forveye By pathis wrong from þe riȝte weye. 1526 Pilgr. Perf. (W. de W. 1531) 18 Takynge the wronge waye, they liue here a whyle in worldly pleasure. 1562 J. Heywood Prov. & Epigr. ii. ix. (1867) 75 Ye may see, ye tooke The wrong way to wood. a 1613 Overbury Countrey Newes Wks. (1890) 174 That the allegory of justice drawne blind, is turned the wrong way. 1698 Collier Short View 210, I observe the Moral is vitious: It points the wrong way. 1781 Cowper Truth 17 Grace leads the right way: if you choose the wrong, Take it, and perish. 1809 Malkin Gil Blas vii. i. ¶6, I..muttered blessings on them the wrong way, and swore outright. 1856 Olmsted Mech. Heavens 133 Because all the inquirers into Nature were upon a wrong road, groping their way through the labyrinth of error. 1901 Scotsman 8 March 6/5 The bill..seemed to proceed upon the wrong tack.

    9. a. the (or a) wrong way, the way or method least conducive to a desired end or purpose; the (or an) incorrect manner.

c 1489 Caxton Sonnes of Aymon xxvi. 546 Rohars..sayd, ‘Sire,..here is my gage’. ‘Rohars,’ sayd Charlemagne, ‘here ye take a wronge waye’. 1639 J. Clarke Parœm. 8 You go the wrong way to worke. 1651 in Verney Mem. (1907) I. 518 Hee tooke the wrong way to right himself. 1727 [see go v. 4]. 1884 Times (weekly ed.) 31 Oct. 14/3 They went the wrong way to work to gain the ear of the House.

    b. (the) wrong way († wrong-way, Sc. wrang-gates), in adverbial use, = in a contrary or opposite direction or position to the proper or usual one.

1693 Congreve Old Bach. iv. viii, You wou'd have taken 'em for Friezland Hens, with their Feathers growing the wrong way. 1697 Lond. Gaz. No. 3325/4 The S stands the wrong way. 1700 T. Brown Amusem. Ser. & Com. 157 A Band, or a Cravat put the wrong way. 1733 Tull Horse-Hoeing Husb. xxiii. 360 Being wrong-way upwards, the Seed is apt to arch in them. 1750 T. R. Blanckley Nav. Expos. 103 Marking-Yarn,..is white Yarn spun the wrong Way. 1806 R. Jamieson Pop. Ballads I. 210 Syne wrang-gaites round the kirk gaed he. 1840 Hood Kilmansegg, Dream xiv, At night..He lies like a hedgehog rolled up the wrong way, Tormenting himself with his prickles. 1862– [see rub v.1 3 a, 13 e]. 1886 Besant Childr. Gibeon ii. ix, All three [had] got out of bed the wrong way that morning.

    10. wrong side († wrong-side, wrongside).
    Cf. Da. vrangside, Norw. rangsida.
    a. That side of some thing, a fabric, etc., which lies or is normally turned inward, downward, or away from one; the side opposite to the usual, or principal; the lower or under, the back or reverse, of two surfaces.

1511–2 Act 3 Hen. VIII, c. 6 §1 The Walker..shall not rowe..Clothe..on the right side nor of the wrong side. 1562 J. Heywood Prov. & Epigr. (1867) 137 He hath turnd his typpet twyse..: Fyrst on the wronge syde and last on the right. 1596 Spenser State Irel. Wks. (Globe) 635/2 The manner of theyr womens riding on the wrong side of theyr horse, I meane with theyr faces towardes the right side. 1601 Shakes. Twel. N. iii. i. 14 How quickely the wrong side [of a glove] may be turn'd outward. 1631 T. Heywood 1st Pt. Fair Maid of West iv. i. 42 The three sheep-skins with the wrong side outward. 1715 Lond. Gaz. No. 5353/12 A jet black Mare,..a thick Mane lying on the wrong side. 1771 E. Haywood New Present 98 Slit the leg of lamb down on the wrong-side. 1890 L. D'Oyle Notches 92 He jumped hastily on to his pony (from the wrong side, after the Indian fashion).

fig. and in fig. context. 1553 R. Ascham Germany Wks. (1904) 147 Homer..: whose saying in Greeke is excellent, but beyng turned in the wrong side into English, it shall lesse delight you. 1605 Shakes. Lear iv. ii. 9 Of Glosters Treachery..When I inform'd him, then he call'd me Sot, And told me I had turn'd the wrong side out. 1637 Rutherford Let. to J. Meine 7 Sept., Christ's..winds turn not when he seemeth to change, it is but we who turn our wrong side to him. 1687 Dryden Hind & P. iii. 438 Till frowning skys began to change their chear, And time turn'd up the wrong side of the year. 1831 Carlyle Sart. Res. i. x, In looking at the fair tapestry of human Life,..he dwells..chiefly on the reverse; and indeed turns out the rough seams, tatters, and manifold thrums of that unsightly wrong-side, with..indifference.

    b. In the advb. phr. (the) wrong side out († outwards), before. In later use freq. without article.

1599 Shakes. Much Ado iii. i. 68 So turnes she euery man the wrong side out. 1604 ― Oth. ii. iii. 54 My sicke Foole Rodorigo, Whom Loue hath turn'd almost the wrong side out. 1663 South Serm. (1717) V. 100 He will find, that if ever another Turn befals the Nation, it will be the Wrongside outwards, the Lowest Uppermost. 1859 H. Kingsley G. Hamlyn xxxiv, His hat was on wrong-side before. 1883 ‘Mark Twain’ Life on Mississippi liv. 481 We all struggled frantically into our clothes,..getting them wrong-side-out and upside-down, as a rule. 1888 ‘J. S. Winter’ Bootle's Childr. ix, Trying hard to twist into its proper place a finger of the glove which would go on wrong side out.

    c. Phrases: to laugh on the wrong side of one's mouth (see laugh v. 1 b); on the wrong side of the blanket Sc. (see blanket n. 3).

1714 Lucas Gamesters 65 But tho' he laugh'd, 'twas on the wrong side of his Mouth. 1771, etc. [see blanket n. 3]. 1809 Malkin Gil Blas i. vii. §1, I..began to laugh and sing, though it was sometimes on the wrong side of my mouth. 1820 Scott Monast. xxxvii, Shafton.., men say, was a-kin to the Piercie on the wrong side of the blanket. 1837 Carlyle Diamond Necklace iii, By and by thou wilt laugh on the wrong side of thy face mainly. 1889 [see laugh v. 1 b].

    d. The side, party, or principle of which one disapproves.

1649 [see right a. 10 b]. 1784 Cowper Tiroc. 740 Because forsooth thy courage has been tried And stood the test, perhaps on the wrong side. 1857 W. Collins Dead Secret iii. i, He could argue on the wrong side of any question with an acuteness [etc.].

    e. on the wrong side of, older than (a specified age); upwards of. (Cf. shady a. 2 b.)

a 1663 Killigrew Parson's Wedd. v. ii. (1664) 140 She is smitten in years o'th wrong side of forty. 1692 L'Estrange Fables cccl. 306 An Old Man on the Wrong-side of Four⁓score. 1712 Steele Spect. No. 282 ¶3 They had..passed their Prime, and got on the wrongside of Thirty. 1773 F. Burney Early Diary (1889) I. 220 He is on the wrong side of an elderly man, but seems to have good health. 1828 Lytton Pelham III. xx, Am I..to look like a methodist parson on the wrong side of forty! 1895 Pall Mall Mag. Nov. 394 A good-looking woman, a little on the wrong side of thirty, perhaps.

    f. The disadvantageous, undesirable, or unsafe side of some place, object, etc.

1719 De Foe Crusoe ii. (Globe) 521 We were on the wrong side of the Straits of Malacca. 1728 Vanbrugh & Cib. Prov. Husb. iv. i, He..takes me..into the lobby [to vote];..but..I was got o' the wrong side the post. 1791– [see post n.1 8 i]. 1791 ‘G. Gambado’ Ann. Horsem. (1809) vi. 91 [The horse] has got an awkward trick..of leaving the other two on the wrong side of the fence. 1814 Scott Wav. x, His grandsire was from the wrong side of the Border. 1893 M. Cholmondeley Diana Tempest i, The poor meagre home in a dingy street; the wrong side of Oxford Street.

fig. 1728 Vanbrugh & Cib. Prov. Husb. i. 10 We are got a little on the wrong side of the Question. 1783 Cowper Ode to Apollo 2 Patron of all those luckless brains, That, to the wrong side leaning, Indite much metre. 1861 A. Leighton Trad. Scot. Life Ser. ii. 65 That he would not speak to his wife on this the wrong side of eternity. 1865 Swinburne Chastelard i. ii. 38 For love, I think of that as dead men of good days Ere the wrong side of death was theirs.

    g. to get up or out of bed (on) the wrong side, with allusion to the supposed disturbing effect on one's temper. (Cf. right a. 20 c.) colloq.

1801 Marvellous Love-Story I. 167 You have got up on the wrong side, this morning, George. 1867 H. Kingsley Silcote of S. xi, Miss had got out of bed the wrong side. 1887 [see get v. 73 a].

    h. The side (of a highway) reserved for oncoming traffic (in Great Britain the right-hand side, in most other countries the left). Also joc. with reference to roads in countries having the opposite system to one's own.

1838 Dickens O. Twist xxi, Keeping on the wrong side of the road. 1914 Beerbohm in Eng. Rev. Dec. 19 Our car..was, for an instant, full on the wrong side of the road. 1933 A. G. Macdonell England, their England xv. 264 A motor-bicycle..had been taking the natural advantage of its speed..to pass the limousine at fifty-five miles an hour on the wrong side at a blind corner. 1965 L. Sands Something to Hide ii. 31 ‘We..usually winter abroad.’ ‘Very nice too! If you can get used to driving on the wrong side.’ 1972 Guardian 27 Nov. 12/7, 750,000 British drivers took their cars abroad last year... Many..accidents..[were] possibly caused by confusion over driving on the ‘wrong’ side of the road.

    11. Of persons, etc.: a. Judging, believing, or acting contrary to the facts of the case; incorrect in judgement, assertion, or action; mistaken, in error.

1693 Locke Educ. Wks. 1714 III. 35 His Practice must by no means cross his Precepts, unless he intend to set him wrong. 1735 Pope Prol. to Sat. 158 Did some more sober Critic come abroad; If wrong, I smil'd; if right, I kiss'd the rod. 1748 Richardson Clarissa (1768) III. 270, And I own I am wrong. 1797 S. & Ht. Lee Canterb. T. (1799) I. 93 Though my head was wrong, my heart was right. 1806–7 J. Beresford Miseries Hum. Life (1826) v. Concl., If I am wrong in this. 1836 Lytton Duchess de La Vallière iii. iii, I was not wrong to feel remorse, But wrong to give it utterance! 1875 Jowett Plato (ed. 2) I. 37, I should be very wrong not to obey you.

    b. Not normal or sound in the senses, etc.; not sane.

1765 Sir J. Porter in 10th Rep. Hist. MSS. Comm. App. I. 381 Any suspicion that he was wrong in his senses. 1835 D. Webster Orig. Sc. Rhymes 13 (E.D.D.), This maid that was wrang in the mind. 1881 D. Thomson Musings 44 Lasses will laugh at yer havers, An' think ye are wrang in the head.

    III. † 12. a. That has no legal right, title, or claim; not legitimate; unlawful; = wrongful a. 3 b. Obs.

1303 R. Brunne Handl. Synne 2026 Ȝyf a womman yn hordam do swyche outrage Þat a wrong eyre bere herytage. c 1420 Lydg. Assembly of Gods 682 There were..Wrong vsurpers, with gret extorcioners. 1456 Sir G. Haye Law Arms (S.T.S.) 23 In the quhilk tyme the traytrous Romayns maid thre wrang papis. 1460 J. Capgrave Chron. (Rolls) 225 Herry the wrong Kyng of Spayn. a 1586 Maitland in M. Folio MS. (S.T.S.) 428 Fray god degressouris and vrang possessouris, repent sall ȝe.

    † b. wrong-heir, the hermit-crab. Obs.

1730 S. Dale Taylor's Hist. Harwich 436 The Wrong-Heire or Bernard the Hermit. 1854 Mayne Expos. Lex. 155 The hermit crab..takes up its abode in univalve shells which it finds empty; hence has been named Wrong heir.

    13. a. Marked or characterized by illegality; not legally valid.

1480 Coventry Leet Bk. 459 Þe chirchewardens kepen hit still be wronge possession and sett hit to ferme yerely. 1593 Shakes. 3 Hen. VI, i. i. 159 Be thy Title right or wrong, Lord Clifford vowes to fight in thy defence.

    † b. Obtained unjustly; held unlawfully. Obs.

1563 Homilies ii. Rogation Week 524 God neuer suffereth the thirde heyre to enioye his fathers wrong possessions.

    † 14. False; fictitious; unreal. Obs. rare^—1.

c 1350 Will. Palerne 706 For soþe, ich am a mad man now, wel ich may knowe, Forto wene in þis wise þis wrong metyng soþe.

    † 15. Belonging to, situated on, the left side. Obs. rare.

? a 1400 Morte Arth. 1480 Wrothely one the wrange hande sir Gawayne he strykkes. 1533 Bellenden Livy (S.T.S.) I. 38 Becaus the Rivere of tyber severit þame fra þe romane landis on þare richt handis, þai turnit þame on þare wrang handis.

    IV. Comb.
    16. Parasynthetic, as wrong-ended (see 7 c; hence wrong-endedness), wrong-hearted (hence wrong-heartedness), wrong-heired, wrong-jawed, wrong-minded, wrong-principled.

a 1400 Octavian (Camb. MS.) 107 Moche sorowe deryth mee, That Rome schalle wrong-heyred [v.r. wrange-ayerde] bee In vnkynde honde. 1552 Huloet s.v., Wronge iawed, or hauinge the neither longer then the vpper iaw, bronchus. 1805 James Milit. Dict. (ed. 2) s.v., The inhabitants of England and Ireland are seldom wrong-hearted. 1835 Gen. P. Thompson Exerc. (1842) III. 275 Evidences of the wrong-endedness of a property-qualification, with which the British people are unhappily familiar. a 1849 H. Coleridge Ess. (1851) II. 88 His judgment of books is not so much superficial..as it is wrong-principled. 1883 Imp. Dict. IV. 669 Wrongminded, having a mind wrongly inclined; entertaining erroneous or distorted views. 1885 Century Mag. XXIX. 910 Wrong-headedness may be as fatal now as wrong-heartedness.

    B. adv.
    1. a. In a direction differing from the right or true one; by an erroneous course or way; astray.

13.. Cursor M. 5760 (Gött.), Mi folk of ysrael es in wa; þai haue ben led wrang alsua. c 1330 R. Brunne Chron. Wace (Rolls) 15720 He sailed al day, & on þe nyght, Vmwhile boþe wrong & ryught, Til he com in-til an ilde. c 1386 Chaucer Reeve's T. 332 By God, thoughte he, al wrang I haue mysgon. 1572 Gascoigne Gascoigne's Woodmanship 31 He winked wrong, and so let slippe the [bow-]string, Which cast him wide. 1614 Sylvester Parl. Vertues Royall 706 A fair Ship..wants..A skilfull Pilot,..That never wry shee sail, nor wrong shee row. 1715 Lond. Gaz. No. 5295/11 Lost or carried wrong.., several Parcels of Goods. 1773 Goldsm. Stoops to Conq. i. ii, Lock-a-daisy, my masters, you're come a deadly deal wrong! 1824 Mactaggart Gallov. Encycl. (1876) 293 We may wander even on kend grun; so I may run myself wrong in Gallowa, a land I weel ken. 1869 W. S. Gilbert ‘Bab’ Ballads, Peter the Wag 15 He loved to send old ladies wrong, And teach their feet to stray. 1875 I. L. Bird Hawaiian Archip. 403 Our guide took us a little wrong once... ‘Wrong’ on Mauna Loa means being arrested by an impassable a-a stream.

fig. 1399 Langl. R. Redeles iii. 80 Thus lafte þey [sc. the young eagles] þe leder þat hem wrong ladde. 1729 Butler Serm. Wks. 1874 II. 167 How liable we are to be led wrong by passion and private interest. 1755 Man xxxvii. 4 When the powers of the soul are wrong directed. 1786 Burns Prayer in Prospect of Death iii, List'ning to their [sc. passions'] witching voice Has often led me wrong. 1859 Ruskin Two Paths App. i. (1891) 251 Tintoret..may lead you wrong if you don't understand him.

    † b. In an oblique or deflected line or position; obliquely, askew. Obs.

c 1440 Pallad. on Husb. iv. 312 Sette hit [sc. a bough] in the delf so lenyng wronge [L. oblique]. c 1440 York Myst. xxxv. 182 We twoo schall see tille aythir side, For ellis þis werke wille wrie all wrang. ? a 1500 Chester Pl. xvi. 547 This Caytyfe I have cast, shall be wronge wrast, or I wend away.

    2. to go wrong. a. To take a wrong way, road, or course; to go astray. Also in fig. context; and fig., to make a mistake; to fall into error; to err.

a 1300 Cursor M. 15448 A taken þan i sal youu giue, þat yee sal noght ga wrang. 13.. Ibid. 25681 (Gött.), All þat singes þis sang..þu lede þaim right þar þai ga wrang. c 1340 Hampole Pr. Consc. 193 Na wonder es, yf þai ga wrang, For in myrknes of unknawyng þai gang. c 1400 26 Pol. Poems 120 Whenne he wolde noȝt folwe hym [sc. the angel],..Out of the waye he wente wronge. c 1440 Promp. Parv. 202 Goo wronge, devio, deliro. 1513 Douglas æneid vi. Prol. 8 To follow Virgile in this dirk poese, Convey me, Sibill, that I ga nocht wrang. 1526 Pilgr. Perf. (W. de W. 1531) 71 b, Whan this sterre was hyd..they went wronge to theyr great peryll. 1606 Shakes. Tr. & Cr. v. i. 74 Aga[memnon]. We go wrong, we go wrong. Aiax. No yonder 'tis. 1709 Pope Ess. Crit. 427 The Learn'd..So much..scorn the crowd, that if the throng By chance go right, they purposely go wrong. 1712 J. James tr. Le Blond's Gardening 1 It being easy to go wrong where no-body has beaten the Way. 1793 R. Gray Poems 10 There's mony a ane..That far frae gude's way hath gane wrang. 1849 Tait's Mag. XVI. 188/1 We went wrong in making any active intervention. 1873 H. Spencer Stud. Sociol. xiv. 337 There are more ways of going wrong than of going right.

    b. To deviate or depart from moral rectitude or integrity; to take to evil courses; also, to fall from virtue.

1500–20 Dunbar Poems v. 33 Sanct Petir hat hir with a club,..becaus the wif ȝeid wrang. 1535 Coverdale Ecclus. iv. 19 But yf he go wronge, she shall forsake him. 1780 Cowper Progr. Err. 556 Thus men go wrong..; Bend the straight rule to their own crooked will. 1848 Dickens Dombey lviii, That when ladies had bad homes and mothers, they went wrong in their way too. 1888 H. S. Merriman Phantom Future viii, I tried..to show you that I was not quite a blackguard. But it was useless; I went wrong again.

(b) 1837 Lytton E. Maltrav. 21 She had a vague idea about girls going wrong. 1888 M{supc}Carthy & Praed Ladies' Gallery III. viii. 169 A home..for poor girls who had gone wrong.

    c. Of events, etc.: To happen amiss or unfortunately; to issue or result unsuccessfully or unprosperously.

1592 Arden of Feversham ii. ii, Should you deceiue vs, twould go wrong with you. 1595 Shakes. John i. i. 41 Your strong possession much more then your right, Or else it must go wrong with you and me. 1711 Swift Jrnl. to Stella 9 Oct., This day has gone all wrong, by sitting up so late last night. 1820 W. Irving Sketch-Bk., Rip van Winkle, Everything about it went wrong, and would go wrong, in spite of him. 1857 Borrow Romany Rye xlii, Everything seemed to go wrong with me—horses became sick [etc.]. 1885 G. R. Sims in Pall Mall G. 7 April 19/2 A thick slime of what looks like toffee gone wrong. 1891 E. Kinglake Australian at Home 114 A pal or two..ready to help a chap if things go wrong.

    d. Of things: To get out of gear or working order; to fail to work, run, etc., by reason of friction, trouble, or break-down. Of a clock or watch: To fail to keep correct time.

1809 W. Irving Knickerb. v. i, While others [sc. clocks] may keep going continually, and continually be going wrong. 1861 Dickens Gt. Expect. v, We have had an accident with these [handcuffs], and I find the lock of one of 'em goes wrong. 1871 Lytton Coming Race xxii, That watch..has never gone wrong since I had it. 1885 Law Reports 10 P.D. 100 The machinery had gone wrong. 1898 Tit-Bits 29 Jan. 342/2 The water supply has gone wrong.

    e. Of persons: To fail in some undertaking or enterprise, or in the general conduct of life.

1819 W. Tennant Papistry Storm'd (1827) 203 Seein' Papists' side gae wrang, Out at the Chanc'llor's-door he flang. 1848 Thackeray Van. Fair xvii, He was a very kind old man... I'm really sorry he's gone wrong.

    f. Of food, etc.: To get into bad or unsound condition; to become unwholesome.

1882 Imp. Dict. II. 403 To go wrong, to become unsound, as meat, fruit.

    3. Not in accordance with good morals or a just standard of actions; in a manner contrary to equity or uprightness; unjustly, unfairly; = wrongfully adv. 1, wrongly adv. 2.

a 1250 Owl & Night. 1362 Heo may do bi myne songe, hweþer heo wile wel þe wronge. 1303 R. Brunne Handl. Synne 12180 Þys erymyte..beheld..whyche come with gode deuocyoun, And whyche for ouþer enchesoun: Alle sagh þys ermyte euerydeyl, Who come wrong, and who come weyl. c 1350 Will. Palerne 1176 Þer-for þe wronger he wirches, al þe world may know. c 1400 Rule St. Benet (Verse) 1608 Wyne þat es myghty & strang Mase witty men forto wirk wrang. c 1430 Chev. Assigne 170 Hit is þorowe þe werke of god or þey [sc. gold chains] be wronge wonnen. 15.. in Dunbar's Poems (S.T.S.) 322 The regeand tirrant..is exilit and his ofspring The land of Juda, that josit wrang. 1606 Shakes. Ant. & Cl. iii. vi. 80 We perceiu'd both how you were wrong led, And we in negligent danger. 1728 Pope Dunc. iv. 188 The Right Divine of Kings to govern wrong. 1801 Farmer's Mag. Apr. 191 The tithes..were gifted away to others (right or wrong, I do not presume to enquire). 1848 Dickens Dombey lxi, I do conjure my relative..to set right..whatever she has done wrong,..because it is wrong, and not right. 1865 Grote Plato I. vii. 299 We ought not..to act wrong or unjustly.

    4. a. Out of accordance or consistence with facts or the truth of the case; mistakenly, erroneously; incorrectly; = wrongfully adv. 2 b.

c 1200 Ormin 10020 Swillke sinndenn alle þa Þatt spellenn wrang & leȝhenn. Ibid. 18312 Acc þatt niss nohht; ȝe wenenn wrang Off me. a 1300 Cursor M. 13906 Qua will þe sla? qui sais þou wrang? 13.. Gosp. Nicodemus 110 Me think in thoght Þe bedell wrang ȝe blame. c 1350 Will. Palerne 4118 Ȝif i wrong seie any word, wo worþ me euer. c 1400 Rule St. Benet (Prose) 14 Ofte speke þai wrang. c 1470 Henry Wallace ix. 780 To Fyfe he past, to wesy that cuntre, Bot wrang warnyt off Inglismen was he. 1548 Turner Names Herbes (E.D.S.) 13 Anethum is wronge englished, of some anise. 1593 G. Fletcher Licia B 3 b, Wrong they doe esteeme She hath no heat. 1681 W. Robertson Phraseol. Gen. 1355 You took my meaning wrong. 1690 Locke Hum. Und. iv. xvi. §11 A thousand odd Reasons..may make one Man quote another Man's Words or Meaning wrong. 1703 N. Rowe Ulysses iv. i, Whoe'er Brought you the Message..Mistook the Queen, and has inform'd you wrong. 1711 Shaftesbury Charac. III. 204 Thus at last a Mind..sees its Hindrances and Obstructions, and finds they are wholly from it-self, and from Opinions wrong-conceiv'd. 1791 Cowper Judgm. Poets 19 To poets..The nymphs referr'd the cause, Who..all judg'd it wrong. 1847 Tennyson Princ. v. 278, I take her for the flower of womankind, And so I often told her, right or wrong. 1848 Thackeray Van. Fair lxiii, In spite of her care and assiduity she guessed wrong. 1864 W. D. Latto Tam. Bodkin xxiii, Ye maun hae been wrang informed.

    b. to get (someone) wrong: to misunderstand a person's meaning or intentions, to misinterpret someone. slang (orig. U.S.).

1927 Dunning & Abbott Broadway (1928) xix. 196 ‘Ever been accused of murder?’..‘Don't get me wrong—that stuff ain't in my line.’ 1934 T. Wilder Heaven's my Destination ii. 39 Don't get her wrong. 1942 Wodehouse Money in Bank (1946) xii. 91 We got Soapy all wrong, Chimp. He's explained everything. 1966 Listener 20 Oct. 561/1 Old L. B. J. is riddled with anxiety over the thought that we shall go to our graves having got him all wrong. 1968 Ibid. 5 Sept. 308/2 Stuart Hood's review of Harold Nicolson's last volume of Diaries..ends sympathetically, but begins with a devastating attack on my father's ‘snobbishness’... I think, not merely as his son and editor, that they have got him wrong, and are a little uncertain what snobbishness really means. 1974 N. Freeling Dressing of Diamond 200 Don't get me wrong; there's no offence meant.

    5. a. Not in the right or proper way; in an improper or unfitting manner; improperly, unduly, amiss.

c 1200 Ormin 10030 Whatt teȝȝ don þe læwedd follc O Drihhtin wrang to trowwenn, & wrang to ledenn þeȝȝre lif, & Drihhtin wrang to þeowwtenn. a 1250 Owl & Night 196 He wot insyht in euche songe, huo singeþ wel huo singeþ wronge. a 1300 Cursor M. 12480 Quen þat þai wrang wit iesu delt. c 1340 Hampole Pr. Consc. 2487 Our gude dedys er ofte done wrang. c 1400 26 Pol. Poems 107 My wittes on nyȝtes wrong y ware. c 1440 York Myst. xxxvii. 264 Here workis þou all wrang. 1504 Cornishe in Skelton's Wks. (1568) z v b, If he [sc. the harper] play wrong. 1531 Tindale Expos. 1st Ep. John Prol. (1538) 7 b, Because we be wronge taught. c 1620 A. Hume Brit. Tongue (1865) 11 The south..pronunces eu, we ou, both, in my simple judgement, wrang. 1755 Man xlv. 5 Methods..extremely wrong calculated for promoting the real perfection..of individuals. 1787 Jefferson Writ. (1859) II. 332 They will amend it whenever they find it works wrong. 1828 Life Planter Jamaica 96 The estate was wrong managed. 1881 M. E. Braddon Asph. I. x. 298, I asked him to come on with me... I hope I did not do very wrong. 1897 O. Wister Lin M'Lean 164 Every guest's uneasiness lest he drink his coffee wrong.

    b. Out of proper order or due place.

1573 Baret Alv. s.v., To put on his shoes Wrong, inducere calceos alicui præpostere. 1732 Pope Ess. Man i. 50 All the question..Is only this, if God has plac'd him wrong?

    c. Clumsily; inelegantly; badly. rare^—1.

1727 Bailey (vol. II), Misfashioned, shapen wrong or illy.

    6. Comb. a. With pa. pples., as wrong-directed, † wrong-feigned, wrong-grounded, wrong-ordered, wrong-screwed, wrong-timed.

1768–74 Tucker Lt. Nat. (1834) II. 371 A dull, or careless, or *wrong-directed application.

1513 Bradshaw St. Werburge ii. 1852 Subtell policy and *wrong-feyned euidens.

1768–74 Tucker Lt. Nat. (1834) II. 80 *Wrong-grounded piety and obstinacy.

a 1586 Sidney's Arcadia Wks. 1922 II. 214 To heare The poore-clad truth of loves *wrong-ordred lot.

1849 Cupples Green Hand xiii. (1856) 122 As if one saw through a *wrong-screwed glass.

1740 Richardson Pamela II. 111 Don't let a little *wrong-timed Bashfulness take place.

    b. With strong pa. pples., as † wrong-take(n; † wrong-gotten a., unjustly obtained; ill-gotten.

a 1300 Cursor M. 27867 Til wrang takin [þ]yng [v.rr. wrang(e) þing] be quite again. 1388 Wyclif's Sel. Wks. III. 472 If he..make restituccione of wrong-goten godis. c 1400 26 Pol. Poems 97 He þat ful is fylde Wiþ wrong take pore mennys thrift. c 1425 in Anglia VIII. 156/10 Summe men..þat hadde mykel spendid..of wrange-goten goodes. c 1440 Alph. Tales 202 It was all of robbery & of wrong-getten gudis.

    c. With vbl. ns. and pres. pples., as wrong-believing, wrong-going, wrong-thinking, wrong-voting; also † wrong-wresting = turning aside; wrong-reading a., such as can only be read after being first reversed by a mirror.

a 1560 T. Phaer æneid ix. Cc iv, The winds vpcaught that stroke, and Iuno Queene the daunger brake Wrongwresting as it went. 1652 H. Bell Luther's Colloq. iv. 90 Superstitions and wrong-believings. 1850 J. Brown Disc. our Lord I. 367 Our short-comings and wrong-goings. 1857 Gen. P. Thompson Audi Alt. I. xlvi. 184 Depriving wrong-voting officers of their commissions. 1877 Huxley Techn. Educ., Sci. & Cult. (1881) 66 Clear and consecutive wrong-thinking is the next best thing to right-thinking. 1955, 1967 [see right-reading s.v. right adv. 16 b].

▪ VI. wrong, v.
    (rɒŋ)
    Also α. 5 wronge, 6 arch. wrongen; β. 4– (latterly Sc. and north. dial.) wrang, 9 n.e. Sc. vrang.
    [f. wrong a.]
    I. trans.
    1. To do wrong or injury to (a person); to treat with injustice, prejudice, or harshness; to deal unfairly with, withhold some act of justice from (some one).
    In frequent use from c 1600.

α c 1330 R. Brunne Chron. Wace (Rolls) 11868 Þen schul we ryghte, þat now vs wranges. c 1400 Apol. Lollards 64 Now are iust men oft wrongid, and schrewis vnpunischid. 1479 Paston Lett. III. 266 He wyll be with me ayenst myn oncle in iche mater..that he entendyth to wrong me in. 1496–7 Act 12 Hen. VII, c. 12 §4 At the complaynte of the Constable..in the name of any party so hurted or wronged. 1526 Pilgr. Perf. (W. de W. 1531) 38 Shewynge hymselfe to be rather glad to be so despysed & wronged. 1596 Spenser State Irel. Wks. (Globe) 623 By this Statute the sayd Irish Lord is wronged, for that he is cutt of from his customarye services. 1611 Bible Prov. viii. 36 Hee that sinneth against me, wrongeth his owne soule. 1654 Bramhall Just Vind. iv. (1661) 73 Why should it be in the power of a subject..to wrong his Prince and his Country? 1697 Dryden æneis vii. 515 To this false Foreigner you give your Throne, And wrong a Friend, a Kinsman, and a Son. 1720, etc. [see right v. 7]. 1748 Richardson Clarissa (1768) I. 172 Vilely suspicious of..[his servants] wronging him..he is always changing. 1792 Anecd. W. Pitt II. xxix. 141 The Americans have been wronged. They have been driven to madness by injustice. 1839 Dickens Nich. Nick. xx, [That] day of reckoning..will be a heavy one for you if they are wronged. 1881 Act 44–45 Vict. c. 58 §180 (2 d), An officer..who thinks himself wronged by his commanding officer.

refl. 1598 Shakes. Merry W. iii. iii. 178 Good master Ford, be contented: You wrong your selfe too much. 1683 D. A. Art Converse 88 We wrong ourselves if we oppose their Sentiments. 1860 Tennyson Sea Dreams 168 His gain is loss; for he that wrongs his friend Wrongs himself more.

β 1423 Jas. I Kingis Q. xcii, Thus were thai wrangit that did no forfet. c 1459 Reg. Aberbrothoc (Bann. Cl.) II. 105 Ewyl myndit personis..wrangis and tribulis ws. c 1540 Dr. Doubble Ale a iv b, Some wolde he shuld be hanged Or els he shulde be wranged. 1596 Dalrymple tr. Leslie's Hist. Scot. (S.T.S.) II. 182 J suffirit him nocht in ane iot to be wrangte. 1784 Cowper Task iii. 101 Hypocrisy, detest her as we may, (And no man's hatred ever wrong'd her yet) May claim this merit. 1792 Burns Bonie Lesley iv, He'd look into thy bonie face, And say, ‘I canna wrang thee’. 1793 R. Gray Poems 27 Some silent sang, And glow'rt as they were wranged. 1825 Jamieson Suppl. s.v.

    b. To violate or do violence to; to treat unfairly or without due respect.

c 1449 Pecock Repr. i. xiii. 70 So that he not wrongee [sic] the lawe of kinde..neither therbi wrongee Holi Scripture. 1592 Soliman & Pers. iii. i, Spare me not, for then thou wrongst my honour. 1602 Shakes. Ham. v. ii. 263, I do receiue your offer'd loue like loue And wil not wrong it. 1670 Dryden Conq. Granada iii. i, You wrong our Friendship when your Right you name. 1706 E. Ward Wooden World Diss. (1708) 45 Without wronging the Rule of the Gospel. 1775 Sheridan Duenna iii. vi, I would return it, but that I must touch it that way, and so wrong my oath. 1784 Burns 1st Epist. to Davie viii, To say aught less wad wrang the cartes, And flatt'ry I detest. 1808 Scott Marm. iii. Introd. 111 The friendship thus thy judgment wronging With praises not to me belonging. 1847 Tennyson Princ. vii. 221 She pray'd me not to judge their cause from her That wrong'd it. 1848 Dickens Dombey xix, Rely on my not wronging your forbearance and consideration. 1855 Tennyson Maud iv. iii, You wrong your beauty..in being so proud. 1861 Reade Cloister & H. xlvii, Well then, mother, she is comely, and wrongs her picture but little.

    2. To deprive or dispossess (a person) wrongfully of something; to cheat, defraud.

c 1484 Plumpton Corr. (Camden) 64 [He] is injuried & wronged of his tennor in Arkenden, contrarie to right and concience. 1594 Kyd Cornelia iv. 208 A Cittizen so wrong'd Of the honor him belong'd. 1660 Myst. Good old Cause 13 He hath wrong'd him of a great estate. 1730 Swift Let. to Esquire 3 Jan., You wronged me of half my due. 1773 R. Fergusson Ghaists 98 The succeeding generations [to] wrang O' braw bien maintenance. 1839 Thackeray Fatal Boots Jan., I never wronged any man of a shilling. 1840 Dickens Old C. Shop lx, Ask anybody..whether I have ever wronged them of a farthing. 1871 W. Alexander Johnny Gibb xlv, [He wants] to vrang no man o' 's money.

ellipt. 1607 Rowlands Diog. Lanth. (Hunter. Cl.) 34 Haue I wrong'd thee in all my life, Mouthfull of Hay or Grasse?

    3. To do injustice to (a person) by statement, imputation, opinion, etc.; to impute evil to, asperse or calumniate undeservedly; to discredit or dishonour by word or thought.

1594 Shakes. Rich. III, iv. iv. 421 Queene. Shall I forget my selfe, to be my selfe? Rich. I, if your selfes remembrance wrong your selfe. 1599 Peele David & Bethsabe B ij b, Woman thou wrongst the King, & doubtst his honour. 1620 Jrnls. Ho. Comm. I. 535 His first Speech should be, to clear himself from Suspicion of wronging this House. 1634 W. Tirwhyt tr. Balzac's Lett. (vol. I) 120 Nor will I believe he was made after the image of God, lest therein I should wrong so excellent a nature. 1667 Pepys Diary 27 July, He says that the Duke of York is suspected..; but that he do know that he is wronged therein. 1713 Addison Cato iii. i, Thou wrong'st me, if thou think'st Ever was love..like mine. 1782 Cowper tr. Mme. Guion, Happy Solitude 9 Thy creatures wrong thee, O thou sov'reign Good! Thou art not lov'd, because not understood. 1795–6 Wordsw. Borderers i. 167, I wot not what ill tongue has wronged him with you. 1823 Scott Quentin D. vi, He wronged his uncle, however, in supposing [etc.]. 1836 Lytton Duchess de La Vallière iii. v, My foolish fancies wronged him! 1861 Tennyson In Mem. l, I wrong the grave with fears untrue.

    4. To cause undeserved physical harm or injury to (a person, etc.); to affect harmfully or injuriously; to hurt or damage. Now Sc.

1595 Spenser Epithal. 49 For feare the stones her tender foot should wrong. 1617 Moryson Itin. i. 37 The people after dinner, warmed with drinke, are apt to wrong any stranger. 1634 Sir T. Herbert Trav. 211 One [fruit] out of curiositie I tasted of, which..malignantly bit and wronged my mouth and lips. 1683 Moxon Mech. Exerc., Printing xiii. ¶5 The edges of his Graver..may, in a slip, touch upon the Side and Face of the next Stroak, and wrong that more or less. 1712 J. James tr. Le Blond's Gardening 151 Without breaking or wronging the greater Roots. a 1722 Lisle Husb. (1757) 376 Those boughs also..draw all the sap to them and wrong the rest that are weaker. 1793 R. Gray Poems 54 A gude man loves his beast, And will not wrange him. 1826 R. Hetrick Poems 92 Is't 'cause some farmer's wranged his pechan At some drunk frolic.

refl. 1620 Venner Via Recta viii. 190 They..greatly erre and wrong themselues, that..surcharge their bodies with ouer-much meat. 1899 J. B. Salmond Man Sandy xiii. 93 Blair leuch till I thocht he wudda wranged himsel'.

    † b. To impair or injure the quality or substance of (something); to affect detrimentally or harmfully; to mar, spoil. Obs.

1592 Kyd Sp. Trag. ii. iii. 46 If she..forgoe his loue, She both will wrong her owne estate and ours. 1630 in Smith's Wks. (Arb.) II. 898 All authoritie being dissolved, want of government did more wrong their proceedings, than [etc.]. 1638 W. M. Garcia's Sonne Rogue 149, I was constrained..with the force of my sneezing to wrong my breeches. 1639 S. Du Verger tr. Camus' Admir. Events Pref., Do not scoffe at the Histories, being good in themselves, though wronged by my want of language. 1661 Pepys Diary 8 Jan., ‘The Widdow’, an indifferent good play, but wronged by the women being to seek in their parts. a 1700 Evelyn Diary 30 May 1662, Her teeth wronging her mouth by sticking a little too far out. 1784 Cowper Task vi. 748 Sweet is the harp of prophecy; too sweet Not to be wrong'd by a mere mortal touch.

    5. Naut. To outsail (another vessel); to outdo or surpass in sailing; also = blanket v. 2. ? Obs.

1685 T. Phelps Captiv. 2 We had try'd his sailing all ways, but found we could not wrong him any way. 1691 T. H[ale] Acc. New Invent. p. vi, One Ship is said to wrong another, that exceeds it in swiftness of sailing. 1727 S. Brunt Voy. to Cacklogallinia 21 Our Sloop wrong'd 'em so much, that we soon came up with, and took them. 1748 Smollett Rod. Rand. lxv, We were very much wronged by the ship that had us in chase. 1760 C. Johnston Chrysal I. i. x. 73 The officers [of an English man-of-war]..observed they wronged her so much, they could go round her if they pleased. 1867 Smyth Sailors' Word-bk. 739 To outsail a vessel by becalming her sails is said to wrong her.

    II. intr.
    † 6. To act wrongly, harmfully, or injuriously; to do wrong (to a person, etc.). Obs.

1390 Gower Conf. I. 262 For whan that holi cherche wrongeth, I not what other thing schal rihte. Ibid. II. 389 God and..the world..Largesse awaiteth as belongeth, To neither part that he ne wrongeth. c 1460 Oseney Reg. 61 Our beloued sonnys Abbot and Couent..shewed þat Richard Clerke and summe oþer.., vppon tithis possessions and oþer thynges.., wronge to þe same. 1540 Rec. Elgin (New Spald. Cl.) I. 49 The assise deliuerit that Angnes Baldon wrangit in the..breking of Katerine Falconeris heid. 1613 W. Browne Brit. Past. i. i. 119, I wrong to say so. a 1676 Hale (J. s.v. Higgle), It argues an ignoble mind, where we have wronged, to higgle and dodge in the amends.

    7. To heel over. (Cf. right v. 6 c.) nonce-use.

1842 Dickens Amer. Notes ii, The ship rights. Before one can say ‘Thank Heaven!’ she wrongs again.

    Hence ˈwronging ppl. a.

1845 J. C. Mangan German Anthol. II. 60 That strong..devotion which..saved from wronging stain the sacred garland of Homage.

Oxford English Dictionary