baculite (bakulit)

and a. [ an effeminate person, a hermaphrodite, with formative -el, exist also some local names, but traces gest elsewhere are slight; cf. AS. * bede, " pede, immatura," negative *or- bede, "or-pede, adult us," in glo es. This etymology, glo es. This etymology, first suggested by Leo, is uncertain, but it is the only one that fairly satisfies the phonetic and historical conditions; the word can have no connection, nectio as as su suggested, with Goth. bauths, deaf and dum dumb, with G. böse böse, bad, or with Corn. vulgar speech milar development bad, Ir. Gael. baodh, foolish, foolish, etc. The orig. word, AS. bæddel, ME. * ba * baddel, on account of its sinister import, is scarcely found in liter a prob. ture, but, like other words of similar sense, it prob. flourished in vulgar speech as an indefinite term of abuse, and at length, length, divested of its original meaning, emerged in literary use as a mere adj adj., badde, equiv. to the older evil. (Cf. the similar development of the adj. wicked, ME. wicked, wikked, earlier wicke, wikke, from the noun AS. wicca, m., a witch, witch, wizard, hence an evil person: see wicked1.) The adj. adj. first appears at the end of the 13th century, and does not become common till the 15th century. In high literary use it is cor comparatively rare, as against evil, till the 18th century. In the English Bible bad occurs but rarely, rarely, and only in the familiar antithesis with good. Bad was formerly compared reg. badder, baddest, but has now taken from evil the irreg. comparison worse, worst.] I. a.; compar. worse, superl. worst (formerly badder, baddest ). 1. Evil; ill; vicious; wicked; de conduct, character, influence, etc.: as, a bad man; bad conduct; a bad life; a bad heart; bad influence, etc. IMG:content-1536.png:[graphic] IMG:content-1537.png:[blocks in formation] 2. Offensive; disagreeable; troublesome; painful; grievous: as, bad treatment; a bad temper; it is too bad that you had to wait so long. The old soldiers of James were generally in a very bad temper. Macaulay . 3. Hurtful; noxious; having an injurious or unfavorable tendency or effect: with for: as, bad air or bad food; late hours are bad for the health; this step would be bad for your reputation or prospects. Reading was bad for his eyes; writing made his head Add is on. IMG:content-1538.png:[blocks in formation] The Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia: Dictionary IMG:content-1540.png:[ocr errors] bad 5. Not good; defective; worthle ; poor; of no value: as, bad coin; bad debts; a bad soil; a bad crop; a bad piece of work; bad health. Perjuries are common as bad pence. Cowper , Expostulation. 6. Incorrect; faulty: as, a bad aim; bad English; a bad pronunciation. Call, if you will, bad rhyming a disease. Pope , Imit. of Horace, II. ii. 182. 7. Not valid; not sound: as, a bad claim; a bad plea. "You had better get a porter's knot, and carry trunks." Nor was the advice bad ; for a porter was likely to be as plentifully fed, and as comfortably lodged, as a poet. Macaulay , Samuel Johnson. IMG:content-1541.png:[blocks in formation] Zeal for orthodoxy became a badge of Spanish patriot ism after the long struggle, first with Arians, and then with Moors. H. N. Oxenham , Short Studies, p. 387. IMG:content-1542.png:[blocks in formation] [ Bad is the ordinary antithesis of good, in all its senses, whether positively, 'evil,' 'harmful,' or negatively, 'not good, 'not satisfactory,' and whether substantively, being evil, or causally, 'causing harm.' The senses run into one another, the precise application being determined by the context.]-Bad blood, bad conscience, etc. See the nouns. - Bad form, conduct not in accordance with good taste or propriety, or not in keeping with the present conventional usage; slightly vulgar; not very refined. [Slang.] They are taught that to become emotional or enthusiastic over anything is bad form. N. A. Rev. , CXLII. 621. In bad odor. See odor . With a bad grace. See grace , II. n. That which is bad. (a) A bad condition: as, to go to the bad (see below). (b) A bad thing: as, there are bads and goods among them. To the bad. (a) To ruin, financial or moral: as, he and his affairs soon went to the bad. (b) To the wrong side of the account; in arrear or deficit: as, I am now $100 to the bad. bad2 (bad). Preterit of bid.