Also 5 turpytude. [a. F. turpitude (a. 1417 in Godef., Compl.), or directly ad. L. turpitūdo, f. turpi-s base: see -TUDE.]
1. Base or shameful character; baseness, vileness; depravity, wickedness.
1490. Caxton, Eneydos, xxii. 83. In sygne of vengaunce of the dethe of hys fader, And turpytude dyshonest of clytemnestra his moder.
1589. Puttenham, Eng. Poesie, III. xxiv. (Arb.), 295. All maner of conceites that stirre vp any vehement passion in a man, doo it by some turpitude or euill and vndecency that is in them.
1606. Shaks., Ant. & Cl., IV. vi. 33. How would’st thou haue payed My better seruice, when my turpitude Thou dost so Crowne with Gold.
1659. Hammond, On Ps. cxix. 137–8 Paraphr. 609. Those which have a natural turpitude and indispensable sinfulnesse in them!
a. 1711. Ken, Preparatives, Poet. Wks. 1721, III. 25. Some for their Turpitude had Shame, And Terrors of infernal Flame.
1794. Ld. Auckland, Corr. (1862), III. 261. Indignation and horror at the infatuated turpitude of some of the allied powers.
1849. Macaulay, Hist. Eng., iii. I. 402. The artists corrupted the spectators, and the spectators the artists, till the turpitude of the drama became such as must astonish all who are not aware that extreme relaxation is the natural effect of extreme restraint.
1879. Temple Bar Mag., Oct., 172. A career great from the historical importance of the period … but inglorious and almost without a parallel in recent times for moral turpitude and unscrupulous self-seeking.
b. With a and pl. An instance of this.
1597. J. Payne, Royal Exch., 28. Every Christian ought … to lament to se suche turpitudes.
1607. Coke, Charge at Norwich Assizes, 5. Partialitie in a Judge is a Turpitude, which doth soyle and stayne all the Actions done by him.
1810. Bentham, Packing (1821), 71. A picture in which all deformities and turpitudes are plaistered over with the most brilliant colours.
1833. Chalmers, Const. Man (1855), I. iii. 157. Temptation to a turpitude or a crime.
1913. 19th Cent., Aug., 393. The minor offences and turpitudes which are condemned in the court of conscience.
† c. Rendering L. turpitudo of the Vulgate: ‘nakedness’; ‘shame.’ Obs. rare.
1570. Foxe, A. & M., 157/2. The holy lawe of God forbiddeth to reueale the turpitude of thy blood or kyndred. Ibid. Thou shalt not reueale the turpitude of thy father.
† 2. in lit. sense: Foulness, offensiveness, unsightliness. Obs. rare.
1684. trans. Bonet’s Merc. Compit., XIX. 719. This Medicin helps notably any cutaneous turpitude whatsoever.
