a. [f. VERMIN sb. + -OUS, or ad. L. verminōs-us (whence OF. verminous, vermenous, -eux, etc., = mod.F. vermineux, -euse, It., Sp., Pg. verminoso, Prov. vermenos):—vermis worm.]
1. Of the nature of, consisting of, vermin; like or resembling vermin in character; noxious, objectionable, offensive: a. Of animals or persons.
1621–3. Middleton & Rowley, Changeling, III. iv. Do you place me in the rank of verminous fellows, To destroy things for wages? Ibid. (1624), Game at Chess, IV. iv. Like that verminous labourer [sc. the mole], which thou imitat’st In hills of pride and malice.
1691. Ray, Coll. Words (ed. 2), 128. A Fowmart, a Polecat, is a noted Beast of this verminous kind.
1795–6. Wordsw., Borderers, II. 587. That soft class of devotees who … spare The verminous brood, and cherish what they spare While feeding on their bodies.
1830. Southey, Lett. (1856), IV. 177. Both in Russia and Poland I believe they [i.e., Jews] are a verminous population, preying upon others.
1887. Swinburne, Stud. Prose & Poetry (1894), 140. He has exactly as much claim to a place beside Dante as any … other murderous and verminous muckworm.
b. Of things.
c. 1616. Chapman, Batrachom., Ded. If yet the vile soul of the verminous time Love more the sale-muse and the squirrels chime.
1846. Landor, Imag. Conv., Wks. I. 201/2. The smoky, verminous, unconcocted doctrine of passive obedience.
1884. Browning, Ferishtah, Sun, 14. Fancies verminous Breed in the clots there.
2. Infested with, full of, vermin, esp. parasitic vermin; foul or offensive on this account.
1632. Brome, Crt. Beggar, I. i. Note the necessity, that they [perruques] be well made Of … No verminous or sluttish locks or combings, But [etc.].
1641. Milton, Prel. Episc., 11. Searching among the verminous and polluted rags dropt overworn from the toyling shoulders of Time.
a. 1691. Boyle, Hist. Air (1692), 230. He … found that divers drugs, salves, and … especially ointments, were verminous.
1774. Goldsm., Nat. Hist. (1862), I. xix. 110. In these tropical climates also,… drugs and plasters lose their virtue, and become verminous.
1819. Metropolis, III. 128. The lively companions of a verminous bed.
1865. Pall Mall G., No. 211. 1/2. A verminous, overcrowded vagrant ward.
1899. Allbutt’s Syst. Med., VIII. 866. In ‘verminous persons’ the hair is sometimes matted together by pus, nits, scales and scabs.
transf. 1861. Dickens, Tom Tiddler’s Ground, i. How long he had held verminous occupation of his blanket and skewer.
3. Tending to breed vermin. rare–1.
1666. G. Harvey, Morb. Angl. (1672), 39. A wasting of their [sc. children’s] flesh … must depend upon some obstruction of the Entrails, or Verminous disposition of body.
4. Of diseases, or morbid conditions, etc.: Caused by, due to, characterized by the presence of, parasitic vermin or intestinal worms.
1666. G. Harvey, Morb. Angl. (1672), 35. Of a Verminous Consumption.
1684. trans. Bonet’s Merc. Compit., x. 366/2. Their hypothesis is sufficiently known, concerning verminous putrefaction.
1733. trans. Belloste’s Hosp. Surg., II. 71. Pestilence, Small-pox and all Verminous diseases.
1748. Phil. Trans., L. 837. The lead … might, by its weight, assist in removing the verminous filth, especially as the bowels were made slippery by the oil.
1756. P. Browne, Jamaica, 25. You may frequently observe … ladies poisoned with bark in verminous inflammations.
1832. Barker, Lempriere’s Class. Dict. (ed. 2), s.v. Æthiopia, Almost all these people die of verminous diseases produced by this food.
1861. Hulme, trans. Moquin-Tandon, II. vii. 332. Some families appear to be more predisposed to verminous affections than others.
1897. Allbutt’s Syst. Med., II. 1033. There have been many instances of verminous abscess recorded.
b. Of persons: Subject to vermin or intestinal worms.
1860. Encycl. Brit. (ed. 8), XXI. 974/2. Females may be more verminous than males.
Hence Verminously adv., Verminousness.
1727. Bailey (vol. II.), Verminousness, Fulness of Worms, Worm-eatenness.
1860. Worcester (citing Ec. Rev.), Verminously.
1891. Cent. Dict., s.v., Verminously unclean.
