v. [a. med.L. stigmatizāre, a. Gr. στιγματίζειν, f. στιγματ- STIGMA: see -IZE. Cf. F. stigmatiser (1552 in Hatz.-Darm.), It. stigmatizzare, Sp., Pg. estigmatizar.]
1. trans. To mark with a ‘stigma’ or brand; to brand; also to tattoo. Now rare.
Very frequent in the 17th c., with reference to the then common punishment of branding.
1585. T. Washington, trans. Nicholay’s Voy., IV. xxvi. 145. Amongst them [the Thracians] it was esteemed a faire and noble thing to haue the forhead stigmatized.
1637. Brief Relat. Bastwick, etc. 15. Mr. Prynne to be stigmatized in the Cheekes with two Letters (S & L) for a Seditious Libeller.
1737. Stackhouse, Hist. Bible, I. iv. (1744), I. 132. God stigmatized him on the forehead with a letter of his own name.
1784. Acts & Laws Connecticut, 8. Both of them shall be … stigmatized, or burnt on the Forehead with the Letter A, on a hot Iron.
1818. Maule, in Misc. Scot., I. 68. The Picts marked their skins with iron, and stigmatised them with pictures of divers animals.
1848. A. Herbert, in Todd’s Irish Nennius, Notes p. lxi. I … prefer the supposition, that [these persons] were … simply painted … and not stigmatized.
b. transf. To mark with a stain, scar or blemish.
1632. B. Jonson, Magn. Lady, III. iii. But my clothes To be defac’d and stigmatiz’d so foulely!
1705. [E. Ward], Hudibras Rediv., II. 19. An ill-look’d, thin-jaw’d Calves-head Rabble, All stigmatiz’d with Looks like Jews.
1893. Edith Wharton, in Scribner’s Mag., Sept., 237.
| The crimson panes like blood-drops stigmatize | |
| The western floor. |
c. Path. To mark or affect with stigmata; to produce stigmata upon: see STIGMA 4. (Chiefly in pa. pple.)
1822–9. Good’s Study Med., V. 697. Freckles. Cuticle stigmatised with yellowish-brown dots.
1899. Hutchinson’s Arch. Surg., X. 179. She … [was] freckled and stigmatised.
d. To mark with the stigmata: see STIGMA 3.
1844. Faber, Sir Lancelot (1857), 97. Francis … stigmatized in fashion as his Lord.
1872. D. H. Tuke, Illustr. Infl. Mind upon Body, 83. M. Maury states that Ursula Aguir (1592) … experienced every Friday severe pain in the place where, in a vision, she had been stigmatised.
e. To imprint as a brand (lit. and fig.). rare.
1644. Milton, Divorce, I. i. (ed. 2), 7. Not to suffer the ordinance of his goodnes and favour, through any error to be ser’d and stigmatiz’d upon his servants to their misery and thraldome.
1647. R. Stapylton, Juvenal (1670), 267. Letters stigmatized in slaves foreheads.
1822–9. [implied in STIGMATIZED c].
2. fig. To set a stigma upon; to mark with a sign of disgrace or infamy; to ‘brand’; esp. to call by a disgraceful or reproachful name; to characterize by a term implying severe censure or condemnation.
1619. J. Taylor (Water P.), Kicksey Winsey, A 7. A second Edition … wherein I will Satyrize, Cauterize, and Stigmatize all the whole kennell of curres.
1668. Cowley, Verses & Ess., Liberty (1669), 82. They … stick not to commit actions, by which they are more shamefully and more lastingly stigmatized.
1750. Johnson, Rambler, No. 78, ¶ 12. One of the most striking passages … stigmatizes those as fools who complain that [etc.].
1819. Scott, Leg. Montrose, xviii. We dare not stigmatize Argyle with poltroonery; for [etc.].
1824. L. Murray, Engl. Gram. (ed. 5), I. 532. These arts, by assisting … to stigmatize every improper idiom, tend to give greater precision … to our style.
1839–40. W. Irving, Wolfert’s R. (1855), 149. As to their white wines, he stigmatizes them as mere substitutes for cider.
1875. Jowett, Plato (ed. 2), V. 261. He must be stigmatized as ignorant, even though he be skilful in calculation.
b. Said of the ‘brand’ or mark (cf. STIGMA 2 b).
1650. J. Hall, Paradoxes, 57. It was … the first brand that stigmatized them after their fall.
1651–1883. [see STIGMATIZING ppl. a.].
