vengeful, a.
(ˈvɛndʒfəl)
[f. venge v., after revengeful. Cf. avengeful a.]
1. Harbouring revenge; seeking vengeance; prone or inclined to avenge oneself; vindictive.
| a 1599 Spenser F.Q. vii. vi. 48 [She] thinkes what punishment were best assign'd And thousand deathes deuiseth in her vengefull mind. 1701 F. Manning Poems 77 A worse Event..The vengeful Cupid sent. 1713 Swift On Himself Wks. 1755 IV. i. 12 The queen incens'd, his services forgot, Leaves him a victim to the vengeful Scot. a 1763 Shenstone Inscription vi. 24 Fair and flow'ry is the brake, Yet it hides the vengeful snake. 1812 Combe Syntax, Picturesque xxv. 452 Again the vengeful foes appear'd, Again their angry standards rear'd. 1856 Kane Arct. Expl. I. xxx. 414 One of them, the male, is excited—the other, the female, collected and vengeful. 1873 Symonds Grk. Poets i. 9 Ulysses is..pitiless in his hostility; subtle, vengeful, cunning. |
| transf. c 1600 Shakes. Sonn. xcix, But for his theft..A vengfull canker eate him vp to death. 1848 Faber Spir. Confer. (1870) 124 Wasted time is a vengeful thing. 1879 Geo. Eliot Theo. Such iv. 159 An abandoned belief may be more effectively vengeful than Dido. |
b. Inflicting vengeance; serving as an instrument of vengeance. Said of a weapon, the hand or arm, etc.
| (a) a 1586 Sidney Ps. xxi. xii, Thou shalt..ready make thy vengefull bow Against their guilty faces. 1593 Shakes. 2 Hen. VI, iii. ii. 198 Here's a vengefull Sword, rusted with ease. a 1623 Fletcher Love's Cure v. iii, I pray His vengeful sword may fall upon thy head Successfully. 1725 Pope Odyss. i. 154 The proud oppressors fly the vengeful sword. 1807 G. Chalmers Caledonia I. ii. iii. 253 The victorious career of Ida was stopt..by the vengeful sword of the valorous Owen. 1869 Goulburn Purs. Holiness i. 1 So could he bid the vengeful fire fall from heaven. |
| (b) 1696 Tate & Brady Ps. cvi. 17 Her vengeful Jaws extending wide. 1729 T. Cooke Tales, etc. 140 Of all who fought beneath this Chief's Command Not one escap'd the Critic's vengeful Hand. 1748 Johnson Van. Hum. Wishes 168 Rebellion's vengeful talons. a 1800 Cowper Iliad (ed. 2) xxi. 343 Allow no respite to thy vengeful arm Till ev'ry Trojan..within Ilium's lofty walls Be fast enclosed. |
2. Of actions or feelings: Characterized or prompted by revengeful motives; arising from a desire for vengeance.
| 1635–56 Cowley Davideis iii. Poems (1905) 328 Full thrice six years they felt fierce Eglons yoke, Till Ehuds sword Gods vengeful Message spoke. 1649 Milton Eikon. viii. Wks. 1851 III. 392 That choleric, and vengefull act of proclaiming him Traitor. 1709 Prior Carm. Sec. xvii, With wise Silence pond'ring vengeful Wars. 1774 Goldsm. Nat. Hist. VII. 193 To us who seldom feel the vengeful wound, it is merely a subject of curiosity. 1818 Scott Hrt. Midl. xxix, The fury darted her knife at him with the vengeful dexterity of a wild Indian. 1845 Ld. Campbell Chancellors liv. (1857) III. 77 In no composition that I have met with is there a greater display of vengeful malignity. 1874 Green Short Hist. viii. §7. 534 The Massacre had left them the objects of a vengeful hate. |
Hence
ˈvengefully adv.,
ˈvengefulness.
| 1830–1 Ruskin Iteriad ii. 300 His dark lightning-eye made him seem..like his own Thalaba, *vengefully fired. 1844 Kinglake Eothen iv, On he goes vengefully thirsting for the best blood of Troy. 1897 Advance (Chicago) 31 July 143/1 He looked at his mother vengefully. |
| 1727 Bailey (vol. II), *Vengefulness, vindictive or revengeful Temper or Nature. 1862 Meredith Poet. Wks. (1912) 134 He fainted on his vengefulness, and strove To ape the magnanimity of love. |