revile | Search Online Etymology Dictionary

9 entries found.

c. 1300, revilen, "debase, degrade" (a sense now obsolete);" mid-14c., "insult, taunt, vilify, assail with abusive language," from Old French reviler "consider vile, despise, scorn," from re-, here perhaps an intensive prefix (see re-), + aviler "make vile or cheap, disesteem," from vil "shameful, dishonorable; low-born; cheap; ugly, hideous" (see vile (adj.)). Related: Reviled; reviler; reviling.

revilement (n.)

"act of reviling; contemptuous or insulting language," 1580s, from revile + -ment. Earlier nouns were revile, reviling (both mid-15c.).

carp (v.)

early 13c., "to talk, speak, tell," from Old Norse karpa "to brag," which is of unknown origin; meaning turned toward "find fault with, complain," particularly without reason or petulantly (late 14c.) probably by influence of Latin carpere "to slander, revile," literally "to pluck" (which is from PIE root *kerp- "to gather, pluck, harvest"). Related: Carped; carping.

snape (v.)

also sneap, "to be hard upon, rebuke, revile, snub," early 14c., from Old Norse sneypa "to outrage, dishonor, disgrace," probably related to similar-sounding words meaning "cut" (compare snip (v.)). Verbal meaning "bevel the end (of a timber) to fit an inclined surface" is of uncertain origin or connection. Snaiping "rebuking, reproaching, reviling" is attested from early 14c. Shakespeare has sneaped birds, annoyed by a late frost ("Rape of Lucrere").

blame (v.)

c. 1200, "find fault with" (opposed to praise, commend); c. 1300, "lay responsibility on for something deemed wrong," from Old French blasmer (12c., Modern French blâmer) "to rebuke, reprimand, condemn, criticize," from Vulgar Latin *blastemare, from Late Latin blasphemare "to blaspheme, to speak lightly or amiss of God or sacred things," which also had a sense of "revile, reproach" (see blaspheme). Replaced Old English witan (with long "i"). Related: Blamed; blaming.

blaspheme (v.)

"to speak impiously or irreverently of God and sacred things," mid-14c., from Old French blasfemer "to blaspheme" (14c., Modern French blasphémer), from Church Latin blasphemare (which in Late Latin also meant "revile, reproach," hence blame (v.)), from Greek blasphemein "to speak lightly or amiss of sacred things, to slander," from blasphemos "evil-speaking" (see blasphemy). A classical reintroduction in English after the original word, taken from vernacular Old French, had been worn down and sense-shifted to blame. Related: Blasphemed; blasphemer; blaspheming.

reproach (v.)

mid-14c., reprochen, "charge with a fault, censure severely," from Anglo-French repruchier, Old French reprochier "upbraid, blame, accuse, speak ill of," from reproche "blame, shame, disgrace" (see reproach (n.)). The sense of "rebuke, revile, abuse" is from 1510s. Related: Reproached; reproaching; reproachable.

To reproach a person is to lay blame upon him in direct address, and with feeling, to endeavor to shame him with what he has done. [Century Dictionary]

insult (v.)

1560s, "triumph over in an arrogant way" (obsolete), from French insulter "to wrong; reproach; triumph arrogantly over," earlier "to leap upon" (14c.) and directly from Latin insultare "to assail, to make a sudden leap upon," which was used by the time of Cicero in sense of "to insult, scoff at, revile," frequentative of insilire "leap at or upon," from in- "on, at" (from PIE root *en "in") + salire "to leap" (see salient (adj.)).

Sense of "verbally abuse, affront, assail with disrespect, offer an indignity to" is from 1610s. Related: Insulted; insulting.

abuse (v.)

early 15c., "to misuse, misapply" (power, money, etc.), from Old French abuser "deceive, abuse, misuse" (14c.), from Vulgar Latin *abusare, from Latin abusus "an abusing; a using up," past participle of abuti "use up, consume," also "misuse, abuse, misapply, outrage," from ab "off, away from" (see ab-) + uti "use" (see use).

Also in reference to forbidden sexual situations from early 15c., but originally meaning incest, masturbation (self-abuse), homosexuality, prostitution, etc. From 1550s specifically as "to misuse sexually, ravish," but OED 2nd ed. marks this obsolete and the modern use "subject (someone) to unwanted sexual activity" is likely a fresh coinage from late 20c. Specifically of drugs, from 1968. Meaning "attack with harsh language, revile" is from c. 1600. Related: Abused; abusing.

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