ill meaning (obsolete): definition, etymology and quotations

ill

adj

/ɪl/

Etymology From Middle English ille (“evil; wicked”), from Old Norse íllr (adjective), ílla (adverb), ílt (noun), from Proto-Germanic *ilhilaz, from Proto-Indo-European *h₁elḱ- (whence Latin ulcus (“sore”), Ancient Greek ἕλκος (hélkos, “wound, ulcer”), Sanskrit अर्शस् (árśas, “hemorrhoids”)). Cognates Cognate with Scots and Yola ill, Danish ilde (“bad”), Faroese, Icelandic illur (“bad, ill, wicked”), Norwegian Bokmål, Norwegian Nynorsk ille (“bad”), Swedish illa (“badly; poorly”).

10 senses

1Evil; wicked (of people).
2Morally reprehensible (of behaviour etc.); blameworthy.
3Indicative of unkind or malevolent intentions; harsh, cruel.
4Unpropitious, unkind, faulty, not up to reasonable standard.
5Unwell in terms of health or physical condition; sick.
6Nauseated; having an urge to vomit.
7Sublime, with the connotation of being so in a…
8Extremely bad (bad enough to make one ill). Generally…
9Unwise; not a good idea.
10Bad-tempered.

Obsolete Evil; wicked (of people).

St. Paul chose to magnify his office when ill men conspired to lessen it.1709 December 6, Francis Atterbury, A Sermon Preached before the Sons of the Clergy, at their Anniversary-Meeting, in the Church of St. Paul:
A man who is conscious of having an ill character, cannot justly be angry with those who neglect and slight him.1749, Henry Fielding, The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling, volume (please specify |volume=I to VI), London: A[ndrew] Millar, […], →OCLC:

Archaic Morally reprehensible (of behaviour etc.); blameworthy.

‘Go bring her. It is ill to keep a lady waiting.’1999, George R.R. Martin, A Clash of Kings, Bantam, published 2011, page 2:

Indicative of unkind or malevolent intentions; harsh, cruel.

He suffered from ill treatment.

Unpropitious, unkind, faulty, not up to reasonable standard.

ill manners; ill will
[…]his lordship was out of humour. That was the way Chollacombe described as knaggy an old gager as ever Charles had had the ill-fortune to serve. Stiff-rumped, that's what he was, always rubbing the rust, or riding grub, like he had been for months past.1959, Georgette Heyer, chapter 1, in The Unknown Ajax:

Unwell in terms of health or physical condition; sick.

mentally ill people
I've been ill with the flu for the past few days.

1 more example

“We desperately needed the nursing support because our ICUs are so inundated with critically ill Covid patients,” Brown said.2021 August 14, Christina Maxouris, “‘Bursting at the seams’: Full ICUs are creating a dangerous ER backlog and forcing hospitals to cancel surgeries”, in CNN:

Nauseated; having an urge to vomit.

Seeing those pictures made me ill.

Dancing, Hip hop, Hobbies, Lifestyle, Sports Slang Sublime, with the connotation of being so in a singularly creative way.

This is the illest beat I've ever heard.
Biggie Smalls is the illest / Your style is played out, like Arnold wonderin "Whatchu talkin bout, Willis?"1994, Biggie Smalls, “The What”:

Slang Extremely bad (bad enough to make one ill). Generally used indirectly with to be.

That band was ill.

Dated Unwise; not a good idea.

Oh that when the devil and flesh entice the sinner to sport with and make a mock of sin, Prov. x. 23, he would but consider, it is ill jesting with edged tools, it is ill jesting with unquenchable burnings; […]1672, George Swinnock, The Incomparableness of God:
They arrested everybody—and it is ill to resist a drunken Tommy with a loaded rifle!1914, Indian Ink, volume 1, page 32:

Appalachia Bad-tempered.

Synonyms: 41 terms
diseased, poorly, sick, under the weather, unwell, ailing, disgusted, nauseated, nauseous, sicken, bad, mal-, dope, crank, crook, green about the gills, icky, ill, indisposed, infirm, like death warmed over, lousy, maladive, mawkish, off one's feed, on the Pat and Mick, out of sorts, Pat and Mick, punk, puny, queer, ropy, rough, sickish, sickly, sick as a dog, sick as a parrot, tumid, unhealthy, valetudinarian, valetudinary
Antonyms: fine, hale, healthy, in good health, well, good, wack
Derived terms: 63 terms
be taken ill, bird of ill omen, do ill, fall ill, house of ill fame, ill-adapted, illbeing, ill-being, illbient, ill blood, illderly, ill-ease, ill effect, ill effects, ill fame, ill-famed, illfare, ill feeling, ill-fortune, ill health, ill humor, ill humour, illish, ill-looking, ill luck, ill name, illness, ill news spreads apace, ill off, ill-omened, ill-repute, ill-scented, illsome, ill-starred, illth, ill-thrift, ill-treatment, ill turn, ill-usage, ill-use, ill will, ill-willed, ill-willing, ill wind, ill-wish, illwisher, ill-wisher, in ill part, it's an ill bird that fouls its own nest, it's an ill wind, it's an ill wind that blows nobody any good, it's an ill wind that blows no good, it's an ill wind that blows no one any good, lie ill in one's mouth, mentally ill, moorill, nonill, quarter-ill, take ill, terminally ill, wish someone ill, with ill grace, woman of ill fame
Hyponyms: cancerous, diseased, nauseated, bedbound, bedfast, bedridden, laid up

ill

adv

Not well; imperfectly, badly

Such jealousy ill becomes her; she can ill afford another gaffe like that.
He would have conversed as usual; but his attempts were so ill seconded, that he was fain to take refuge in the letters that lay beside him.1837, L[etitia] E[lizabeth] L[andon], “A Proposal of Marriage”, in Ethel Churchill: Or, The Two Brides. […], volume I, London: Henry Colburn, […], →OCLC, page 126:

4 more examples

Within, I found it, as I had expected, transcendently dismal. The slowly changing shadows waved on it from the heavy trees, were doleful in the last degree; the house was ill-placed, ill-built, ill-planned, and ill-fitted.1859 December 13, Charles Dickens [et al.], “(please specify the name of the story)”, in Charles Dickens, editor, The Haunted House. The Extra Christmas Number of All the Year Round […], volume II, London: […] C[harles] Whiting, […], →OCLC:
In both groups, however, we find copious and intricate speciation so that, often, species limits are narrow and ill defined.1992, Rudolf M[athias] Schuster, The Hepaticae and Anthocerotae of North America: East of the Hundredth Meridian, volume V, Chicago, Ill.: Field Museum of Natural History, →ISBN, page 3:
His inflexibility and blindness ill become a leader, for a leader must temper justice with mercy.1994, Nelson Mandela, Long Walk to Freedom: The Autobiography of Nelson Mandela, London: Abacus, published 2010, page 541:
Is it because this supposes an undifferentiated violence towards others and oneself that I could ill imagine in a woman?2006, Julia Borossa (translator), Monique Canto-Sperber (quoted author), in Libération, 2002 February 2, quoted in Élisabeth Badinter (quoting author), Dead End Feminism, Polity, page 40

Synonyms: illy
Antonyms: well
Derived terms: 60 terms
ill-advised, ill-assorted, ill at ease, ill-begotten, ill behaved, ill-behaved, ill-boding, ill-bred, ill-chosen, ill-concealed, ill-conceived, ill-conditioned, ill-considered, ill-constructed, ill-defined, ill-deserved, ill-directed, ill-disguised, ill-disposed, ill-equipped, ill-fated, ill-favoured, ill-fed, ill-fitting, ill-formed, ill-founded, ill-got gains, ill-gotten, ill-gotten gains, ill-gotten gains never prosper, ill-groomed, ill-grounded, ill-informed, ill-intentioned, ill-judged, ill-kempt, ill-lit, illlit, ill-mannered, ill-matched, ill-named, ill-natured, ill-placed, ill-posed, ill-prepared, ill-proportioned, ill-qualified, ill-received, ill-scathe, ill-seen, ill-sorted, ill-spent, ill-suited, ill-tempered, ill-thought-out, ill-timed, ill-treat, ill-use, shame to him who thinks ill of it, speak ill of

ill

noun

Trouble; distress; misfortune; adversity.

Often pluralized

Music won't solve all the world's ills, but it can make them easier to bear.
That makes us rather bear those ills we have / Than fly to others that we know not of.c. 1599–1602 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Hamlet, Prince of Denmarke”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act II, scene i]:

1 more example

Then he commenced to talk, really talk. and inside of two flaps of a herring's fin he had me mesmerized, like Eben Holt's boy at the town hall show. He talked about the ills of humanity, and the glories of health and Nature and service and land knows what all.1913, Joseph C[rosby] Lincoln, chapter IV, in Mr. Pratt’s Patients, New York, N.Y.; London: D[aniel] Appleton and Company, →OCLC:

Harm or injury.

I wouldn't want you to do me ill.
Loue worketh no ill to his neighbour, therefore loue is the fulfilling of the Law.1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Romans 13:10:

Evil; moral wrongfulness.

Strong virtue, like strong nature, struggles still, / Exerts itself, and then throws off the ill.1675, John Dryden, Aureng-zebe: A Tragedy. […], London: […] T[homas] N[ewcomb] for Henry Herringman, […], published 1676, →OCLC, (please specify the page number):

A physical ailment; an illness.

I am incapacitated by rheumatism and other ills.

US, Slang PCP, phencyclidine.

Derived terms: for good or ill, ill-doer, ill-doing, louping ill, thorter-ill

ill

verb

Dated, Slang To behave aggressively.

D.M.C.: You been illin' lately. Run: So, I'm illin'. Am I illin'? Chillin'! You know what I'm sayin'? Chillin'.1985, Ralph Farquhar, Krush Groove:

Entry derived from the Wiktionary, under licence CC BY-SA 4.0 — list of authors.