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Savage wildness or fierceness; fury; cruelty; as, ferocity of countenance. The pride and ferocity of a Highland chief. Macaulay.

Vehement in anger or cruelty; ready or eager to kill or injure; of a nature to inspire terror; ferocious. "A fierce whisper." Dickens. "A fierce tyrant." Pope. The fierce foe hung upon our broken rear. Milton. Thou huntest me as a fierce lion. Job. x. 16.

The state or quality of being flinty; hardness; cruelty. Beau. & Fl.

r be recorded in our history. Landor. It would be a far better work . . . to forefend the cruelty. I. Taylor.

sp., one accustomed to play for a stake; a gambler; one skilled in games. When lenity and cruelty play for a kingdom, the gentlest gamester is the soonest winner. Shak.

The quality of being imbecile; weakness; feebleness, esp. of mind. Cruelty . . . argues not only a depravedness of nature, but also a meanness of courage and imbecility of mind. Sir W. Temple.

To advance or progress in bad qualities; to grow worse. "Domitain improved in cruelty." Milner.

o stain; to saturate; to imbue; to infix deeply. Our fields ingrained with blood. Daniel. Cruelty and jealousy seem to be ingrained in a man who has these vices at all. Helps.

Characterized by, or attended with, cruelty; as, an inhuman act or punishment.

The quality or state of being inhuman; cruelty; barbarity. Man's inhumanity to man Makes countless thousands mourn. Burns.

resembled Nero in their extravagance, much more did they resemble and even exceed him in cruelty and injustice. Burke.

's pitch, asphaltum; bitumen. -- The Wandering Jew, an imaginary personage, who, for his cruelty to the Savior during his passion, is doomed to wander on the earth till Christ's second coming.

The killing of a considerable number of human beings under circumstances of atrocity or cruelty, or contrary to the usages of civilized people; as, the massacre on St. Bartholomew's Day.

Any thing or person of unnatural or excessive ugliness, deformity, wickedness, or cruelty.

To mutilate, spoil, or deform, as if with malice or cruelty; to mangle; as, to murder the king's English.

A Roman emperor notorius for debauchery and barbarous cruelty; hence, any profligate and cruel ruler or merciless tyrant. -- Ne*ro"ni*an, a.

To impose excessive burdens upon; to overload; hence, to treat with unjust rigor or with cruelty. Wyclif. For thee, oppressèd king, am I cast down. Shak. Behold the kings of the earth; how they oppress Thy chosen ! Milton.

That which oppresses; a hardship or injustice; cruelty; severity; tyranny. "The multitude of oppressions." Job xxxv. 9.

To pursue in a manner to injure, grieve, or afflict; to beset with cruelty or malignity; to harass; especially, to afflict, harass, punish, or put to death, for adherence to a particular religious creed or mode of worship. Do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you. M…

an excuse; an apology. "Necessity, the tyrant's plea." Milton. No plea must serve; 't is cruelty to spare. Denham.