ill
EnglishEdit
EtymologyEdit
From Middle English ille (“evil; wicked”), from Old Norse illr (adj), illa (adverb), ilt (noun) (whence Icelandic illur, Norwegian ille, Danish ilde), from Proto-Germanic *ilhilaz, from Proto-Indo-European *h₁elk- (whence Latin ulcus (“sore”), Ancient Greek ἕλκος (hélkos, “wound, ulcer”), Sanskrit अर्शस् (árśas, “hemorrhoids”) (whence Hindi अर्श (arś)).[1]
PronunciationEdit
AdjectiveEdit
ill (comparative worse or iller or more ill, superlative worst or illest or most ill)
- (obsolete) Evil; wicked (of people). [13th-19th c.]
- (Can we date this quote by Francis Atterbury and provide title, author's full name, and other details?)
- St. Paul chose to magnify his office when ill men conspired to lessen it.
- 1749, Henry Fielding, The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling. In Six Volumes, volume (please specify |volume=I to VI), London: Printed by A[ndrew] Millar, […], OCLC 928184292:
- A man who is conscious of having an ill character, cannot justly be angry with those who neglect and slight him.
- (Can we date this quote by Francis Atterbury and provide title, author's full name, and other details?)
- (archaic) Morally reprehensible (of behaviour etc.); blameworthy. [from 13th c.]
- 1999, George RR Martin, A Clash of Kings, Bantam 2011, p. 2:
- ‘Go bring her. It is ill to keep a lady waiting.’
- 1999, George RR Martin, A Clash of Kings, Bantam 2011, p. 2:
- Indicative of unkind or malevolent intentions; harsh, cruel. [from 14th c.]
- He suffered from ill treatment.
- Unpropitious, unkind, faulty, not up to reasonable standard.
- ill manners; ill will
- 1959, Georgette Heyer, chapter 1, in The Unknown Ajax:
- […] his lordship was out of humour. That was the way Chollacombe described as knaggy an old gager as ever Charles had had the ill-fortune to serve. Stiff-rumped, that's what he was, always rubbing the rust, or riding grub, like he had been for months past.
- Unwell in terms of health or physical condition; sick. [from 15th c.]
- I've been ill with the flu for the past few days.
- Having an urge to vomit. [from 20th c.]
- Seeing those pictures made me ill.
- (hip-hop slang) Sublime, with the connotation of being so in a singularly creative way.
- 1986, Beastie Boys, License to Ill
- 1994, Biggie Smalls, The What
- Biggie Smalls is the illest / Your style is played out, like Arnold wonderin "Whatchu talkin bout, Willis?"
- (slang) Extremely bad (bad enough to make one ill). Generally used indirectly with to be.
- That band was ill.
- (dated) Unwise; not a good idea.
- (Can we date this quote by George Swinnock and provide title, author's full name, and other details?)
- Oh that when the devil and flesh entice the sinner to sport with and make a mock of sin, Prov. x. 23, he would but consider, it is ill jesting with edged tools, it is ill jesting with unquenchable burnings; […]
- 1914, Indian Ink (volume 1, page 32)
- They arrested everybody—and it is ill to resist a drunken Tommy with a loaded rifle!
- (Can we date this quote by George Swinnock and provide title, author's full name, and other details?)
Usage notesEdit
- The comparative worse and superlative worst are the standard forms. The forms iller and illest are also used in American English, but are less than a quarter as frequent as "more" and "most" forms. The forms iller, illest are quite common in the slang sense "sublime".
SynonymsEdit
- (suffering from a disease): diseased, poorly (UK), sick, under the weather (informal), unwell
- (having an urge to vomit): disgusted, nauseated, nauseous, sick, sickened
- (bad): bad, mal-
- (in hip-hop slang: sublime): dope
- See also Thesaurus:diseased
AntonymsEdit
- (suffering from a disease): fine, hale, healthy, in good health, well
- (bad): good
- (in hip-hop slang: sublime): wack
Derived termsEdit
Terms derived from ill (adjective)
TranslationsEdit
in poor health, suffering from a disease
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having an urge to vomit
bad — see bad
in hip-hop slang: sublime
- The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables, removing any numbers. Numbers do not necessarily match those in definitions. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout#Translations.
Translations to be checked
ReferencesEdit
- ^ Michiel de Vaan, Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the Other Italic Languages, s.v. "ulcus" (Leiden: Brill, 2008), 637.
AdverbEdit
ill (comparative worse or more ill, superlative worst or most ill)
- Not well; imperfectly, badly; hardly.
- 1859, Charles Dickens, The Haunted House
- Within, I found it, as I had expected, transcendently dismal. The slowly changing shadows waved on it from the heavy trees, were doleful in the last degree; the house was ill-placed, ill-built, ill-planned, and ill-fitted.
- 1992, Rudolf M[athias] Schuster, The Hepaticae and Anthocerotae of North America: East of the Hundredth Meridian, volume V, New York, N.Y.: Columbia University Press, →ISBN, page 3:
- In both groups, however, we find copious and intricate speciation so that, often, species limits are narrow and ill defined.
- 1994, Nelson Mandela, Long Walk to Freedom, Abacus 2010, p. 541:
- His inflexibility and blindness ill become a leader, for a leader must temper justice with mercy.
- 2006, Julia Borossa (translator), Monique Canto-Sperber (quoted author), in Libération, 2002 February 2, quoted in Élisabeth Badinter (quoting author), Dead End Feminism, Polity, →ISBN, page 40:
- Is it because this supposes an undifferentiated violence towards others and oneself that I could ill imagine in a woman?
- 1859, Charles Dickens, The Haunted House
SynonymsEdit
AntonymsEdit
Derived termsEdit
Terms derived from ill (adverb)
TranslationsEdit
not well
NounEdit
ill (countable and uncountable, plural ills)
- (often pluralized) Trouble; distress; misfortune; adversity.
- c. 1599–1602, William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Hamlet, Prince of Denmarke”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies: Published According to the True Originall Copies (First Folio), London: Printed by Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, OCLC 606515358, [Act II, scene i]:
- That makes us rather bear those ills we have / Than fly to others that we know not of.
- 1913, Joseph C. Lincoln, chapter 4, in Mr. Pratt's Patients:
- Then he commenced to talk, really talk. and inside of two flaps of a herring's fin he had me mesmerized, like Eben Holt's boy at the town hall show. He talked about the ills of humanity, and the glories of health and Nature and service and land knows what all.
- Music won't solve all the world's ills, but it can make them easier to bear.
- Harm or injury.
- I wouldn't want you to do me ill.
- Evil; moral wrongfulness.
- (Can we date this quote by John Dryden and provide title, author's full name, and other details?)
- Strong virtue, like strong nature, struggles still, / Exerts itself, and then throws off the ill.
- (Can we date this quote by John Dryden and provide title, author's full name, and other details?)
- A physical ailment; an illness.
- I am incapacitated by rheumatism and other ills.
- (US, slang, uncountable) PCP, phencyclidine.
Derived termsEdit
TranslationsEdit
ReferencesEdit
- Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., 1989.
- Random House Webster's Unabridged Electronic Dictionary, 1987-1996.
Further readingEdit
- ill at OneLook Dictionary Search
AnagramsEdit
ScotsEdit
AdjectiveEdit
ill (comparative waur, superlative warst)
AdverbEdit
ill (comparative waur, superlative warst)
NounEdit
ill (plural ills)
WestrobothnianEdit
Alternative formsEdit
EtymologyEdit
From Old Norse illr, from Proto-Germanic *ilhilaz, from Proto-Indo-European * h₁elk-.
AdjectiveEdit
ill (neuter illt)
- evil, bad
- Han iles onga
- The evil one's kids
- Ja har illt i fotom
- I have pain in my feet.
- illt om styvra
- lack of money
- Han har illt uti säg
- He is concerned.
- Han har illt ini säg
- He has stomach pains.
- Ji hav illt hóvudä
- I have a headache.
- Han iles onga