Also 4–6 badd(e. [ME. badde appears in end of 13th c., rare till end of 14th: see below. Regularly compared badder, baddest, from 14th to 18th c. (in De Foe, 1721), though Shakespeare has only the modern substitutes worse, worst, taken over from evil, ill, after bad came to be = evil.
Prof. Zupitza, with great probability, sees in bad-de (2 syll.) the ME. repr. of OE. bæddel ‘homo utriusque generis, hermaphrodita,’ doubtless like Gr. ἀνδρόγυνος, and the derivative bædling ‘effeminate fellow, womanish man, μαλακός,’ applied contemptuously; assuming a later adjectival use, as in yrming, wrecca, and loss of final l as in mycel, muche, lytel, lyte, wencel, wench(e. This perfectly suits the ME. form and sense, and accounts satisfactorily for the want of early written examples. And it is free from the many historical and phonetic difficulties of the derivation proposed by Sarrazin (Engl. Studien, VI. 91, VIII. 66), who, comparing the etymology of madde, mad, earlier amad(de:—OE. ʓemǽded (see AMAD), would refer badde to OE. ʓebǽded, ʓebǽdd, ‘forced, oppressed,’ with a sense-development parallel to that of L. captīvus, ‘taken by force, enslaved, captive,’ It. cattivo, F. chetif, ‘miserable, wretched, despicable, worthless.’ No other suggestion yet offered is of any importance; the Celtic words sometimes compared are out of the question.]
I. In a privative sense: Not good.
1. Of defective quality or worth, ‘of no good’; below par, poor, worthless, ‘wretched,’ ‘miserable’; that one does not think much (or anything) of.
1297. R. Glouc., 108. Wat is vs to lete þis badde kyng Go þus o liue as a schade, þat nys worþ noþing?
c. 1350. Will. Palerne, 5024. Of here atir for to telle to badde is my witte.
c. 1386. Chaucer, Monk’s T., 430. [In prison] Mete and drynke he hadde … it was ful poure and badde.
1393. Gower, Conf., II. 47. Her sadel eke was wonder badde.
c. 1440. Promp. Parv., 20/2. Badde, or nowght worthe, invalidus.
a. 1553. Udall, Roister D., V. ii. Better a bad scuse then none.
1732. Pope, Horace Sat., II. ii. 63. Nor stops, for one bad cork, his butler’s pay.
1873. Black, Pr. Thule, xxiv. 413. Sometimes they sent him a letter; but he was a bad correspondent.
b. Bad air: corrupt, vitiated air, which cannot sustain healthy respiration. Bad coin: debased, false coin. Bad debts: debts that cannot be realized. Bad food: food deficient in nourishment. To go bad: to decay. With bad grace: unwillingly.
1393. Langl., P. Pl., C. XVIII. 73. Men may lykne letterid men … to a badde peny.
1622. Malynes, Anc. Law Merch., 124. If any bad debts should be made thereby.
1798. Malthus, Popul. (1878), 68. Children perished … from bad nourishment.
1832. Lander, Exp. Niger, III. xvii. 44. Our people set about loading the canoe … but with bad grace.
1855. Macaulay, Hist. Eng., IV. xxi. The misery caused in a single year by bad crowns and bad shillings.
1866. Crump, Banking, xi. 244. As the price of the article increases, so do the bad debts increase.
1884. St. James’s Gaz., 17 Oct., 3/2. The suffering that comes from bad food, bad air, bad clothing.
1884. Daily News, 25 Dec., 3/4. It ‘goes bad’ more readily and more quickly than is the case with ordinary cooked butcher’s meat.
2. Incorrect, faulty. Bad shot: a wrong guess.
1688. Lond. Gaz., No. 2309/4. He speaks but bad English.
1767. Fordyce, Serm. Yng. Wom., I. i. 25. They learn … to speak bad French.
1845. Kinglake, Eöthen, viii. 137. I secretly smiled at this last prophecy as a ‘bad shot.’
1849. Macaulay, Hist. Eng., II. 110. Some bad translations of Bossuet’s works.
Mod. slang. Oh! that’s very bad form!
3. Law. Not valid.
1883. Sir W. Brett, Law Rep. XI. Queen’s B., 561. The claim is bad.
1884. Law Times Rep., 12 April, 194/1. Such a defence was bad … and could not be sustained.
4. Lacking good or favorable qualities; unfortunate, unfavorable; that one does not like.
1393. Gower, Conf., I. 88. They despise The good fortune as the badde.
c. 1425. in E. E. P. (1862), 139. My chawnce ys bad, I trow that fortune be my fo.
1602. Warner, Alb. Eng., XII. lxxii. 298. He shall participate my best, that must my badder plight.
1664. H. More, Myst. Iniq., 540. It will bring in a Principle of badder consequence.
1671. Milton, P. R., V. 1. Perplexed and troubled at his bad success.
1751. Jortin, Serm. (1771), IV. i. 23. This is humility, but it is so only in a bad sense.
1883. Manch. Exam., 20 Nov., 5/5. A bad pre-eminence as the hotbeds of pulmonary diseases.
II. In a positive sense: Evil, ill, noxious.
5. Morally depraved; immoral, wicked, vicious.
(The first quot. may have sense 1: ‘wretched caitiffs.’)
a. 1300. Cursor M., 1801. Þai greued þan þaa caitiues badd.
1393. Gower, Conf., I. 196. One Thelous … whiche al was bad; A fals knight.
c. 1440. Promp. Parv., 20/2. Bad, or wykyde, Malus.
1599. Sandys, Europæ Spec. (1632), 125. The baddest man among the Cardinalls is chosen to be Pope.
1609. Bell, Theoph. & Remig., 2. Badder life and wickeder dealing was neuer more frequent.
1767. Fordyce, Serm. Yng. Wom., II. viii. 13. Young people … are often corrupted by bad books.
1849. Macaulay, Hist. Eng., II. 50. Discreet counsellors implored the royal brothers not to countenance this bad man.
6. Causing inconvenience, displeasure or pain; unpleasant, offensive, disagreeable; troublesome, painful. Bad blood: harsh, angry feeling.
1515. Barclay, Eclogues. Bad is the colour, the savor badder is.
1622. R. Hawkins, Voy. S. Sea, 54. The … bad entreatie which the negros gave them.
1794. Nelson, in Nicolas, Disp., I. 412. Had not the weather been so bad.
1825. J. Neal, Bro. Jonathan, I. 74. If there be any bad blood in a fellow, he will show it—whenever he dares—wherever he can.
1855. Macaulay, Hist. Eng., III. 38. The old soldiers of James were generally in a very bad temper.
1869. Hazlitt’s Eng. Prov. Bad words make a woman worse.
1873. Skeat, in Piers Pl. (C.), Pref. 32. It is too bad to suppose that [etc.].
7. Causing injury to health; injurious, hurtful, noxious, dangerous, pernicious. Const. for.
1653. A. Wilson, Jas. I., Pref. 4. To remove the accrescion of bad Humours.
1711. Addison, Spect., No. 123, ¶ 2 (J.). She quickly found that Reading was bad for his Eyes, and that Writing made his Head ake.
1855. Macaulay, Hist. Eng., IV. 723. He had just had a bad fall in hunting.
1861. Flor. Nightingale, Nursing, 56. The old four-post bed with curtains is bad, whether for sick or well.
8. In ill health, suffering from disease or injury, in pain.
1748. Richardson, Clarissa (1811), IV. 259. Still very bad with my Gout.
1763. Mrs. Harris, in Priv. Lett. 1st Ld. Malmesbury, I. 90. She was so bad yesterday that she could not open her mouth.
1840. R. Dana, Bef. the Mast, xxxii. 122. One of our watch was laid up … by a bad hand.
B. quasi-sb.
1. absol. That which is bad; bad condition, quality, etc.
1591. Shaks., Two Gent., II. vi. 13. T’exchange the bad for better.
1670. G. H., Hist. Cardinals, II. III. 182. A capacity of penetrating into the good and bad of an affair.
1816. Wordsw., Sonn. Liberty, II. xlvi. So bad proceeded propagating worse.
b. To the bad: a. to a bad condition, to ruin; b. to the wrong side of the account, in deficit.
1816. ‘Quiz,’ Grand Master, VIII. 25. I’ve really to the bad Some thousand of rupees to add.
1864. T. Trollope, Lindisf. Chase, I. 46. [He] went, as the common saying expressively phrases it—to the bad.
1884. Pall Mall Gaz., 6 Feb., 4/1. When he withdrew he was between £70 and £80 to the bad.
2. sb. (with pl.) A bad thing, quality, etc.; rarely, a bad person. (Not in ordinary speech.)
1592. Lyly, Mydas, V. ii. 57. An inventorie of all Motto’s moveable baddes and goods.
1586. Warner, Alb. Eng., III. xiv. 65. That of two bads, for betters choyse he backe again did goe. Ibid. (1602), X. lvii. (1612), 252. For Popes be impudent, and bads their blessings neuer mis.
1869. Ruskin, Q. of Air, § 125. But, as there is this true relation between money and ‘goods,’ or good things, so there is a false relation between money and ‘bads,’ or bad things.
† C. quasi-adv.; = BADLY. Obs.
1611. Broughton, Require Agreem., 78. Our minde holdeth all badder then we can speake.
1681. Glanvill, Sadducismus, II. Pref. Haunted almost as bad as Mr. Mompesson’s house.
D. Comb., as bad-boding, -hearted, -looking.
1594. Greene, Fr. Bacon (1861), 171. Fond Ate, doomer of bad-boding fates.
1594. Shaks., Rich. III., IV. iv. 122. Bett’ring thy losse, makes the bad causer worse.
1827. Scott, in Lockhart, Life (1839), IX. 128. He was generous and far from bad-hearted.
1863. Miss Whately, Ragged Life, vii. 55. They were not a bad-looking circle.
