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Webster 1913 Edition

Ill

Ill

(ĭl)
,
Adj.
[The regular comparative and superlative are wanting, their places being supplied by worse and worst, from another root.]
[OE.
ill
,
ille
, Icel.
illr
; akin to Sw.
illa
, adv., Dan.
ilde
, adv.]
1.
Contrary to good, in a physical sense; contrary or opposed to advantage, happiness, etc.; bad; evil; unfortunate; disagreeable; unfavorable.
Neither is it
ill
air only that maketh an
ill
seat, but
ill
ways,
ill
markets, and
ill
neighbors.
Bacon.
There ’s some
ill
planet reigns.
Shakespeare
2.
Contrary to good, in a moral sense; evil; wicked; wrong; iniquitious; naughtly; bad; improper.
Of his own body he was ill, and gave
The clergy
ill
example.
Shakespeare
3.
Sick; indisposed; unwell; diseased; disordered;
as,
ill
of a fever
.
I am in health, I breathe, and see thee
ill
.
Shakespeare
4.
Not according with rule, fitness, or propriety; incorrect; rude; unpolished; inelegant.
That 's an
ill
phrase.
Shakespeare
Syn. – Bad; evil; wrong; wicked; sick; unwell.

Ill

,
Noun.
1.
Whatever annoys or impairs happiness, or prevents success; evil of any kind; misfortune; calamity; disease; pain;
as, the
ills
of humanity
.
Who can all sense of others'
ills
escape
Is but a brute at best in human shape.
Tate.
That makes us rather bear those
ills
we have
Than fly to others that we know not of.
Shakespeare
2.
Whatever is contrary to good, in a moral sense; wickedness; depravity; iniquity; wrong; evil.
Strong virtue, like strong nature, struggles still,
Exerts itself, and then throws off the
ill
.
Dryden.

Ill

,
adv.
In a ill manner; badly; weakly.
How
ill
this taper burns!
Shakespeare
Ill
fares the land, to hastening ills a prey,
Where wealth accumulates and men decay.
Goldsmith.
☞ Ill, like above, well, and so, is used before many participal adjectives, in its usual adverbal sense. When the two words are used as an epithet preceding the noun qualified they are commonly hyphened; in other cases they are written separatively; as, an ill-educated man; he was ill educated; an ill-formed plan; the plan, however ill formed, was acceptable. Ao, also, the following: ill-affected or ill affected, ill-arranged or ill arranged, ill-assorted or ill assorted, ill-boding or ill boding, ill-bred or ill bred, ill-conditioned, ill-conducted, ill-considered, ill-devised, ill-disposed, ill-doing, ill-fairing, ill-fated, ill-favored, ill-featured, ill-formed, ill-gotten, ill-imagined, ill-judged, ill-looking, ill-mannered, ill-matched, ill-meaning, ill-minded, ill-natured, ill-omened, ill-proportioned, ill-provided, ill-required, ill-sorted, ill-starred, ill-tempered, ill-timed, ill-trained, ill-used, and the like.

Webster 1828 Edition

Ill

ILL

,
Noun.
1.
Bad or evil, in a general sense; contrary to good, physical or moral; applied to things; evil; wicked; wrong; iniquitous; as, his ways are ill; he sets an ill example.
2.
Producing evil or misfortune; as an ill star or planet.
3.
Bad; evil; unfortunate; as an ill end; an ill fate.
4.
Unhealthy; insalubrious; as an ill air or climate.
5.
Cross; crabbed; surly; peevish; as ill nature; ill temper.
6.
Diseased; disordered; sick or indisposed; applied to persons; as, the man is ill; he has been ill a long time; he is ill of a fever.
7.
Diseased; impaired; as an ill state of health.
8.
Discordant; harsh; disagreeable; as an ill sound.
9.
Homely; ugly; as ill looks, or an ill countenance.
10. Unfavorable; suspicious; as when we say, this affair bears an ill look or aspect.
11. Rude; unpolished; as ill breeding; ill manners.
12. Not proper; not regular or legitimate; as an ill expression in grammar.

ILL

,
Noun.
Wickedness; depravity; evil.
Strong virtue, like strong nature, struggles still,
Exerts itself and then throws off the ill.
1.
Misfortune; calamity; evil; disease; pain; whatever annoys or impairs happiness, or prevents success.
Who can all sense of other's ills escape,
Is but a brute at beat in human shape.

ILL

,
adv.
Not well; not rightly or perfectly.
He is ill at ease.
1.
Not easily; with pain or difficulty. He is ill able to sustain the burden.
Ill bears the sex the youthful lovers' fate,
When just approaching to the nuptial state.

ILL

, prefixed to participles of the present tense, and denoting evil or wrong, may be considered as a noun governed by the participle, or as making a part of a compound word; as an ill meaning man, an ill designing man, an ill boding hour; that is, a man meaning ill, an hour boding ill. It is more consonant, however, to the genius of our language, to treat these and similar words as compounds. In some cases, as before the participles of intransitive verbs, ill must be considered as a part of the compound, as in ill-looking. When used before the perfect participle, ill is to be considered as an adverb, or modifying word, or to be treated as a part of the compound; as in ill-bred, ill-governed, ill-fated, ill-favored, ill-formed, ill-minded. In these and all similar connections, it might be well to unite the two words in a compound by a hyphen. As ill may be prefixed to almost any participle, it is needless to attempt to collect a list of such words for insertion.

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