flagitious (flajishus)

[= OF. flagicicus = Sp. Pg. flag i cio so = It. flagizioso, L. flagitio sus, disgraceful, shameful, infamous, It. flagizio = Sp. Pg. flagicio, disgraceful conduct), He beynge blynded with the ambicious desyre of rule before this, in obteyning the kyngdome, had perpetrate and done many flag i cio us actes and detestable tyrannies. Hall , Rich. III., an. 3. The account of what befel the Jews upon their crucifying the Lord of life, and fastening the guilt of that flagitious act upon themselves and their posterity. Bp . Atterbury , Sermons, II. v. That gallant cavalier [Colonel Turner] was hanged, after the restoration, for a flagitious burglary. Macaulay , Hallam's Const. Hist. 2. Guilty of scandalous crimes; profligate; corrupt; abandoned. These were artifices which wicked men make use of to deter the best of men from punishing tyrants and flag i tious persons. Milton , Defence of People of England. He dies, sad outcast of each church and state, And, harder still! flagitious , yet not great. Pope, Moral E ays, i. 205. 3. Marked or characterized by scandalous crimes or vices: as, a flagitious record. Discharge that rage on more provoking crimes, Nor fear a dearth in these flagitious times. Pope, E ay on Criticism, 1. 529. = Syn. Execrable, Villainous, etc. (see nefarious ); heinous, shameful, infamous, shocking, vile. flagitiously (fla-jish'us-li), adv. In a flagitious manner; with extreme wickedne ; atrociously; scandalously. If Amasa were now, in the act of loyalty, justly (on God's part) payd for the are rages of his late rebellion, yet that it should be done by thy hand, then and thus, it was flagitiously cruel. Bp. Hall , Sheba's Rebellion. Macaulay . A sentence so flagitiously unjust.