Also 5–6 vulgare. [Absolute use of VULGAR a., after similar uses of med.L. vulgaris, OF. vulgaire (also vulgar), It. volgare.]
† 1. The common or usual language of a country; the vernacular. Obs.
1430–40. Lydg., Bochas, IX. xxxvi. (MS. Bodl. 263), 441/1. Whos kyngdom hool, as maad is mencioun, In that vulgar … or Malliogres pleynli bar þe name.
c. 1450. Chaucer’s Compl. Pite (Harl. MS.), heading, Geffrey Chaucier þe aureat Poete þat euer was fonde in oure vulgare to fore [t]hees dayes.
1501. Douglas, Pal. Hon., II. xvii. Ȝit saw I thair … Geffray Chaucier, as a per se sans peir In his vulgare.
1586. Day, Eng. Secretary, I. (1625), 1. An Epistle therefore is that which vsually we in our vulgar doe tearme a Letter.
1589. Puttenham, Eng. Poesie, II. iv. (Arb.), 86. Before Sir Thomas Wiats time they were not vsed in our vulgar.
1611. Bible, Transl. Pref., ¶ 8. For the behoofe and edifying of the vnlearned … they prouided Translations into the vulgar.
1665. G. Havers, P. della Valle’s Trav. E. India, 144. The Canara-Language, which is the vulgar in Ikkeri and all that State.
2. † a. pl. Persons belonging to the ordinary or common class in the community, esp. the uneducated or ignorant. Obs.
1513. Bradshaw, St. Werburge, Prol. 84. Some small treatyse to wryte breuely To the comyn vulgares theyr mynde to satisfy.
1549. Chaloner, Erasm. on Folly, G j. He preferred also the Ideote and simple vulgars, before other learned and reputed persons.
1598. R. Bernard, trans. Terence, Eunuch, II. ii. I can nothing at all away with these vulgars, wherein there is no excellencie of beautie.
1615. Chapman, Odyss., VI. 425. For these vile vulgars are extreamly proud, And fouly languag’d.
1678. Butler, Hud., III. I. 1129. He therefore sent out all his Senses, To bring him in Intelligences. Which Vulgars out of ignorance Mistake, for falling in a Trance.
b. A person not reckoned as belonging to good society.
pl. 1763. G. Williams, in Jesse, Selwyn & Contemp. (1843), I. 264. I have named you those whom you know; the rest are numerous, but vulgars. Ibid. (1766), Ibid., II. 32. Lord Lincoln exhibited his person yesterday on the Stein, to the surprise of all the vulgars.
1796. Wolcot (P. Pindar), Pindariana, Ode to Sun, viii. The great retire from routs … And cry,… ‘Vulgars! that never wax-lights handle!’
1815. Zeluca, I. 339. I think I told you there was quite nothing but vulgars at the two last balls.
1828. Landor, Imag. Conv., III. 147. She associated and assimilated with the very worst in the polar circle of both vulgars.
sing. 1767. Lady S. Bunbury, in Jesse, Selwyn & Contemp. (1843), II. 191. A Mr. Brereton (a sad vulgar).
1781. Burgoyne, Ld. of Manor, II. i. It would be as low to accept the challenge of a vulgar as to refuse it to an equal.
1825. C. Westmacott, Engl. Spy, II. 97. The mobbing a vulgar, the hoaxing a quiz,… All these were among Jekyl’s early peculiarities.
3. The vulgar, the common people. Also with a.
1590. Spenser, F. Q., III. xii. 4. To the vulgar beckning with his hand, In signe of silence, as to heare a play. Ibid. (1591), Teares Muses, 194. All places they with follie haue possest, And with vaine toyes the vulgare entertaine But me haue banished.
1614. Gorges, Lucan, II. 66. The vulgar most to Pompey bends. Ibid., marg., The vulgar do more affect Pompey then Cæsar.
1665. Glanvill, Def. Van. Dogm., 57. Which saying holds not only in Morals, but in all things else which the Vulgar use to judge in.
1692. Bentley, Boyle Lect., ii. 46. This is directly levell’d against the gross Idolatry of the Vulgar.
1738. Gentl. Mag., VIII. 77/1. Her enlightened Horn is turn’d towards the Horizon, or, as the Vulgar speak, The Moon lies on her Back.
1783. Hailes, Antiq. Chr. Ch., vi. 182, note. The heathen vulgar might have inferred the likelihood of an approaching apotheosis.
1827. Hallam, Const. Hist., ii. (1876), I. 86. The mysteriousness of an unknown dialect served to impose on the vulgar.
1828. Scott, F. M. Perth, Introd. We talk of a credulous vulgar, without always recollecting [etc.].
1855. Milman, Lat. Chr., IX. vii. IV. 126. Nor was this the suspicion of the vulgar alone; it seems to have been shared by the clergy.
1899. Allbutt’s Syst. Med., VIII. 824. The growths … render the patient a remarkable and hideous object, exhibited for gain to the gaze of the vulgar.
transf. 1697. Dryden, Æneid, I. 266. The Leaders [of the herd] first He laid along, and then the Vulgar pierc’d.
† b. A common sort or class (of persons). Obs.–1
1645. Milton, Tetrach., Wks. 1851, IV. 262. There is a vulgar also of teachers, who are blindly by whom they fancy led, as they lead the people.
† 4. pl. Sentences or passages in English to be translated into Latin as a school-exercise. Obs.
1520. Whitinton, Vulg. (1527), 25 b. Hast thou wryten all the vulgares that our mayster hath given vnto vs this mornynge.
1545–7. in Archaeologia (1852), XXXIV. 41. The thrid forme … hath throwgh the weke overnyght a verbe set up to be examyned in the mornyng, and makith vulgares upon yt.
1580. T. M., in Baret’s Alv., To Rdr. xiv. A booke for such, that can peruse it right, Of profite great, when they their Vulgars write.
1612. Brinsley, Lud. Lit., 148. I haue giuen them vulgars, or Englishes, such as I haue deuised, to be made in Latine.
† b. A vernacular or common expression. Obs.
1532. Gower’s Conf., Ep. Ded. aa ij b. For the plenty of englysshe wordes and vulgars,… whiche olde englysshe wordes and vulgars no wyse man, because of theyr antiquite, wyll throwe asyde.
† 5. = VULGATE sb. 1 b. Obs. (Cf. VULGAR a. 2 b.)
1613. Day, Festivals, v. (1615), 110. So the Vulgar doth read it to, Nisi baptisentur, etc.
1647. Trapp, Comm. Rom. ix. 25. God calls the Church, the beloved of his soul, or (as the Septuagint and Vulgar reade it) his beloved soul.
1699. T. Baker, Refl. Learn., xvi. 201. I should be as glad, and would go as far to meet with the Ancient Vulgar of the New Testament, as any Man should do; but [etc.]. Ibid., 202. St. Jerome’s manner of reforming the Ancient Vulgar was, by comparing and reducing it to the Greek Original.
1711. G. Hickes, Two Treat. Chr. Priesth. (1847), II. 62. Which expression is also wanting both in the original and in our translation, and in the vulgar.
† 6. Common or mean character. Obs.–1
1655. trans. Sorel’s Com. Hist. Francion, I. 17. The Gentleman told his bed-fellow, that his gallant Garb and Countenance, wherein he perceived nothing of Vulgar, was the charm that had won his affection.
