▪ I. disgrace, n.
(dɪsˈgreɪs)
[a. F. disgrâce ‘a disgrace, an ill-fortune, defeature, mishap; also vncomelinesse, deformitie, etc.’ (Cotgr.), ad. It. disgrazia ‘a disgrace, a mishap, a misfortune’ (Florio), f. dis- 4 + grazia grace; cf. Sp. desgracia ‘disgrace, misfortune, unpleasantness’, med.L. disgrātia (15th c. in Du Cange).]
1. The disfavour of one in a powerful or exalted position, with the withdrawal of honour, degradation, dishonour, or contumely, which accompanies it: † a. as exhibited by the personage who inflicts it (obs.); b. as incurred or experienced by the victim: the state of being out of favour and honour.
| a. 1581 G. Pettie Guazzo's Civ. Conv. i. (1586) 28 b, Shee went about to bring into the disgrace of the Dutches all the Ladies of the Court. 1600 E. Blount tr. Conestaggio 12 Ambition and feare of the Kings disgrace were of such force, that the Nobles..durst not open their mouthes. |
| b. 1586 A. Day Eng. Secretary (1625) i. 142 The disgrace that quickly you shall sustaine. 1605 Shakes. Macb. iii. vi. 23, I heare Macduffe liues in disgrace. 1659 B. Harris Parival's Iron Age 267 The Spaniards offered him [Card. Mazarin] all kindness of favour in his disgrace. 1849 Macaulay Hist. Eng. II. 160 The King..had determined that the disgrace of the Hydes should be complete. Mod. The minister was living in retirement, being in disgrace at Court. |
† c. A disfavour; a dishonour; an affront. Obs.
| a 1586 Sidney (J.), To such bondage he was..tied by her whose disgraces to him were graced by her excellence. 1586 B. Young Guazzo's Civ. Conv. iv. 206 b, With my unluckie sport I have gotten your disgraces. a 1626 Bacon (Webster 1864), The interchange continually of favours and disgraces. 1651 Hobbes Govt. & Soc. xv. §18. 257 If it command somewhat to be.. done, which is not a disgrace to God directly, but from whence by reasoning disgracefull consequences may be derived. 1739 Cibber Apol. (1756) I. 296 Several little disgraces were put upon them. |
† 2. The disfavour of Fortune (as a disposer of human affairs); adverse fortune, misfortune. Obs.
| 1590 Greene Neuer too late (1600) 2 Midst the riches of his face, Griefe deciphred high disgrace. 1600 E. Blount tr. Conestaggio 15 Sent his ambassadors to the said King, letting him understand of his disgrace. 1653 H. Cogan tr. Pinto's Trav. i. 1 No disgrace of Fortune ought to esloign us..from the duty which we are bound to render unto God. 1697 Dryden Virg. Georg. iv. 143 That other looks like Nature in Disgrace. |
† b. A misfortune. Obs.
| 1622 R. Hawkins Voy. S. Sea (1847) 173 With these disgraces upon them and the hand of God helping..us. 1627 Lisander & Cal. iv. 74, I shall alwaies bless my disgraces which have wrought mee this felicity. 1748 Smollett Rod. Rand. (1780) I. 187 Notwithstanding the disgraces which had fallen to her share, she had not been so unlucky as many others. |
3. Dishonour in general or public estimation; ignominy, shame.
| 1593 Shakes. Rich. II, i. i. 133, I slew him not; but (to mine owne disgrace) Neglected my sworne duty in that case. 1639 S. Du Verger tr. Camus' Admir. Events 54 If ever he saw him approach his wife, he would..resist force by force..to drive disgrace from his house. 1728 Pope Dunc. ii. 175 A second effort brought but new disgrace. 1856 Froude Hist. Eng. (1858) II. xi. 467 The disgrace which the queen's conduct had brought upon her family. 1863 Geo. Eliot Romola ii. xxiii, Tito shrank with shuddering dread from disgrace. |
† 4. The expression of dishonour and reprobation; opprobrium, reproach, disparagement; an expression or term of reprobation. Obs. or arch.
| 1586 A. Day Eng. Secretary ii. (1625) 86 When..a word is either in praise or disgrace..repeated. 1608 Bp. Hall Char. Vertues & V. 102 If hee list not to give a verbal disgrace, yet hee shakes his head and smiles. 1617 ― Recoll. Treat. 977 Every vice hath a title, and every vertue a disgrace. 1660 Trial Regic. 174 You spake..against the King by way of disgrace against him and his family. 1676 Hobbes Iliad iii. 33 Then Hector him with words of great disgrace Reproved. [1855 Tennyson Maud ii. i. 14 He..Heap'd on her terms of disgrace.] |
5. An occasion or cause of shame or dishonour; that which brings into dishonour.
| 1590 Spenser F.Q. i. i. 31 To all knighthood it is foule disgrace, That such a cursed creature lives so long a space. 1597 Shakes. 2 Hen. IV, ii. ii. 15 What a disgrace is it to me, to remember thy name? c 1710 E. Baynard (J.), And is it not a foul disgrace, To lose the boltsprit of thy face? 1856 Emerson Eng. Traits, Wealth Wks. (Bohn) II. 69, I found the two disgraces..are, first, disloyalty to Church and State, and, second, to be born poor, or to come to poverty. 1875 Jowett Plato (ed. 2) V. 178 Is not the knowledge of words without ideas a disgrace to a man of sense? |
† 6. Marring of the grace of anything; disfigurement. Obs.
| 1581 G. Pettie Guazzo's Civ. Conv. iii. (1586) 126 To take away some wart, moale, spot, or such like disgrace comming by chaunce. 1598 St. John's Coll. Agreem. in Willis & Clark Cambridge (1886) II. 251 The Chimneys..shalbe taken dowen and Raysed in some other Convenient place without disgrace of the new court. |
7. Want of grace. † a. of person: ill-favouredness (obs.); b. of mind: ungracious condition or character. rare.
| 1596 Spenser F.Q. v. xii. 28 Their garments..Being all rag'd and tatter'd, their disgraces Did much the more augment. 1861 T. Winthrop Cecil Dreeme v. (1876) 75 Even a coat may be one of the outward signs by which we betray the grace or disgrace that is in us. |
▪ II. disgrace, v.
(dɪsˈgreɪs)
[a. F. disgracier (1552 in Hatz.-Darm.), ad. It. disgraziare, f. disgrazia (see prec.). So Sp. desgraciar.]
† 1. trans. To undo or mar the grace of; to deprive of (outward) grace; to disfigure. Obs.
| 1549–62 Sternhold & H. Ps. ciii. 16 Like the flower..Whose glosse and beauty stormy winds do utterly disgrace. 1551 Robinson tr. More's Utop. 14 Rude and vnlearned speche defaceth and disgraceth a very good matter. 1555 W. Watreman Fardle Facions i. v. 69 The woman had her nose cut of, wherwith..the whole beautie of her face was disgraced. 1577 B. Googe Heresbach's Husb. ii. (1586) 115 b, His paunch shal the lesse appeer, which both disgraceth him and burdneth him. 1709 Pope Ess. Crit. 24 The slightest sketch..Is by ill-colouring but the more disgrac'd. 1781 Cowper Convers. 51 Withered stumps disgrace the sylvan scene. |
† 2. To put to shame, put out of countenance by eclipsing. Obs.
| 1589 Greene Menaphon (Arb.) 35 Flora seeing her face, bids al her glorious flowers close themselues, as being by her beautie disgraced. 1591 Nashe Pref. to Sidney's Astr. & Stella, In thee..the Lesbian Sappho with her lyric harpe is disgraced. |
† b. To put out of countenance, abash, dismay.
| 1607 Topsell Four-f. Beasts (1658) 160 Casting..burning torches into the face of the elephant; by which the huge beast is not a little disgraced and terrified. |
3. To put out of grace or favour; to treat with disfavour, and hence with dishonour; to dismiss from (royal, etc.) favour and honour.
| 1593 Nashe 4 Lett. Confut. 43 Followers, whose dutifull seruice must not bee disgrac'd with a bitter repulse in anie suite. 1600 E. Blount tr. Conestaggio 62 Although he were without lands, and disgraced by Henry, yet being favoured by the people, he supposed that Henry dying, he shoulde..be crowned. 1617 Bp. Hall Recoll. Treat. 133 How easie is it for such a man, whiles the world disgraces him, at once to scorne and pitty it. 1711 Pope Temp. Fame 294 Some she disgrac'd, and some with honours crown'd. 1745 P. Thomas Jrnl. Anson's Voy. 216 His Subjects..whom he either disgraces or honours. 1855 Macaulay Hist. Eng. III. 268 Queensberry was disgraced for refusing to betray the interests of the Protestant religion. |
† 4. To bring into disfavour (with any one), or into the bad graces of any one. Obs.
| 1594 Shakes. Rich. III, i. iii. 79 Our Brother is imprison'd by your means, My selfe disgrac'd, and the Nobilitie Held in comtempt. 1600 E. Blount tr. Conestaggio 35 Which his enimies tooke as an occasion to disgrace him with the King. |
† 5. To cast shame or discredit upon; to bring (intentionally) into disgrace. Obs.
| 1573 G. Harvey Letter-bk. (Camden) 6 How sociablely he hath delt bi me..to disgrace and slaunder me in the toun. 1599 Shakes. Much Ado iii. ii. 130 As I wooed for thee to obtaine her, I will joyne with thee to disgrace her. a 1715 Burnet (J.), Men's passions will carry them far in misrepresenting an opinion which they have a mind to disgrace. |
† b. To put to shame. Obs.
| 1594 Hooker Eccl. Pol. iii. viii. (1611) 97 They never vse reason so willingly as to disgrace reason. 1595 T. Edwards Cephalus & Procris (1878) 45 For he that sorrow hath possest, at last In telling of his tale is quite disgra'st. |
† 6. To speak of dishonouringly; to reprobate, disparage, revile, vilify, speak slightingly of. Obs.
| 1589 Puttenham Eng. Poesie i. xix. (Arb.) 57 Such..would peraduenture reproue and disgrace euery Romance, or short historicall ditty. c 1611 Chapman Iliad i. 24 The general..viciously disgrac'd With violent terms the priest. 1612 Drayton Poly-olb. vi. Notes 93 A Patriot, and so true, that it to death him greeues To heare his Wales disgrac't. 1671 Baxter Holiness Design Chr. lxiv. 19 They all agree to cry down sin in the general and to disgrace it. 1720 Lett. fr. London Jrnl. (1721) 46 Again he disgraces the Ale. |
7. To bring (as an incidental consequence) shame, dishonour, or discredit upon; to be a disgrace or shame to; to reflect dishonour upon.
| [1580 Sidney Arcadia (1622) 236 Leauing only Mopsa behind, who disgraced weeping with her countenance.] 1593 Shakes. Lucr. 718 Against himself he sounds this doom, That through the length of times he stands disgraced. 1600 ― A.Y.L. ii. iv. 4, I could finde in my heart to disgrace my mans apparell, and to cry like a woman. 1608 D. T. Ess. Pol. & Mor. 116 b, Often..such as became a meaner part well, have failed in a greater, and disgraced it. 1752 Johnson Rambler No. 196 ¶7 Of his children..some may disgrace him by their follies. 1784 Cowper Tiroc. 531 Such vicious habits as disgrace his name. 1849 Macaulay Hist. Eng. I. 187 The atrocities which had disgraced the insurrection of Ulster. 1868 J. H. Blunt Ref. Ch. Eng. I. 479 The most cruel act against heretics that disgraced our Statute Book. |
Hence disˈgraced ppl. a., disˈgracing vbl. n. and ppl. a.
| 1582 N. Lichefield tr. Castanheda's Conq. E. Ind. xvii. 45 He thought the same a disgracing vnto him. 1591 Shakes. Two Gent. v. iv. 123 Your Grace is welcome to a man disgrac'd. 1592 R. D. Hypnerotomachia 94 They would..fling the same [flowers] in the faces of their pursuing lovers..maintaining their fained dis-gracings. a 1679 Hobbes Rhet. ii. ii. (1681) 47 Contumely, is the disgracing of another for his own pastime. 1802 Mrs. Jane West Inf. Father III. 145 The poor..disgraced Selborne. 1807 Sir R. Wilson Jrnl. 12 July in Life (1862) II. viii. 309 As Buonaparte passed..he gave the right-hand file one of his disgracing crosses. |