Evil | Webster's Dictionary (1865)

Ē'vĭl, a.

adjective

(ēv'ĭl), a. [A-S. efel, yfel, or hufel, O. Fries. evel, D. enivel, evel, Goth. ubils, O. Sax., O. H. Ger. ubil, N. H. Ger. übel.]

Sense 1. Having qualities which tend to injury, or to produce mischief; having bad natural qualities; mischievous; not good; worthless or deleterious; poor; as, an evil beast; an evil plant; an evil crop.

Sense 2. Having or exhibiting bad moral qualities; wicked, wrong, vicious; as, evil conduct, thoughts, words, and the like.

Ah, what a sign it is of evil life, When death's approach is seen so terrible! Shak.

Sense 3. Producing or threatening sorrow, distress, injury, or calamity; unpropitious; unfortunate; as, evil tidings; evil arrows; evil days.

The owl shrieked at thy birth—an evil sign. Shak.

Evil news rides post, while good news baits. Milton.

The evil one, the devil.

Synonyms—Mischievous; pernicious; injurious; hurtful; destructive; wicked; bad; corrupt; perverse; wrong; vicious; calamitous.

E'vil, n.

noun

(ē'vl), n. 1. That which produces unhappiness; any thing that directly or remotely causes suffering of any kind to sentient beings; injury; mischief; harm; calamity.

Evils which our own misdeeds have wrought. Milton.

The evil that men do lives after them. Shak.

Sense 2. Moral badness, or the deviation of a moral being from the principles of virtue impressed by conscience, or the will of the Supreme Being, or the principles of a lawful human authority; disposition to do wrong; corruption of heart; wickedness; depravity.

The heart of the sons of men is full of evil. Eccl. ix. 3.

Sense 3. A malady or disease; especially in the phrase king's-evil, the scrofula. [Rare.] Shak.

E'vil, adv.

adverb

(ē'vil), adv. In an evil manner; not well; ill; badly; unhappily; injuriously; unkindly. “Evil it beseems thee.” Shak. It went evil with his house. 1 Chron. vii. 23. The Egyptians evil entreated us, and afflicted us. Deut. xxvi. 6.