worthy
Language: English
Part of speech: adj
Pronunciation: ipa: /ˈwɜːði/
enpr: wûrthē
ipa: /ˈwɝði/
rhymes: -ɜː(ɹ)ði
Forms: form: worthier
form: worthiest
Etymology: From Middle English worthy, wurthi, from Old English *weorþiġ (“worthy”), equivalent to worth + -y. Cognate with Dutch waardig (“worthy”), Middle Low German werdig (“worthy”), German würdig (“worthy”), Swedish värdig (“worthy”), Icelandic verðugt (“worthy”).
Senses: examples: text: These banished men that I have kept withal / Are men endued with worthy qualities
ref: c. 1590–1591 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Two Gentlemen of Verona”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act V, scene iv]:
text: This worthy mind should worthy things embrace.
ref: c. 1626, John Davies, The Original, Nature, and Immortality of the Soul:
glosses: Having worth, merit, or value.
examples: text: that such iron moulds as these shall have autority to knaw out the choicest periods of exquisitest books, and to commit such a treacherous fraud against the orphan remainders of worthiest men after death, the more sorrow will belong to that haples race of men, whose misfortune it is to have understanding.
ref: 1644, John Milton, Areopagitica; a Speech of Mr. John Milton for the Liberty of Unlicenc’d Printing, to the Parlament of England, London: [s.n.], →OCLC:
glosses: Admirable or honourable.
examples: text: 1 And I saw in þe right hand of him that sate on the Throne, a booke written within, & on the backeside, sealed with seuen seales.
2 And I saw a strong Angel proclaiming with a loude voice; Who is worthy to open the booke, and to loose the seales thereof?
3 And no man in heauen, nor in earth, neither vnder the earth, was able to open the booke, neither to looke thereon.
4 And I wept much, because no man was found worthy to open, and to reade the booke, neither to looke thereon.
ref: 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Revelation 5:1–4:
text: [I]t is a deed of higheſt charitie to help undeceive the people, and a vvork vvorthieſt your autoritie, […]
ref: 1659, J[ohn] M[ilton], “To the Parlament of the Commonwealth of England with the Dominions therof”, in Considerations Touching the Likeliest Means to Remove Hirelings out of the Church. […], London: […] T[homas] N[ewcombe] for L[ivewell] Chapman […], →OCLC:
text: It is not a conclusive proof of our being enlightened Christians, that we sneer and misinterpret bygone creeds, as though in the old Greek and Roman poetry were shewn nothing worthier than Fetish idols, rotten mummies, Australasian Ram-Jams and Ethiopian Mumbo-Jumbos.
ref: 1863, The Eagle: A Magazine - Volumes 3-4, page 280:
glosses: Deserving, or having sufficient worth.
examples: text: No, Warwick, thou art worthy of the sway.
ref: 1591 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Second 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 IV, scene vi]:
text: […] whose shoes I am not worthy to bear.
ref: 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Matthew 3:11:
text: And thou art worthy that thou shouldst not know / More happiness.
ref: 1634 October 9 (first performance), [John Milton], edited by H[enry] Lawes, A Maske Presented at Ludlow Castle, 1634: […] [Comus], London: […] [Augustine Matthews] for Hvmphrey Robinson, […], published 1637, →OCLC; reprinted as Comus: […] (Dodd, Mead & Company’s Facsimile Reprints of Rare Books; Literature Series; no. I), New York, N.Y.: Dodd, Mead & Company, 1903, →OCLC:
english: Comus
translation: Comus
text: The lodging is well worthy of the guest.
ref: 1697, Virgil, “The Eleventh Book of the Æneis”, in John Dryden, transl., The Works of Virgil: Containing His Pastorals, Georgics, and Æneis. […], London: […] Jacob Tonson, […], →OCLC:
text: The station is clearly well looked after, making it a worthy gateway to the resort.
ref: 2022 January 12, Paul Bigland, “Fab Four: the nation's finest stations”, in RAIL, number 948, page 27:
glosses: Suited; suitable; befitting.
Derived terms: markworthy
noteworthy
worthily
worthiness
the laborer is worthy of his hire
Related terms: worthly