ppl. a. [f. prec. + -ED1.] In senses of the verb.
† 1. That has been hissed off the stage. Obs.
1713. Swift, Cadenus & V., Wks. 1755, III. II. 13. Fustian from exploded plays.
1779–81. Johnson, L. P., Pope, Wks. IV. 81. After the Three Hours after Marriage had been driven off the stage … while the exploded scene was yet fresh in memory.
2. Held in contempt; rejected, scouted. Also in weaker sense, disused, out of fashion. (Said of customs, opinions, etc.; rarely of persons.)
1626. Massinger, Rom. Actor, IV. ii. To put in an exploded plea In the court of Venus.
1710. Steele, Tatler, No. 58, ¶ 2. A Thing so exploded as speaking hard Words.
1790. Burke, Fr. Rev., 36. A conflict with some of those exploded fanatics of slavery.
1793. Beddoes, Catarrh, 160. The exploded theories of Boerhaave or Cullen.
1868. Milman, St. Paul’s, xix. 486. When mercy was on all sides an exploded virtue, he dared to be merciful.
1879. McCarthy, Own Times, II. xxiii. 185. The time … had gone by when such exploded politics could even interest the people.
† b. Of a material object: Discarded, disused; out of fashion. Obs.
1823. Lamb, Elia, Ser. I. xviii. 194. The little cool playful streams those exploded cherubs uttered.
1829. [H. B. Henderson], Bengalee, 169. An old Dowager’s now exploded pair of pockets.
† 3. Driven forth with violence and sudden noise.
1826. Disraeli, Viv. Grey, IV. VI. i. 47. The exploded cork whizzed through the air.
4. In sense 6 of the verb.
1858. Greener, Gunnery, 209. Conical form being best suited … to the action of the exploded fluid.
fig. 1876. Holland, Sev. Oaks, viii. 109. It had been … occupied for a year or two by an exploded millionaire.
