beastlyadj.
/ˈbiːs(t)li/, U.S. /ˈbis(t)li/ 1. † c. Cowardly. Obsolete. rare.
a. Characterized by base or depraved behaviour, or by the unrestrained indulgence of physical or sensual desires or appetites; esp. lustful, obscene. Cf. bestial adj. 2b.In some instances, difficult to distinguish from 1b.
ΘΚΠ
the world > physical sensation > physical sensibility > sensuous pleasure > sensuality > [adjective] > animal nature in man
beastlyc1225
beastisha1398
bestiala1398
beast-like1526
brutala1533
brutish1567
animal1581
doggish1594
belluine1618
ferine1640
animalizing1825
animalized1827
c1225 (?c1200) Hali Meiðhad (Bodl.) (1940) l. 110 Þet bestelich gederunge, þet scheomelese sompnunge.
c1449 R. Pecock Repressor (1860) 463 Forto..bacbite in this wise..is a beestly gouernaunce.
1567 Triall of Treasure sig. Aiiiv The beastly desires of inordinate luste.
1604 S. Rowlands Looke to It sig. E Thou filthy fellow of a beastly life.
1628 in B. Cusack Everyday Eng. 1500–1700 (1998) 298 Edward Wakeland for vsing beastlie behavior towardes ann green a littell before Crismas that shee was fayne to fall downe to save her selfe.
1681 Observator 23 Aug. 1/2 You may properly call That man a Profligate, that makes no Conscience of Swearing, Drinking, Beastly Lusts.
1709 J. Swift Project Advancem. Relig. 26 The beastly Vice of drinking to Excess.
1758 T. Flloyd & J. Hill tr. J. Swammerdam Bk. Nature 174/2 Those, who, from a beastly and depraved appetite, do not fear eating the Maggots that grow in cheese.
1842 Weekly Rake (N.Y.) 26 Nov. in P. C. Cohen et al. Flash Press (2008) ii. 68 Why not gratify his dirty, beastly desires with women of his own color?
1885 Pall Mall Gaz. 29 May 4 They are frankly and cynically beastly.
1995 D. Parmée in tr. Les Liaisons Dangereuses (1998) 390 Women who think men beastly have usually suffered some traumatic personal hurt.
b. Brutal, barbaric; inhuman.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > goodness and badness > harmfulness > savagery > [adjective]
grimlyc893
retheeOE
grim971
bitterOE
bremec1175
grillc1175
grimfula1240
cruel1297
sturdy1297
fiercea1300
fellc1300
boistousa1387
felonousc1386
savagea1393
bestiala1398
bremelya1400
felona1400
hetera1400
cursedc1400
wicked14..
vengeablec1430
wolvishc1430
unnatural?1473
inhuman1481
brutisha1513
cruent1524
felonish1530
mannish1530
abominate1531
lionish1549
boarish?1550
truculent?c1550
unhumanc1550
lion-like1556
beastly1558
orped1567
raw?1573
tigerish?1573
unmanlike1579
boisterous1581
savaged1583
tiger-like1587
yond1590
truculental1593
savage wild1595
tigerous1597
inhumane1598
Neronian1598
immane1599
Phalarical1602
ungentle1603
feral1604
savagious1605
fierceful1607
Dionysian1608
wolvy1611
Hunnish1625
lionly1631
tigerly1633
savage-hearted1639
brutal1641
feroce1641
ferocious1646
asperous1650
ferousa1652
wolfish1674
tiger1763
savage-fierce1770
Tartar1809
Tartarly1821
Neroic1851
tigery1859
Neronic1864
unmannish1867
inhumanitarian1947
the world > action or operation > behaviour > bad behaviour > ill-treatment > cruelty > [adjective] > inhumanly
inhuman1481
unhumanc1550
beastly1558
unmanlike1579
inhumane1598
immane1599
Phalarical1602
unhuman1611
brutal1641
unmannish1867
brutalitarian1904
inhumanitarian1947
1558 J. Knox First Blast against Monstruous Regiment Women f. 55v Open testimonie of her and their beastlie crueltie.
1587 G. Turberville Tragicall Tales f. 47 Shee tooke or eare shee could That blooddie beastlie king.
1700 G. Booth tr. Diodorus Siculus Hist. Libr. xiv. vii. 379 For tho' they all hated the Tyranny of Dionysius, yet it was a delight to them to join in the War against the Carthaginians, by reason of the barbarous and beastly cruelty of the Men.
1855 Morning Post 30 Oct. 3/1 The unfortunate man who was the victim of cruel, unmanly and beastly violence was Samuel Morrow.
1922 Northwestern Christian Advocate 15 Feb. 220/1 Will there be other cases that approximate this in cold blooded and beastly cruelty?
2014 Gender & Behaviour 12 6202/2 The girl is subjected to the most beastly and barbaric punishment.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > goodness and badness > badness or evil > offensiveness > [adjective]
bysenc1375
offensivea1548
nasty1548
beastly1584
whelpish1586
heathenish1592
viperous1593
vermin1602
verminousc1616
unchristian1630
verminian1640
rancida1646
verminly1653
spider-like1655
exceptionable1691
skunky1842
slaggy1943
schmucky1952
grotty1964
grody1965
the mind > emotion > fear > cowardice or pusillanimity > [adjective] > abjectly cowardly
recrayedc1330
recreantc1330
craven?a1400
poor1425
currishc1460
fazart1508
soulless1568
dastardly1576
beastly1584
dastard1595
low-spirited1598
peaking1611
white meata1625
cur-like1627
snivelling1647
cravenly1653
base-mettled1681
niding1755
poltroonish1801
niddering1819
turn-tail1861
turpid1867
cold-footed1944
Charley1954
1584 T. Hudson tr. G. de S. Du Bartas Hist. Judith vi. 94 Some braue in words, are beastly of their hands [Fr. Qui braue de parole, & de courage tremble].
ΘΚΠ
the mind > mental capacity > intellect > want of intellect > animal nature of man > [adjective]
beastly?c1225
bestiala1398
brutal?1518
brute1535
brutish1555
animal1581
beaverish1850
beaver-like1873
?c1225 (?a1200) Ancrene Riwle (Cleo. C.vi) (1972) 48 Þe beastlich mon þet ne þenchet naut on god.
c1450 (?c1425) St. Christina in Anglia (1885) 8 124 (MED) Religious men..dredynge lest þat houge wonderynge of mer[u]eylles shulde passe mannys witte & turne beestly myndes of men in to wikkyd wirkynge.
1552 R. Record Ground of Artes (rev. ed.) Pref. to Edw. VI sig. A.vv To bryng the people frome beastly rage to manly reason.
1599 M. Drayton Englands Heroicall Epist. (new ed.) f. 97 When it doth passe by beastly Ignorance.
1685 S. Johnson Church Eng. 4/1 O silly, foolish and dastardly Daws, and more beastly than the Ass whose Tail they kissed, that believe such things.
1703 W. Burkitt Expos. Notes New Test. Matt. xxii. 33 The beastly Opinion of the Mortality of the Soul.
1901 G. W. Warder Cities of Sun ix. 148 There may have been stupid or ignorant and beastly minds who thought seldom at all, or thought vaguely on this subject.
a. Physical, natural (as opposed to spiritual). Cf. animal adj. 2a, natural adj. 3b. Obsolete.In translations or discussions of biblical passages where the Vulgate has animalis.
ΘΚΠ
the world > life > [adjective]
beastlyc1384
biotical1869
biotic1891
c1384 Bible (Wycliffite, E.V.) (Douce 369(2)) (1850) 1 Cor. xv. 44 It is sowun a beestly [a1425 L.V. beestli; L. animale] body, it schal ryse a spiritual body.
c1450 (?c1425) St. Christina in Anglia (1885) 8 131 (MED) In þe laste ȝeere of hir lyfe, þe spirite hadde goten þe beestly body welnye in alle partyes.
1526 W. Bonde Pylgrimage of Perfection iii. sig. aviii The beestly man can nat parceyue those thynges yt be godly, of hym they be reputed as folysshnesse, bycause they be spyrituall and he carnall.
b. Of or relating to the animal spirit (animal spirit n. 1a) or to the basic functions of the brain and nerves. Cf. animal adj. 1a. Obsolete. [With beastly virtue compare post-classical Latin virtus animalis (14th cent. in a British source).]
ΘΚΠ
the world > life > source or principle of life > vital principle > [adjective]
vitalc1405
beastly?c1425
spirital1568
vival1636
archeal1728
vitalistic1865
orgonotic1942
orgonomic1949
?c1425 tr. Guy de Chauliac Grande Chirurgie (Paris) (1971) 413 Þay haue turnede into maddenesse wiþ a grete bataylle of beestly vertue [L. pugna virtutis animalis & naturalis] and by consequent into dethe.
1532 (c1385) Usk's Test. Loue in Wks. G. Chaucer ii. f. cccxxxviiv/2 Beestly wytte shulde ben subiecte to reason.
4. Of or relating to animals, esp. mammals or quadrupeds (as contrasted with humans); animal or mammalian in kind or nature; characteristic of an animal or wild beast, beastlike or bestial. Now archaic.In later use often with punning allusion to sense 5b.
ΘΚΠ
the world > animals > [adjective] > as opposed to man
rudea1325
beastlya1393
brute-beastish1530
brutish1534
ignoble1602
subhuman1790
a1393 J. Gower Confessio Amantis (Fairf.) i. l. 3025 And wailende in his [sc. Nebuchadnezzar's] bestly stevene.
?a1425 tr. Guy de Chauliac Grande Chirurgie (N.Y. Acad. Med.) f. 159v (MED) Þai [sc. labouryng men] haue complexione wilde & bestly [L. brutales] and barbaryne i. stronge..which escapeþ of strong sikenez wiþoute leche & wiþout medicyne.
?a1560 L. Digges Geom. Pract.: Pantometria (1571) Pref. sig. A iv Wherein..the nature of man surmounteth beastly kinde.
1608 Great Frost sig. B4v Which charge of feeding so many beastly mouthes, is able to eate vp a Country-mans estate.
1679 E. Ecclestone Noah's Flood iii. 25 I in this beastly form [sc. of a bull] thought I was safe.
1779 W. Combe World as it Goes 20 She woo'd each beastly shape, The sturdy Stallion, and luxurious Ape.
1872 Good Words for Young 6/2 He..does not pine under the remorse which, according to all codes, human or beastly, a well-regulated donkey ought to feel for this his most abominable and wicked action.
1966 V. Markov & M. Sparks tr. I. Selvinsky in Mod. Russ. Poetry 661 The Lion once gathered the beastly throng.
2000 G. Forter Murdering Masculinities ii. 65 The sex of our beastly ancestors couldn't perform this combinatory function.
5. Chiefly British.
a. Repugnant, abominable; disgusting, foul, or offensive, esp. because of dirtiness.In later use passing into 5b.
ΚΠ
1546 G. Joye Refut. Byshop Winchesters Derke Declar. f. civ And euen these lo, be youre romyshe craftye kayes and youre owne beastly hatchets ye vse to deceiue the simple christians.
a1631 Sir J. Oglander Mem. (1888) 101 In those tymes the streates were not paved, but lay most wet and beastlye.
1681 P. Rycaut tr. B. Gracián y Morales Critick 123 It gave them immediately such a Vomit, that they speued forth most vile Corruption, and beastly Ordure.
1848 H. Gavin Sanitary Ramblings 11 This street is perfectly beastly, the gutters are filled with..offensive, putrifying mud.
1905 Monthly Bull. Div. Zool. (Pennsylvania State Dept. Agric.) May 110 Flies in thousands, dividing their time between devouring the sputum..as well as other noxious and beastly filth and crawling over and sipping the sweet juices from the fruits and things we are to eat.
1941 Morpeth Herald 11 July 6/1 Bedlington magistrates on Friday expressed the opinion that there was no excuse for the ‘beastly conditions’ in the home of a young couple whom the justices sent to prison for a month with hard labour for child neglect.
b. colloquial. In weakened use: unpleasant, distasteful, or objectionable. In later use also as an intensifier used to emphasize something unpleasant or negative, or expressing frustration, annoyance, or contempt: awful, dreadful; wretched, confounded.Now somewhat old-fashioned or humorous; sometimes regarded as characteristic of upper-class speech.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > attention and judgement > contempt > disapproval > [adjective] > worthy of disapproval > not worthy of approval
hard-favoured1595
implausible1602
unapprovable1647
objectionable1653
unexemplar1685
exceptionable1691
unexemplary1699
ceptionable1702
objectable1747
beastly1763
objectional1799
unqualifiable1823
funky1946
1763 E. Harris Let. 2 July in Earl of Malmesbury Lett. (1870) I. 93 We..had a beastly walk through the Borough.
1830 B. Disraeli Let. 1 June in Home Lett. (1885) i. 3 The steam packet is a beastly conveyance.
1883 American 6 245 This beastly English weather, you know.
1906 Truth 25 Dec. 37/1 It's the 'flu.—what a beastly bore!
1915 H. Rosher In Royal Naval Air Service (1916) 97 I..spent the whole of the afternoon trying to get my beastly engine to go.
1925 W. Deeping Sorrell & Son xvii. 163 ‘Did they make it rather beastly—for you?’ ‘O, not so bad, pater.’
1943 U. Bloom No Lady with Pen iv. 58 Oh, do shut up about your beastly book!
2003 S. Brett Murder in Museum xiii. 112 He's still horribly crocked up by the beastly things that happened to him in the war.
c. colloquial. Deliberately unkind; malicious. Cf. sense 1b.Now somewhat old-fashioned or humorous; sometimes regarded as characteristic of upper-class speech.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > goodness and badness > harmfulness > ill-nature > [adjective]
shrew1297
shrewd13..
maliciousc1330
ill-disposedc1460
shrewishc1480
indisposed1481
misaffectionate1533
unsavoury1568
ill-conditioned1614
ill-natured1645
unamiable1711
malignant1785
ill-thriven1806
nasty1825
beastly1911
1911 Evening News 25 Feb. 4 If you put him [sc. a child] to bed the punishment lasts much longer and isn't nearly so effective. He probably thought you were simply being beastly to him.
1920 N. Coward I'll leave it to You iii. 50 I thought maybe it was only the heat of the moment that made you so utterly beastly.
1950 C. S. Lewis Lion, Witch & Wardrobe v. 47 You've been perfectly beastly to Lu.
2008 Washington Post 15 Feb. (Home ed.) a21/1 Are the news media being beastly to Hillary Clinton?
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, September 2021; most recently modified version published online June 2022).
beastlyadv.
/ˈbiːs(t)li/, U.S. /ˈbis(t)li/ΘΚΠ
the mind > goodness and badness > harmfulness > savagery > [adverb]
grimc893
sternlyc897
bremeOE
bitterlyc1000
etelichec1175
heterlya1225
felonly1303
asperlyc1314
fellc1330
fellyc1330
cruentlyc1380
beastlyc1390
unmanlyc1454
felonmentc1470
cruelly1487
inhumanly1490
unkindfully?1534
boarishlya1563
savagely1563
tiger-like1576
unhumanly1586
inhumanlike1595
inhumanely1598
immanely1612
savagiously1625
wolvishly1628
beastlilya1631
brutisha1645
truculently1654
tigerously1698
brutally1749
tigerishly1878
the world > physical sensation > physical sensibility > sensuous pleasure > sensuality > [adverb] > animal sensuality
beastlyc1390
bestially?a1439
beastlywise1440
beast-like1604
doggishly1928
the world > action or operation > behaviour > bad behaviour > ill-treatment > cruelty > [adverb] > inhumanly
unmanlyc1454
inhumanly1490
unhumanly1586
inhumanlike1595
inhumanely1598
immanely1612
beastly1652
brutally1749
brutishly1807
c1390 Talkyng of Love of God (Vernon) (1950) 42 (MED) So woldest þou..maken vs caytyues, þat beestlich liuen heere.
c1475 (?c1400) Apol. Lollard Doctr. (1842) 58 Onclen suyn, fyling oþer, lyfing bestly, are sett in þe kirk.
c1530 A. Barclay Egloges iii. sig. N v Some Jangle whan they be beestly fed.
1562 W. Bullein Bk. Use Sicke Men f. lxxviiv, in Bulwarke of Defence Wastyng their wealthe..foolishely, and moste beastly.
a1616 W. Shakespeare Taming of Shrew (1623) iv. ii. 34 Fie on her, see how beastly she doth court him. View more context for this quotation
1652 J. Gaule Πυς-μαντια 371 Bellantius..was most beastly murdered.
1655 tr. A. Semedo Hist. China i. ii. 12 A poore traveller is so beastly and barbarously, robbed and spoiled.
2. Chiefly British. Modifying an adjective or adverb.Now colloquial and somewhat old-fashioned or humorous; sometimes regarded as characteristic of upper-class speech.
a. Originally with the sense ‘as —— as a beast; —— like a beast’; brutishly, abhorrently (now rare). Later (in weakened sense): unpleasantly, objectionably; (hence as an intensifier in negative contexts) dreadfully, awfully, terribly (cf. sense 2b).
ΘΚΠ
the mind > emotion > suffering > displeasure > [adverb] > in unpleasant manner
illa1275
unsavourly1377
unlovelyc1400
sour?a1513
beastly?1518
unfaringly1519
unpleasantly1542
ill-favouredly1545
uncomfortably1548
offensively1576
ungratefullya1586
adversely1593
unpleasingly1597
displeasantly1607
unsavourily1611
distastefully1631
unwelcomely1642
displeasurably1648
disagreeably1656
disgustfully1731
displeasingly1731
unpalatably1741
poisonously1746
undelightfully1749
awfully1815
unpleasurably1823
objectionably1825
unagreeably1850
disgustingly1856
undesirably1890
the world > action or operation > behaviour > bad behaviour > ill-treatment > cruelty > [adverb]
heterlya1225
cruellya1340
despitouslyc1374
cruentlyc1380
harageouslyc1450
despitefully1487
despiteouslya1500
beastly?1518
butcherly?1560
savagely1563
bitterly1611
despitely1619
savagiously1625
the world > relative properties > quantity > greatness of quantity, amount, or degree > high or intense degree > [adverb] > extremely or exceedingly > specifically of something bad
sorea1300
grievously1340
terrible1490
beastly?1518
shrewdlyc1533
arrantly?1548
murrainly?1548
abominablea1550
pestilence1567
pestilently1567
cursedly1570
pestiferously1570
murrain1575
plaguey1584
plaguilya1586
grievous1598
scandalously1602
horridly1603
terribly1604
monstrously1611
hellish1614
dreadfullya1616
horrid1615
pestilenta1616
infernally1638
preposterously1661
woeful1684
confoundedly1694
confounded1709
glaringly1709
cursed1719
flagrantly1756
weary1790
disgustingly1804
filthy1827
blamed1833
peskily1833
pesky1833
blame1843
blasted1854
wickedly1858
blatantly1878
shamelessly1885
disgracefully1893
ruddy1913
bastarda1935
pissing1951
sodding1954
pissingly1971
?1518 A. Barclay tr. D. Mancinus Myrrour Good Maners sig. f.iv Be nat beastly redy, thy lustes to fulfyll.
1561 T. Norton tr. J. Calvin Inst. Christian Relig. i. f. 25 So beastly folish are men.
1655 in R. Renwick Extracts Rec. Royal Burgh of Lanark (1893) 156 Scho was fund beastly drunk.
1793 M. Drayton Poet. Wks. 494/2 Into those colder climes to people beastly rude, So others that were ours courageously pursu'd The planting of the truth.
1844 C. Dickens Let. 28 Nov. (1977) IV. 230 I was so beastly dirty when I got to this house.
1856 ‘C. Bede’ Tales College Life ii. 19 There was that letter I sent him the day before yesterday,—through being so beastly hard up,—..asking him to send me a cheque.
1915 Bath Chron. 27 Feb. 6/1 In summer, commencing about April, it gets beastly hot.
2000 A. DeWolfe Always her Hero viii. 214 Beastly boring, that's what growing up is.
b. As a simple intensifier (in neutral and positive contexts): extremely, exceedingly (now somewhat rare).In recent use often punning on beast n.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > goodness and badness > state of being accursed > [adverb] > as everyday imprecation
wickedlya1375
terrible1490
cursedly1570
plaguilya1586
damnably1598
cursefully1606
damnedly1607
lousily1611
damnablea1616
execrably1633
excrementitiously1638
infernally1638
mangilya1640
putidly1654
infamously1695
consumedly1707
damned1757
damnationly1762
shockingly1768
damn1787
deucedly1819
peskily1833
pesky1833
beastly1853
dashedly1888
stinkingly1906
rasted1919
effing1945
1853 J. Lang Too Clever by Half xii. 43 George was beastly rich, and a most careful fellow, too.
1864 Belfast Morning News 25 July The day was beautiful—it was another of those sultry July days which have recently been described, with a whimsical combination of contrarieties, as ‘beastly fine’.
1894 I. Zangwill King of Schnorrers 220 You must have been doing beastly well, old man.
1925 Nassau Lit. Mag. Feb. 258 I was just spoofing you old topper, about your wife—beastly good joke, eh?
1943 Danville (Virginia) Bee 27 Jan. 10/3 (comic strip) She's beastly rich old boy—I'll marry her—and buy back Droopingham Castle.
2008 Times 30 Oct. (Times2 section) 13/2 Tony Manero—Pablo Larrain's dark thriller about a 52-year-old loser..who becomes infatuated with the spivvy dancer played by John Travolta in Saturday Night Fever—is a beastly good film.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, September 2021; most recently modified version published online December 2021).
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adj.c1225
adv.c1390