Forms: 1 fýlþ, 2–4 felðe, 4 south. veolthe, 5 felthe, 3–4 furðe, 3–6 fylth(e, (3 fuylþe, 6 faylt, fylt), 3–5 filthe, 3– filth. [OE. fýlð str. fem. = OS. fûlitha (Du. vuilte), OHG. fûlida:—OTeut. *fûlipâ, n. of quality f. *fûlo- FOUL a.]
† 1. The quality or state of being foul; a filthy state or condition; filthiness; in pl. foul treatment, indignities. Obs.
c. 1300. K. Alis., 6370. Veolthe loveth al heore lynage.
1481. Caxton, Godfrey, 304. What fylthes the turkes made them to suffre.
1579. Lyly, Euphues (Arb.), 38. The Lacedemonians were wont to shewe their children dronken men and other wicked men, that by seing their filth, they might shunne the lyke fault, and auoyd the lyke [such] vices when they were at the lyke state.
2. concr. Foul matter.
† a. Putrid matter, corruption, rottenness; in later use, purulent matter, pus. Obs.
c. 1000. Ags. Gosp., Matt. xxiii. 27. And hiȝ synt innan fulle deadra bana, and ealre fylðe [1160, Hatton, felðe].
a. 1050. Liber Scintill., viii. (1889), 38. Þænne fylð [putrédo] seo þe innan wealð byþ utaworpen to hæle sar byð ȝeopenud.
c. 1430. Life St. Kath. (1884), 49. Þe temporal kyng þat ys þy deeply spouse whiche ys now proude in hys power and to-morwe schal be fylthe and wormes.
1526. Pilgr. Perf. (W. de W., 1531), 240 b. He scraped ye stynkyng fylth & corrupcyon of her deed body.
1561. Hollybush, Hom. Apoth., 11. Set boxes vpon the one eare to draw the fylt out of ye head.
1696. Pechy, trans. Sydenham’s Wks., III. ii. 116. The inflammation which the Small-Pox has impressed upon the Blood, whether the Patient be old or young, no less indicates Blood-letting than the filth [L. colluvies] which has been gathered together does Purging.
b. Uncleanly matter, dirt. Now only in stronger sense, expressing violent disgust: Loathsome dirt. Rarely in pl. filth of various kinds, filthy matters.
c. 1290. S. Eng. Leg., I. 191/51.
| A-non so he I-baptized was, þare feol out of eiþer eiȝe | |
| Fuylþe ase þei it were slym, þat alle þe men it seiȝe. |
a. 1300. Cursor M., 22394 (Cott.).
| Þat all þe filthes of his maugh | |
| Sal brist vte at his hindwin. | |
| Ibid. (c. 1340), 468 (Trin.). | |
| For in þat court þat is so clene | |
| No fulþe may dwelle ne be sene. |
c. 1430. Lydg., in Turner, Dom. Archit., III. 39.
| Voydynge fylthes lowe into the grounde, | |
| Thorugh grates perced of yron perced rounde. |
c. 1440. Promp. Parv., 161/1. Fylthe of mannys nose, snotte. Polipus.
1555. Nottingham Rec., IV. 109. He should do, bwt swffares mwke and fylthe to be powered yn ye hy strett.
1626. Bacon, Sylva, § 397. Neither may you trust Waters that Taste Sweet; For they are commonly found in Rising Grounds of great Cities; which must needs take in a great deale of Filth.
1721. Strype, Eccl. Mem., III. xxii. 180. The chamber where he lodged, vile and stinking; on one side of which was the sink and filth of all the house, and on the other side the town ditch.
1836. Emerson, Nat., Prospects, Wks. (Bohn), II. 173. The sordor and filths of nature, the sun shall dry up, and the wind exhale.
1873. Ouida, Pascarèl, I. ii. 30. A palace with superb staircases reeking in filth.
c. Vermin († formerly pl.). In mod. use (? dial.) restricted to insect parasites.
c. 1400. Maundev. (1839), v. 61. In that Abbeye ne entrethe not no Flye ne Todes ne Ewtes, ne suche foule venymouse Bestes, ne Lyzs ne Flees, be the Myracle of God and of oure Lady. For there were wont to ben many suche manere of Filthes.
Mod. (Yorks.) A dirty brute, with his head swarming with filth. The currant bushes are covered with filth.
3. fig. a. Moral defilement, vileness; corruption, pollution; obscenity.
a. 1023. Wulfstan, Hom. (Napier), xxxiii. 161 note. To maneȝe … ane cwenan ȝemænum ceape bicȝað … and wið þa ane fylþe adreoȝaþ an æfter anum.
a. 1225. Ancr. R., 84. Þe bacbitare unheleð & unwrihð hit, & openeð so þet fulðe Þ hit stinkeþ wide.
a. 1300. Vox & Wolf, 165, in Hazl., E. P. P., I. 63.
| What shuldich ine the world go, | |
| Ther nis bote kare and wo, | |
| And liuie in fulthe and in sunne? |
c. 1380. Wyclif, Wks. (1880), 299. Þei ben blaunchid wiþ-oute as sepulcris, and wiþ-inne ful of fylþe.
a. 1450. Knt. de la Tour (1868), 77. The prince … suffered suche felthe to be done.
1638. Of Penitential Confession, viii. (1657), 209. The filth of sin is purged by the Laver of tears.
a. 1704. T. Brown, Sat. agst. Woman, Wks. 1730, I. 56.
| Where unconstrain’d, by want of Choice they lie, | |
| Wallowing in all the filth of boundless Luxury. |
1813. Shelley, Q. Mab, v. 159.
| Him, every slave now dragging through the filth | |
| Of some corrupted city his sad life, | |
| Pining with famine, swoln with luxury. |
1860. Hook, Lives Abps., I. v. 226. The bishops were exhorted not to engage in secular affairs more than was necessary; to hold annual visitations, at which time they were to preach the Gospel to people of every condition, sex, and age, forbidding the pagan observances, diviners, sorcerers, auguries, omens, charms, incantations, all the filth of the wicked, and the dotages of the Gentiles.
† b. pl. Moral impurities, corrupt or impure actions, transgressions. Obs.
c. 1200. Vices & Virtues (1888), 131. Hali maiden of þanke, and clane of alle felðes.
a. 1225. St. Marher. (1862), 3. Biwite þou mi bodi þe is al bitahte from fleshliche fulðen.
c. 1340. Cursor M., 10105 (Trin.).
| To make me falle in fulþes fele | |
| Al aȝeyn my soule hele. |
c. 1440. York Myst., xx. 179.
| That thei schalle fande to flee | |
| All filthes of flesshely synne. |
1583. Satir. Poems Reform., xlv. Pref. 60.
| Compared to swyne returning to the myre, | |
| In thair awin filthes to get thair fames defyled. |
c. Foul or obscene language; vile or loathsome imputations.
1730. Swift, Traulus, I. 25.
| And though perhaps among the rout | |
| He wildly flings his filth about. |
1879. Froude, Cæsar, xv. 237. Instead of scolding and flinging impotent filth, he should have withdrawn out of public life.
4. Said of a person: A vile creature; a scoundrel; a slut, drab, whore. Obs. exc. dial.
c. 1350. Will. Palerne, 2542. Lest þat foule felþe schuld have hem founde þere.
1402. Hoccleve, Letter of Cupid, 260.
| These ladyes ne thise gentils neuerthelesse, | |
| were noon of thoo that wroghten in this wysse; | |
| but swyche filthes as weren vertulesse. |
1565. Harding, in Jewel, Def. Apol. (1611), 27. Ioan of Kent, that filth … was she a sister of yours?
1607. Shaks., Timon, IV. i. 6. Ibid. (1608), Lear (Qo. 1), IV. ii. 39.
| Alb. Wisedome and goodnes, to the vild seeme vild, | |
| Filths sauor but themselues. |
1612. R. Sheldon, Serm. St. Martin’s, 65. Their filthes lie by their sides to satisfie their abhominable pleasures.
1790. Mrs. Wheeler, Westmld. Dial. (1821), 13. Nea yan can bide wie him, an arrant filth!
1869. Peacock, Lonsdale Gloss., Filth, a disreputable woman, a scoundrel.
1871. R. Ellis, Catullus, xlii. 13.
| What? you scorn us? O ugly filth, detested | |
| Trull, whatever is all abomination. |
5. attrib. and Comb., as filth-disease, -ferment; filth-created, -fed, -sodden adjs.
1852. Dr. Guy, The Policy of Prevention, in Ld. Ingestre, Meliora, I. 96. Relief of *filth-created fever and disease.
1885. Science, VI. 7 Aug., 101/1. The epidemic of cholera in Naples last year has been the cause of a general sanitary awakening in that city, which has long been noted as a hot-bed of typhoid-fever and other preventable *filth-diseases.
1891. Daily News, 5 Oct., 5/5. How … is the *filth-fed oyster to be distinguished?
1891. C. Creighton, Hist. Epidemics, 589. A pestilential emanation from spots of soil long inhabited by mankind, both black and white, and so situated in cups of the hills as to retain and multiply the *filth-ferment in them.
1871. Napheys, Prev. & Cure Dis., I. viii. 264. Disinfection should be very freely and very frequently employed … wherever there is a *filth-sodden porous earth.
Hence Filthless a. [-LESS], without filth; undefiled. Filthous a. [-OUS] = FILTHY.
14[?]. Balade, in Commend. our Lady, 51 (Chaucer’s Wks., 1561). Fountain al filthlesse, as birell current clere.
1546. Bale, Eng. Votaries, II. (1550), 9 b. So sent hym forth abrode by most deuylysh doctrynes, in hypocresy to maynteyne all kyndes of ydolatry and fleshely fylthouse lyuynge.
