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infamous, a.|ˈɪnfəməs|
Also 5 enfamouse, (4 infamis, -es).
[Corresponds to rare OF. infameux, med.L. infāmōsus = L. infāmis: cf. L. fāmōsus, F. fameux, Eng. famous. Formerly stressed inˈfamous (still in Bailey 1730, but Milton has ˈinfamous). The L. form infamis, also infames, occurs in early use.]
1. Of ill fame or repute; famed or notorious for badness of any kind; notoriously evil, wicked, or vile; held in infamy or public disgrace.
a. of persons, their attributes, etc.
1533More Debell. Salem ii. Wks. 935/1 [This] should but make..both partes more infamouse, amonge such other.. as would be glad and reioice to here much euill spoken of them both. c1590Marlowe Faust. ii. 33, I fear he is fallen into that damned art for which they two are infamous through the world. 1611Bible Ezek. xxii. 5 Those that be neere..shall mocke thee which art infamous, and much vexed. 1684Contempl. St. Man i. ix. (1699) 103 Set before thy Eyes Christ Crucified upon Mount Calvary; if a Man more Infamous be imaginable. 1734tr. Rollin's Anc. Hist. xx. i. IX. 7 Perseus was utterly infamous for his crimes. 1844Thirlwall Greece lx. VIII. 11 He appears to have been more infamous for sacrilege than for bloodshed.
b. of things.
c1380Wyclif Serm. Sel. Wks. I. 271 No man liȝtiþ a lanterne in derknesse, and puttiþ it in oon of þes two infamous [MS. Douce 321 famous] places: neþer in hid place ne undir a bushel. 1398Trevisa Barth. De P.R. xix. cxvii. (Add. MS. 27944) lf. 326/2 Þis nombre..is in-fames among som men, for, by þe nombre of tweyne we beþ departed fro oon, and so þis nombre is acompted tokne..of departyng. 1570–6Lambarde Peramb. Kent (1826) 245 No lesse infortunate, but much more infamous to this countrie, was the time of the second muster here. 1650Fuller Pisgah ii. xii. 253 The high-way betwixt Jericho and Jerusalem is infamous for theeving. 1667Primatt City & C. Build. 10 Salisbury Plain, and divers other places..famous for curious air, and as infamous for their barrenness. 1777Robertson Hist. Amer. (1778) II. vi. 155 An island, infamous for the most unhealthy climate in that region of America. 1838Thirlwall Greece II. xv. 281 A part of the Coast, infamous in ancient times, under the name of Cœla (the Hollows).
2. Deserving of infamy; of shameful badness, vileness, or abominableness; of a character or quality deserving utter reprobation. (One of the strongest adjectives of detestation.)
a. of persons, etc.
c1489Caxton Blanchardyn xlvi. 178 O thou ryght enfamouse churle and olde myschaunte! 1590Spenser F.Q. i. xii. 27 False erraunt knight, infamous, and forswore. 1605Sylvester Du Bartas ii. iii. iv. Captains 1082 A Sink of Filth, where ay th' infamousest Most bold and busie, are esteemed best. 1711Addison Spect. No. 126 ⁋3 Infamous Hypocrites, that are for promoting their own Advantage, under Colour of the Publick Good. 1841Lane Arab. Nts. I. 108 Thou liest, thou infamous woman.
b. of things.
1555Eden Decades 208 The nobilitie..repute it infamous to ioyne with any of base parentage. 1586Marlowe 1st Pt. Tamburl. v. ii, Then is there left..no hope of end To our infamous, monstrous slaveries. 1671Milton Samson 417 My former servitude, ignoble, Unmanly, ignominious, infamous. 1703Maundrell Journ. Jerus. (1732) 106 Detest the very ground on which was acted such an infamous Treachery. 1858Act 21 & 22 Vict. c. 90 §29 Any registered medical practitioner..guilty of infamous conduct in any professional respect. 1869E. A. Parkes Pract. Hygiene 561 The sanitary conditions..were, without exception, infamous.
3. Law. Of a person: Deprived of all or certain of the rights of a citizen, in consequence of conviction of certain crimes.
An infamous person is, until he has served his sentence, disqualified for any public appointment, any public pension or allowance, the right to sit in Parliament or exercise any franchise. He is permanently disqualified (unless restored by a free pardon) from serving as a juror; and, down to 1844, was incapacitated from giving evidence in a court of law.
[1395Remonstrance (1851) 87 And thei that ben forsworen opinli, ben infamis, and worthi to be priuid of alle beneficis.] 1548Act 2 & 3 Edw. VI, c. 15 §1 Everie Person so conspiring..for the third offence shall..be taken as a man infamous and his sayinge deposicions or oathe not to be credyted at anye tyme in any matters of judgement. 1551Sc. Acts Mary (1597) c. 19 Infamous persons, never able to bruik office, honour, dignitie, nor benefice in time to-cum. 1651W. G. tr. Cowel's Inst. 278 They [perjurers] were to be committed to Prison, and for ever rendered so infamous, that they were deprived of the benefit of the Lawes, and their Testimonies never to be admitted in any Cause. 1707J. Chamberlayne St. Gt. Brit. iii. viii. (Punishments) 339 They are condemned to lose the Franchise or Freedom of the Law, that is, become Infamous, and of no Credit. 1726Ayliffe Parergon 55 Persons that are Infamous, or branded with any Note of Infamy,..are ipso Jure forbidden to be Advocates. 1768Blackstone Comm. III. xxiii. 370 Infamous persons are such as may be challenged as jurors, propter delictum. 1841Elphinstone Hist. Ind. I. 59 Infamous persons..with others disqualified on slighter grounds, are in the first instance excluded from giving testimony.
b. Of a crime or punishment: Involving or entailing infamy.
infamous crime was chiefly applied to abominable and disgusting crimes, as sodomy and kindred offences: see the Larceny Act of 1861, sect. 46. In U.S., ‘in general, an offence punishable in a state prison’.
c1555Harpsfield Divorce Hen. VIII (Camden) 255 And so had two wives at once, which is by the civil law a thing infamous. c1780Constit. U.S. Amendm. v, No person shall be held to answer for a capital or otherwise infamous crime, unless on a presentment or indictment of a grand jury. 1785Paley Mor. Philos. vi. ix. (1830) 444 Infamous punishments are mismanaged in this country, with respect both to the crimes and the criminals. 1861Act 24 & 25 Vict. c. 96 §46 margin, ‘Infamous crime’ defined. 1863Bright Sp., Amer. 26 Mar. (1876) 128 A conspiracy whose fundamental institution..is declared to be felony and infamous by the statutes of their Country. 1870Act 33 & 34 Vict. c. 77 §10 No man who has been or shall be attainted of any treason or felony, or convicted of any crime that is infamous, unless he shall have obtained a free pardon..is or shall be qualified to serve on juries or inquests. 1897Bouvier's Law Dict. (U.S.) s.v., The..doctrine..that imprisonment in a state prison or a penitentiary with or without hard labour was an infamous punishment. Mod. Newsp. A warrant being issued against him for an infamous crime, he fled the country. |
