rotten-heartedadj.

c1405 (c1390) G. Chaucer Parson's Tale (Ellesmere) (1877) §689 This roten herted synne of Accidie and slouthe.

1613 J. Stephens Cinthia's Revenge iv. iii. sig. M4 Thou thanklesse, rotten-hearted-slaue, thou snake Did I deserue suppression?

1627 R. Sanderson Ten Serm. 285 A rotten-hearted Hypocrite humbleth himselfe outwardly, but repenteth not truely.

1702 Clarendon's Hist. Rebellion I. iv. 264 The People..Affronted such Lords as came near them,..calling them Rotten-hearted Lords.

1788 R. Burns Let. Dec. (2001) I. 347 That puritanic, rotten-hearted, h-ll-commissioned scoundrel.

1841 C. Dickens Barnaby Rudge lxvii. 326 Abject things those rotten-hearted jails had made them.

1857 Times 1 Aug. 10/2 It has led to the open mutiny of several rotten-hearted regiments.

1922 T. M. Longstreth Laurentians v. 76 Civilization gets top-heavy down there, proud-headed and rotten-hearted.

1993 Washington Times (Nexis) 11 Jan. d2 She tells the police how and why she tricked her rotten-hearted husband..into falling down that hole.

1651 J. Ogilby Fables of Æsop Paraphras'd ii. 34 Some rotten-hearted Elms, and Wooden Peers, Run with the stream, spurd up by Hopes or Fears.

1663 Good Counsel at Cheap Rate 6 The Noble pine Tree, which was never known to be rotten-hearted, although it be never so old.

1771 W. Evans tr. R. Prichard Welshman's Candle 418 Prune, as you please, a rotten-hearted tree, You neither fruit, nor shade, shall long obtain.

1820 Amer. Jrnl. Sci. 2 263 The wound in the tree is extensive and a ruinous decay is often the consequence, the tree becoming rotten-hearted.

1878 O. S. Fowler Private Lect. Perfect Men, Women & Children ii. vi. 64/1 Dozy old trees, fair-appearing outside,..yet hollow, rotten-hearted, barkless.

1906 Proc. 4th Ann. Eastern Meeting (N.Y. State Fruit Growers' Assoc.) 153 If, in trimming, you make a gash in the side of the tree,..after a few years you will find that you have a rotten hearted tree.

1989 R. Taylor Fall of Fyorlund xlvii. 396 You'll yield at some future, more critical time, like a rotten-hearted tree.

2004 H. Gee Sci. Middle-earth viii. 95 Bombadil makes it clear to the Hobbits that this single, ancient, and rotten-hearted tree is largely responsible for much of the evil reputation of the Old Forest as a whole.