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Extreme evilness of nature or influence; perniciousness; heinousness; as, the malignity of fraud. [R.]

Unlawfully or irregularly begotten; of bad origin; pernicious. "Valor misbegot." Shak.

Hurtful; harmful; baneful; pernicious; injurious; destructive; unwholesome; insalubrious; as, noxious air, food, or climate; pernicious; corrupting to morals; as, noxious practices or examples. Too frequent an appearance in places of public resort is noxious to spiritual promotions. Swift.

Fig.: That which is pestilent, noxious, or pernicious to the moral character of great numbers. I'll pour this pestilence into his ear. Shak. Pestilence weed (Bot.), the butterbur coltsfoot (Petasites vulgaris), so called because formerly considered a remedy for the plague. Dr. Prior.

Pestilential; noxious; pernicious; mischievous. "Corrupt and pestilent." Milton. "What a pestilent knave is this same!" Shak.

Hence: Mischievous; noxious; pernicious; morally destructive. So pestilential, so infectious a thing is sin. Jer. Taylor.

s restraint or censorship, subject only to punishment for libelous, seditious, or morally pernicious matters. -- Press bed, a bed that may be folded, and inclosed, in a press or closet. Boswell. -- Press of sail, (Naut.), as much sail as the state of the wind will permit.

Causing, or tending to cause, ruin; destructive; baneful; pernicious; as, a ruinous project. After a night of storm so ruinous. Milton.

Harmful; doing damage; pernicious. Shak. -- Scath"ful*ness, n.

Cursed; baneful; hurtful; bad; pernicious; dangerous. [Obs.] "Wicked dew." Shak. This were a wicked way, but whoso had a guide. P. Plowman.

rinkle, or decay, for want of animal moisture. "Age can not wither her." Shak. Shot forth pernicious fire Among the accursed, that withered all their strength. Milton.

Bad, evil, or pernicious, in the highest degree, whether in a physical or moral sense. See Worse. "Heard so oft in worst extremes." Milton. I have a wife, the worst that may be. Chaucer. If thou hadst not been born the worst of men, Thou hadst been a knave and flatterer. Shak.