† degenerousadj.
Obsolete.
1. Fallen from ancestral virtue or excellence, unworthy of one's ancestry or kindred, degenerate.
a. of persons.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > goodness and badness > badness or evil > worse > [adjective] > declining or deteriorating > in character or quality
infecta1387
palledc1390
rustyc1390
degeneratea1513
withered1561
bastardlike1577
degenerated1581
degenerous1600
bastardized1611
degenerating1611
wormy1611
autumnal1616
blood-shrunk1634
degenered1637
reduced1689
lowered1730
eviscerated1858
labefact1874
disbloomed-
1600 T. Dekker Shomakers Holiday sig. K2 Your grace to doe me honour, Heapt on the head of this degenerous boy, Desertlesse fauours.
1643 W. Prynne Soveraigne Power Parl. iv. 35 Disclaiming them as degenerous Brats, and not their sonnes.
a1734 R. North Lives of Norths I. 199 An upstart and degenerous race.
b. of personal qualities, feelings, actions, etc.
ΚΠ
1609 S. Daniel Civile Wares (rev. ed.) i. lii. 14 The least felt touch of a degenerous feare.
a1734 R. North Examen (1740) ii. v. §41 338 That this Passive-Obedience or Non-Resistance of theirs is a slavish and degenerous Principle.
c. transferred. Characterized by degeneration.
ΘΚΠ
society > morality > moral evil > moral or spiritual degeneration > [adjective] > characterized by degeneracy
degenerous1611
degenerate1638
1611 J. Speed Hist. Great Brit. ix. x. 543/1 In our effeminate and degenerous age.
1690 R. Boyle Christian Virtuoso ii. 39 Especially in such a Degenerous age.
d. Const. from. (rare.)
ΚΠ
1657 Bp. H. King Elegies 14 in Poems He n'er had shew'd Himself..So much degen'rous from renowned Vere.
1695 H. Dodwell Def. Vindic. Deprived Bishops 36 The Ages he deals in were very degenerous from the Piety and Skill of their Primitive Ancestors.
2. transferred and figurative of things (esp. organisms or organic products).
ΚΠ
1635 Bp. F. White Treat. Sabbath-day Ded. sig. *4v A good tree hath some degenerous branches.
1748 Universal Mag. Aug. 65 That..a new born child should..be corrupted by the degenerous and adventitious milk of another.
Derivatives
ΘΚΠ
the mind > goodness and badness > badness or evil > worse > [adverb]
worseeOE
waurc1175
downhilla1398
downwarda1400
worser1547
bastardlike1563
degenerously1627
degenerately1645
witheringly1815
1627 H. Burton Baiting Popes Bull 94 No true Englishman will be..so vnnaturally and degenerously impious.
1742 R. North & M. North Life F. North 177 Naming him so (degenerously) as he did.
ΘΚΠ
society > morality > moral evil > moral or spiritual degeneration > [noun]
degeneration?1481
declining1526
declination1533
depravation1561
villainy1564
declension1597
depravedness1623
decadency1632
degenerateness1640
depravity1643
depravement1645
degradation1663
degeneracy1664
degenerousness1678
marasmus1681
debasednessa1720
decadencea1734
demoralization1797
downgrade1857
decadentism1949
1678 I. Walton Life of Sanderson (1681) 2 All the Rubbish of their Degenerousness ought to fall heavy on such dishonourable heads.
This entry has not yet been fully updated (first published 1894; most recently modified version published online June 2021).
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adj.1600