leprous
Language: English
Part of speech: adj
Pronunciation: ipa: /ˈlɛpɹəs/
Forms: form: more leprous
form: most leprous
Etymology: From Middle English leprous (“having leprosy or a skin disease with symptoms like leprosy; (alchemy) of metals or minerals: impure; a leper”) [and other forms], from Anglo-Norman leprous, lepros [and other forms], Middle French lepros, lepreux, and Old French leprous, lepros (“having leprosy; a leper”) (modern French lépreux), and from their etymon Late Latin leprosus (“having leprosy; (alchemy) of metals: impure; a leper”), from Latin lepra (“leprosy”) + -ōsus (suffix meaning ‘full of; overly; prone to’ forming adjectives from nouns). Lepra is derived from Ancient Greek λέπρᾱ (léprā, “leprosy”), from λεπῐ́ς (lepĭ́s, “flake, scale; epithelial debris”) (perhaps from λέπω (lépō, “to peel, strip off a husk or rind”) + -ῐς (-ĭs, suffix forming feminine nouns)) + -ᾱ (-ā, suffix forming action nouns from verbs).
Senses: examples: text: 1748, Philip Luckombe, A Tour Through Ireland, London: T. Lowndes & Son, 1783, Journey the Fourth, p. 324,
[…] a dissenting minister […] came to this well, over-run with leprous eruptions on the skin, which had rendered his joints so rigid, that he could neither hold his bridle, nor feed himself […]
text: Nor shall the art which you and I need be merely a purple robe woven by a slave and thrown over the whitened body of some leprous king to adorn or to conceal the sin of his luxury, but rather shall it be the noble and beautiful expression of a people’s noble and beautiful life.
ref: 1882, Oscar Wilde, “The English Renaissance of Art”, in Essays and Lectures, 4th edition, London: Methuen & Co., published 1913:
text: ‘If they die,’ he said, ‘the cell shall be their tomb. They were put there to die, and be lost. The cell is leprous. Do you understand?’
ref: 1880, Lew Wallace, Ben Hur: A Tale of the Christ, Book Six, Chapter 1:
synonyms: word: lepric
word: leproid
word: lazar
word: lazarlike
glosses: Of or relating to one of the diseases known as leprosy.
examples: text: And the Lord said furthermore unto him, Put now thine hand into thy bosom. And he put his hand into his bosom: and when he took it out, behold, his hand was leprous as snow.
ref: 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Exodus 4:6:
text: And the cloud departed from off the tabernacle; and, behold, Miriam became leprous, white as snow: and Aaron looked upon Miriam, and, behold, she was leprous.
ref: 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Numbers 12:10:
synonyms: leprosed
leprosied
glosses: Infected with one of the diseases known as leprosy.
synonyms: lazarlike
glosses: Similar to leprosy or its symptoms.
examples: text: And why, except that it had moved everywhere with them and they regarded it as one of their possessions, had they kept the hatrack, its glass now leprous, most of its hooks broken, its woodwork ugly with painting-over?
ref: 1961, V. S. Naipaul, A House for Mr Biswas, Vintage International, published 2001, Prologue:
text: With little room to maneuver or park private cars, New Yorkers are more desperately dependent on taxis than any other city dwellers in the world. And the thousands of cabs that they ride are among the world's sleaziest: cigarette butts and paper coffee cups on the floor, dirty windows, leprous upholstery, chewed gum and sticky candy wrappers on ripped seats, and jagged metal protrusions on the doors waiting to savage the clothing of entering or departing passengers.
ref: 1974 April 8, “Drab Cab Goes Fab”, in Time:
glosses: Having the appearance of the skin of one infected with leprosy; flaking, peeling, scabby, scurfy.
examples: text: My whole Life is so leprous, it infects
All my Repentance: I wou’d buy your Pardon
Though at the highest Set, even with my Life:
ref: c. 1608–1611, Francis Beaumont, John Fletcher, “The Maid’s Tragedy”, in Comedies and Tragedies […], London: […] Humphrey Robinson, […], and for Humphrey Moseley […], published 1679, →OCLC, Act IV, scene i:
text: And ſpeckl'd Vanity / Will ſicken ſoon and die, / And leprous ſin will melt from earthly mould, […]
ref: 1629, John Milton, “On the Morning of Christs Nativity”, in Poems of Mr. John Milton, […], London: […] Ruth Raworth for Humphrey Mosely, […], published 1646, →OCLC, stanza XIV, page 7:
glosses: Immoral, or corrupted or tainted in some manner; also, ostracized, shunned.
topics: alchemy
pseudoscience
glosses: Of gold or other metals: contaminated with other substances; impure.
topics: biology
botany
natural-sciences
glosses: Synonym of leprose (“covered with thin scurfy scales, scaly-looking”).
synonyms: word: leprose
extra: covered with thin scurfy scales, scaly-looking
examples: text: Thy vncle came, with iuyce of Hebona, / In a viall, and through the porches of my eares / Did powre the leaprous diſtilment, whoſe effect / Hold ſuch an enmitie with blood of man, […]
ref: c. 1599–1602 (date written), William Shake-speare, The Tragicall Historie of Hamlet, Prince of Denmarke: […] (First Quarto), London: […] [Valentine Simmes] for N[icholas] L[ing] and Iohn Trundell, published 1603, →OCLC, [Act I, scene v]:
glosses: Causing leprosy or a disease resembling it.
Synonyms: word: lepered
word: leproid
word: leprotic
english: particularly with regard to the disease itself
translation: particularly with regard to the disease itself
word: lepric
word: lepromatic
word: lepromatous
english: part. with regard to leprous lesions
translation: part. with regard to leprous lesions
word: lepromatoid
word: mesel
Derived terms: leprously
leprousness
nonleprous
Related terms: word: lepric
word: leprolin
word: leprologist
word: leproma
word: lepromatous
word: lepromin
word: leprophil
word: leprophilia
word: leprophobia
word: leprosarium
word: leprose
word: leprosery
word: leprosity
word: leprosy
word: lepry