ugsome, a. Chiefly north. and Sc.
(ˈʌgsəm)
Forms: 5 vg-, ugsom, 6 vgsoom; 5–6 vgsome (5 hwg-), 6 ougsome, 6– ugsome; Sc. 5–6 vg-, wgsum, 6–8 ugsum (6 -sume).
[f. ug v. + -some.]
Horrible, horrid, loathsome.
In older use common down to the latter part of the 16th cent. Literary currency in the 19th cent. is prob. due to the influence of Scott.
| c 1400 Destr. Troy 877 He..was ware sone Of þe orible oxin, vgsome to see. Ibid. 12497 A thoner and a thicke rayne..With an ugsom noise. c 1425 Wyntoun Cron. ii. xi. 1011 Off þat incest fel murthir keyn, And ane vgsum maniory Off wlatsum corssis and vgly. c 1440 Alph. Tales 470 Þer he saw many vgsom turment and many dyvers kyndes of paynys. 1475 Cath. Angl. 191/2 Hwgsome, abhominabilis. 1509 Fisher 7 Penit. Ps. xxxviii. Wks. (1876) 49 Lyke as þe mornynge is a meane bytwene þe grete clerenes of þe sonne & þe vgsome derkenes of the nyght. 1549 Latimer 7th Serm. bef. Edw. VI (Arb.) 186 Such an euyl fauoured face, such an vgsome countenaunce, such an horrible vysage. 1566 J. Studley Seneca's Medea (1581) 134 O ougsome bugges, O gobblins grym of hell, I you intreat. 1583 B. Melbancke Philotimus C ij, And Morpheus [shall] present the with vgsome sights. |
| 1724 Ramsay Vision x, Infernal be thair hyre, Quha..flang us Into this ugsum myre! 1790 A. Wilson 3rd Epist. to W. Mitchell Poet. Wks. (1846) 180 The carle..Aye puffin', or stuffin' Wi' ugsome chews his cheek. 1816 Scott Antiq. xxi, Like an auld dog that trails its useless ugsome carcass into some bush or bracken. 1832 Lytton Eugene A. ii. viii, ‘'Tis an ugsome bit of road,’ said the corporal. 1875 Browning Aristoph. Apol. 1360 Attestation of the Muse That low-and-ugsome is not signed and sealed Incontrovertibly man's portion here. |
Hence
ˈugsomely adv. rare.
| c 1440 Alph. Tales 181 Sodanlie as he lay, he began to cry vgsomlie. a 1578 Lindesay (Pitscottie) Chron. Scot. (S.T.S.) I. 67 Thir same wordis war more wgsumlie crayit nor befoir. 1876 Whitby Gloss. 204 ‘It leuk'd at us varry ugsomely’, savagely. |