corruption Look up corruption at Dictionary.com
mid-14c., of material things, esp. dead bodies, also of the soul, morals, etc., from Fr. corruption, from L. corruptionem, noun of action from corrumpere (see corrupt). Of public offices from c.1425; of language from late 15c.
corrupt Look up corrupt at Dictionary.com
c.1300, from L. corruptus, pp. of corrumpere "to destroy, spoil, bribe," from com- intens. prefix + rup-, pp. stem of rumpere "to break" (see rupture).
corruptible Look up corruptible at Dictionary.com
mid-14c., of material things, from Fr. corruptible (14c.), from L. corruptibilis, from pp. stem of corrumpere (see corrupt). Of persons, from 1670s.
spinnaker Look up spinnaker at Dictionary.com
"large triangular sail," 1866, either a derivative of spin in the sense of "go rapidly" or a corrupt pronunciation of Sphinx, which was the name of the first yacht known to carry this type of sail.
beshrew Look up beshrew at Dictionary.com
early 14c., "deprave, pervert, corrupt," from be- + shrew (v.); see shrew. Meaning "to invoke evil upon" is from late 14c.
adulterate (v.) Look up adulterate at Dictionary.com
1590s, from L. adulterat-, pp. stem of adulterare "to falsify, corrupt" (see adulteration). Earlier verb was adulter (late 14c.).
virulent Look up virulent at Dictionary.com
1400, in ref. to wounds, ulcers, etc., "full of corrupt or poisonous matter," from L. virulentus "poisonous," from virus "poison" (see virus). Fig. sense of "violent, spiteful" is attested from 1607.
sell-out Look up sell-out at Dictionary.com
"corrupt contract that sacrifices public for private interest," 1862, from sell (v.) + out. The verbal phrase sell out "prostitute one's ideals or talents" is attested from 1888.
demoralize Look up demoralize at Dictionary.com
c.1793, "to corrupt the morals of," from Fr. demoraliser, from de- "remove" + moral (adj.) (see moral). Said to be a coinage of the Fr. Revolution. Sense of "lower the morale of" (especially of armies) is first recorded 1848.
vitiate (v.) Look up vitiate at Dictionary.com
1534, from L. vitiatus, pp. of vitiare "to make faulty, injure, spoil, corrupt," from vitium "fault, defect, blemish, crime, vice" (see vice (1)).
unsound Look up unsound at Dictionary.com
c.1320, of persons, "diseased, wounded," from un- (1) "not" + sound (adj.). Cf. M.L.G. unsund, M.Du. ongesont, Ger. ungesund. Meaning "morally corrupt" is recorded from c.1300; that of "not mentally healthy" is from 1547. Sense of "not based on reasoning or fact" is attested from 1595.
deprave Look up deprave at Dictionary.com
mid-14c., from O.Fr. depraver, from L. depravare "corrupt," from de- "completely" + pravus "crooked."
sodomy Look up sodomy at Dictionary.com
c.1300, from O.Fr. sodomie, from L.L. peccatum Sodomiticum "anal sex," lit. "sin of Sodom," from L. Sodoma, ult. from Heb. s'dom "Sodom," morally corrupt city in ancient Palestine, said to have been destroyed, with neighboring Gomorrah, by fire from heaven (Gen. xviii-xix). Sodomize coined 1868. In Du. slang, besodemieteren means "to deceive," and evidently is built from the traditional notion of "corruption" in Sodom.
perverse Look up perverse at Dictionary.com
c.1369, "wicked," from O.Fr. pervers, from L. perversus "turned away (from what is right), contrary, askew," pp. of pervertere "to corrupt" (see pervert). The L. word is glossed in O.E. by forcerred, from p.p. of forcyrran "to avoid," from cierran "to turn, return." Meaning "wrong, not in accord with what is accepted" is from c.1568; sense of "obstinate, stubborn" is from 1579. It keeps the non-sexual senses of pervert (v.) and allows the psychological ones to go with perverted.
taint (v.) Look up taint at Dictionary.com
1570s, "to corrupt, contaminate," also "to trouch, tinge, imbue slightly" (1590s), from M.E. teynten "to convict, prove guilty" (late 14c.), partly from O.Fr. ataint, pp. of ataindre "to touch upon, seize" (see attainder). Also from Anglo-Fr. teinter "to color, dye" (early 15c.), from O.Fr. teint (12c.), pp. of teindre "to dye, color," from L. tingere (see tincture).
adulteration Look up adulteration at Dictionary.com
c.1500, from L. adulterationem (nom. adulteratio), from adulteratus, pp. of adulterare "corrupt, debauch," from ad- "to" + L.L. alterare "to alter" (see alter).
interrupt Look up interrupt at Dictionary.com
c.1420, from L. interruptus, pp. of interrumpere "break apart, break off," from inter- "between" + rumpere "to break" (see rupture, and compare corrupt).
rotten Look up rotten at Dictionary.com
early 13c., from O.N. rotinn "decayed," pp. of verb related to rotna "to decay," from P.Gmc. stem *rut- (see rot). Sense of "corrupt" is from late 14c.; weakened sense of "bad" first recorded 1881. Rotter "objectionable person" is recorded from 1894. Rotten apple is from a saying traced back to at least 1528: "For one rotten apple lytell and lytell putrifieth an whole heape."
lingo Look up lingo at Dictionary.com
"foreign speech," 1660, possibly a corrupt form of lingua franca (q.v.), or from Prov. lingo "language, tongue," from O.Prov. lenga, from L. lingua "tongue" (see lingual).
rob Look up rob at Dictionary.com
c.1175 (implied in robber), from O.Fr. rober, from a Gmc. source (cf. O.H.G. roubon "to rob," roub "spoil, plunder;" O.E. reafian, source of the reave in bereave), from P.Gmc. *raubojanan, from *raub- "to break."
"Lord, hou schulde God approve þat þou robbe Petur, and gif þis robbere to Poule in þe name of Crist?" [Wyclif, c.1380]
To rob the cradle is attested from 1940s. Robber baron in the "corrupt, greedy financier" sense is attested from 1878.
seduce Look up seduce at Dictionary.com
1526, "to persuade a vassal, etc., to desert his allegiance or service," from L. seducere "lead away, lead astray," from se- "aside, away" + ducere "to lead." Replaced M.E. seduisen (1477), from M.Fr. séduire "seduce," from O.Fr. suduire "to corrupt, seduce," from L. subducere "draw away, withdraw, remove," from sub- "from under, further" + ducere "to lead" (see duke). Sexual sense, now the prevailing one, is attested from 1560. Seductive is from 1771; seductress is from 1803.
vicious Look up vicious at Dictionary.com
early 14c. (implied in viciously), "of the nature of vice, wicked," from Anglo-Fr. vicious, O.Fr. vicieus, from L. vitiosus "faulty, defective, corrupt," from vitium "fault" (see vice (1)). Meaning "inclined to be savage or dangerous" is first recorded 1711 (originally of animals, especially horses); that of "full of spite, bitter, severe" is from 1825. In law, "marred by some inherent fault" (late 14c.), hence also this sense in logic (c.1600); cf. vicious circle in reasoning (c.1792), which was given a general sense of "a situation in which action and reaction intensify one another" by 1839.
adultery Look up adultery at Dictionary.com
"voluntary violation of the marriage bed," c.1300, avoutrie, from O.Fr. avoutrie, aoulterie, noun of condition from avoutre/aoutre, from L. adulterare "to corrupt" (see adulteration). Modern spelling, with the re-inserted -d-, is from early 15c. (see ad-). Classified as single adultery (with an unmarried person) and double adultery (with a married person). O.E. word was æwbryce "breach of law(ful marriage)." Adultery Dune in Arizona corresponds to Navajo sei adilehe "adultery sand" and was where illicit lovers met privately.
pervert (v.) Look up pervert at Dictionary.com
c.1300 (trans.), "to turn someone aside from a right religious belief to a false or erroneous one," from O.Fr. pervertir, from L. pervertere "corrupt, turn the wrong way, turn about," from per- "away" + vertere "to turn" (see versus). The noun is 1661, from the verb. Replaced native froward, which embodies the same image. The noun is attested from 1661, "one who has forsaken a doctrine or system regarded as true, apostate;" psychological sense of "one who has a perversion of the sexual instinct" is attested from 1897 (Havelock Ellis), originally esp. of homosexuals. Perv, short for sexual pervert (n.), is first recorded 1944.
sick (adj.) Look up sick at Dictionary.com
"unwell," O.E. seoc, from P.Gmc. *seukaz, of uncertain origin. The general Gmc. word (cf. O.N. sjukr, Dan. syg, O.S. siok, O.Fris. siak, M.Du. siec, O.H.G. sioh, Goth. siuks "sick, ill"), but in Ger. and Du. displaced by krank "weak, slim," probably originally with a sense of "twisted, bent" (see crank). Meaning "having an inclination to vomit" is from 1614; sense of "tired or weary (of something)" is from 1597; phrase sick and tired of is attested from 1783. Meaning "mentally twisted" is from 1551 (though sense of "spiritually or morally corrupt" was in O.E.), revived 1955. Sick joke is from 1959; sicko (n.) is from 1977. Sickening "causing revulsion" is first recorded 1789. The noun meaning "those who are sick" was in O.E. Sickness is O.E. seocnesse; sickly "ailing" is recorded from c.1350.
marble Look up marble at Dictionary.com
c.1200, by dissimilation from O.Fr. marbre, from L. marmor, from or cognate with Gk. marmaros "marble, gleaming stone," of unknown origin, perhaps originally an adj. meaning "sparkling," which would connect it with marmairein "to shine." The L. word was taken directly into O.E. as marma. Meaning "little balls of marble used in a children's game" is attested from 1694; the game of marbles is first recorded by that name in 1709, but is probably older (it was known in 13c. Ger. as tribekugeln) and was originally played with small balls of polished marble or alabaster, later clay; the modern glass ones with the colored swirl date from 1840s. Meaning "mental faculties, common sense" is from 1927, Amer.Eng. slang, perhaps from earlier slang marbles "furniture, personal effects, 'the goods' " (1864), a corrupt translation of Fr. meubles (pl.) "furniture." Marble cake is attested from 1871.
foul (adj.) Look up foul at Dictionary.com
O.E. ful "dirty, stinking, vile, corrupt," from P.Gmc. *fulaz (cf. O.H.G. fül, M.Du. voul, Ger. faul, Goth. füls), from base *fu-, corresponding to PIE *pu-, perhaps from the sound made in reaction to smelling something bad (cf. Skt. puyati "rots, stinks," putih "foul, rotten;" Gk. puon "discharge from a sore;" L. pus "putrid matter," putere "to stink," putridus "rotten;" Lith. puviu "to rot"). Of weather, first recorded c.1380. In the sporting sense of "irregular, unfair" it is first attested 1797, though foul play is recorded from 1440. O.E. ful occasionally meant "ugly" (as contrasted with fæger (adj.), modern fair), a sense frequently found in M.E., and the cognate in Sw. is the usual word for "ugly." Foulmouthed first attested 1596 in Shakespeare. Foulmart was a M.E. word for "polecat" (from O.E. mearð "marten").
devil Look up devil at Dictionary.com
O.E. deofol "evil spirit," from L.L. diabolus, from Gk. diabolos "accuser, slanderer" (scriptural loan-translation of Heb. satan), from diaballein "to slander, attack," lit. "throw across," from dia- "across, through" + ballein "to throw" (see ballistics). Jerome re-introduced Satan in Latin bibles, and English translators have used both in different measures. In Vulgate, as in Gk., diabolus and dæmon (see demon) were distinct, but they have merged in English and other Germanic languages. Playful use for "clever rogue" is from c.1600. Meaning "sand spout, dust storm" is from 1835. In U.S. place names, the word often represents a native word such as Algonquian manito, more properly "spirit, god." Devilry is from late 14c.; deviltry (1788) is a corrupt formation from it. Devilled "grilled with hot condiments" is from 1800. The Tasmanian devil so called since at least 1829, from its propensity for killing young lambs (other voracious fish or animals have also been named devil). Phrase a devil way (late 13c.) was originally an emphatic form of away, but taken by late 14c. as an expression of irritation. Devil's advocate (1760) is L. advocatus diaboli, one whose job it is to urge against the canonization of a candidate for sainthood. Devil-may-care is attested from 1837 (but suggested in other forms by 1793). Devil's books "playing cards" is from 1729, but the cited quote says they've been called that "time out of mind" (the four of clubs is the devil's bedposts); devil's coach-horse is from 1840, the large rove-beetle, which is defiant when disturbed. "Talk of the Devil, and he's presently at your elbow" [1660s].