Search the Dictionary

Slight; thin; lean; poor. Having Grate on their scranned pipes of wretched straw. Milton.

A mean fellow; a wretch. [Obs.] hak.

r; grossly opprobrious or loudly jocose in language; scurrilous; as, scurrile taunts. The wretched affectation of scurrile laughter. Cowley. A scurrile or obscene jest will better advance you at the court of Charles than father's ancient name. Sir W. Scott.

The quality or state of being seedy, shabby, or worn out; a state of wretchedness or exhaustion. [Colloq.] G. Eliot. What is called seedness, after a debauch, is a plain proof that nature has been outraged. J. S. Blackie.

To knit together, or make strong with, or as with, sinews. Shak. Wretches, now stuck up for long tortures . . . might, if properly treated, serve to sinew the state in time of danger. Goldsmith.

An abject person; a wretch. Shak. Slave ant (Zoöl.), any species of ants which is captured and enslaved by another species, especially Formica fusca of Europe and America, which is commonly enslaved by Formica sanguinea. -- Slave catcher, one who attempted to catch and bring back a fugitive slave to his master. -- Sl…

and unworthy of notice; to make light of; as, to slight the divine commands. Milton. The wretch who slights the bounty of the skies. Cowper. To slight off, to treat slightingly; to drive off; to remove. [R.] -- To slight over, to run over in haste; to perform superficially; to treat carelessly; as, to slight over a th…

A mean, dirty wretch. [Low]

talent, to enrich your whole capital as a man. It is in this way that you escape from the wretched narrow- mindedness which is the characteristic of every one who cultivates his speciality. Ld. Lytton. We 'll say, instead, the inconsequent creature man, -For that'a his speciality. Mrs. Browning. Think of this, sir, . .…

One who keeps a constant watch of the conduct of others. "These wretched spies of wit." Dryden.

that stood in great prosperitee And is yfallen out of high degree Into misery and endeth wretchedly. Chaucer. All our tragedies are of kings and princes. Jer. Taylor. tragedy is poetry in its deepest earnest; comedy is poetry in unlimited jest. Coleridge.

To deprive of blessings; to make wretched. [Obs.] Shak.

Not blest; excluded from benediction; hence, accursed; wretched. "Unblessed enchanter." Milton.

In a degree miserable or wretched; not happy; sad; sorrowful; as, children render their parents unhappy by misconduct.

Not blessed or happy; wretched; unfortunate. [Written also unsilly.] [Obs.] Chaucer. -- Un*se"li*ness, n. [Obs.] Chaucer.

Base; vile; mean; depraved; as, a villainous person or wretch.

Full of woe; sorrowful; distressed with grief or calamity; afflicted; wretched; unhappy; sad. How many woeful widows left to bow To sad disgrace! Daniel.

The quality or state of being woeful; misery; wretchedness.

, you are novices; 't is a world to see How tame, when men and women are alone, A meacock wretch can make the curstest shrew. Shak. -- For all the world. (a) Precisely; exactly. (b) For any consideration. -- Seven wonders of the world. See in the Dictionary of Noted Names in Fiction. -- To go to the world, to be marr…

A wretch. [Obs.]