insult
Language: English
Part of speech: verb
Pronunciation: enpr: ĭnsŭltʹ
ipa: /ɪnˈsʌlt/
Forms: form: insults
form: insulting
form: insulted
form: insulted
Etymology: The verb is derived from Middle French insulter (modern French insulter (“to insult”)) or its etymon Latin īnsultō (“to spring, leap or jump at or upon; to abuse, insult, revile, taunt”), the frequentative form of īnsiliō (“to bound; to leap in or upon”), from in- (prefix meaning ‘in, inside, within’) + saliō (“to bound, jump, leap; to spring forth; to flow down”) (ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *sel- (“to spring”)).
The noun is derived from Middle French insult (modern French insulte (“insult”)) or its etymon Late Latin insultus (“insult, reviling, scoffing”), from īnsiliō (“to bound; to leap in or upon”); see above.
Senses: examples: text: - Marvel owns your gods!
- Insulting is not arguing.
text: And why I pray you? who might be your mother
 That you inſult, exult, and all at once
 Ouer the wretched?
ref: c. 1598–1600 (date written), William Shakespeare, “As You Like It”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act III, scene v], page 199, column 2:
text: The Foe hayles on thy head; and in thy Face / Inſults, and trenches; leaues thee, no worlds grace; / The walles, in which thou art beſieged, ſhake.
ref: 1609, Geo[rge] Chapman, Euthymiæ Raptus; or The Teares of Peace: […], London: […] H[umphrey] L[ownes] for Rich[ard] Bonian, and H. Walley: […], →OCLC:
text: Nor would ſuch a man as thou art be deterr'd, were I to remind thee of the vengeance which thou mayeſt one day expect, if thou inſulteſt a woman of her character, family, and fortune.
ref: 1748, [Samuel Richardson], “Letter XLIX. Mr. Belford, to Robert Lovelace, Esq.”, in Clarissa. Or, The History of a Young Lady: […], volume III, London: […] S[amuel] Richardson; […], →OCLC, page 242:
text: Thou canst not tell where one drop of water or one grain of sand will be to-morrow noon; and yet with thy impotence thou insultest the sun!
ref: 1851 November 14, Herman Melville, “The Quadrant”, in Moby-Dick; or, The Whale, 1st American edition, New York, N.Y.: Harper & Brothers; London: Richard Bentley, →OCLC, page 553:
text: It was a wordy, disconnected, frantic letter, a drunken letter in fact. It was like the talk of a drunken man, who, on his return home, begins with extraordinary heat telling his wife or one of his household how he has just been insulted, what a rascal has just insulted him, what a fine fellow he is on the other hand, and how he will pay that scoundrel out; [...]
ref: 1912, Fyodor Dostoevsky, “The Second Visit to Smerdyakov”, in Constance Garnett, transl., The Brothers Karamazov […], New York, N.Y.: The Macmillan Company, published 1922, part IV, book XI (Ivan), page 667:
synonyms: disrespect
affront
disgrace
slander
discourtesy
offense
antonyms: compliment
glosses: To be insensitive, insolent, or rude to (somebody); to affront or demean (someone).
examples: text: Giue me thy knife, I will inſult on him,
 Flattering my ſelfes, as if it were the Moore,
 Come hither purpoſely to poyſon me.
ref: c. 1588–1593 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Lamentable Tragedy of Titus Andronicus”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act III, scene ii], page 43, column 1, lines 1518–1520:
text: Not with more madneſs, rolling from afar, / The ſpumy Waves proclaim the watry War. / And mounting upwards, with a mighty Roar, / March onwards, and inſult the rocky ſhoar.
ref: 1697, Virgil, “The Third Book of the Georgics”, in John Dryden, transl., The Works of Virgil: Containing His Pastorals, Georgics, and Æneis. […], London: […] Jacob Tonson, […], →OCLC, page 107, lines 367–370:
glosses: To assail, assault, or attack; (specifically, military) to carry out an assault, attack, or onset without preparation.
examples: text: And doe you ſe how he inſulteth ouer me, as though hee had gotten a great aduantage, and how hee taketh heere his reuenge vpon me, for the ſhipwracke hee ſuffered before, in the matter of his ſyllogyſme?
ref: 1609, “P. R.” [i.e., Robert Persons], “The First Chapter Ansvvering to the First of M. Thomas Mortons Three Vaine Inquiryes, Concerning the Witt, Memorie, Learning, Charitie, Modestie, and Truth of His Aduersarie, P. R.”, in A Qviet and Sober Reckoning vvith M. Thomas Morton Somewhat Set in Choler by His Aduersary P. R. […], [Saint-Omer, France]: [s.n.], →OCLC, §IIII (Another Vaine Contention Brought by M. Morton about Skill in Logike), page 37:
text: Now with the drops of this moſt balmie time, / My loue lookes freſh, and death to me ſubſcribes, / Since ſpight of him Ile liue in this poore time / While he inſults ore dull and ſpeachleſſe tribes.
ref: 1609, William Shakespeare, “Sonnet 107”, in Shake-speares Sonnets. […], London: By G[eorge] Eld for T[homas] T[horpe] and are to be sold by William Aspley, →OCLC:
text: But be it ſo thou haſt loſt all, poore thou art deiected, in paine of body, griefe of mind, thine enimies inſult ouer thee, thou art as bad as Iob, yet tel me (ſaith Chryſoſtome), was Iob or the Diuell the greater conqueror, ſurely Job, [...]
ref: 1624, Democritus Junior [pseudonym; Robert Burton], “Against Pouerty and Want, with Such Other Adversity”, in The Anatomy of Melancholy: […], 2nd edition, Oxford, Oxfordshire: […] John Lichfield and James Short, for Henry Cripps, →OCLC, partition 2, section 3, member 3, page 273:
glosses: To behave in an obnoxious and superior manner (against or over someone).
examples: text: So looks the pent-vp Lyon o're the Wretch, / That trembles vnder his deuouring Pawes: / And ſo he walkes, inſulting o're his Prey, / And ſo he comes, to rend his Limbes aſunder.
ref: c. 1591–1592 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Third Part of Henry the Sixt, […]”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act I, scene iii], page 150, column 2, lines 389–392:
glosses: To leap or trample upon.
Derived terms: complisult
counterinsult
insultable
insultant
insultathon
insultee
insultive
insultment
insult one's intelligence
insultory
insultproof
insultry
outinsult
uninsulted
Related terms: insolence
insultation