insult

verb

1. 1

   To be insensitive, insolent, or rude to (somebody); to affront or demean (someone).

   - Marvel owns your gods! - Insulting is not arguing.

   And why I pray you? who might be your mother That you inſult, exult, and all at once Ouer the wretched?

   The Foe hayles on thy head; and in thy Face / Inſults, and trenches; leaues thee, no worlds grace; / The walles, in which thou art beſieged, ſhake.

   Nor would ſuch a man as thou art be deterr'd, were I to remind thee of the vengeance which thou mayeſt one day expect, if thou inſulteſt a woman of her character, family, and fortune.

2. 2

   figurativeTo assail, assault, or attack; (specifically, military) to carry out an assault, attack, or onset without preparation.

   Giue me thy knife, I will inſult on him, Flattering my ſelfes, as if it were the Moore, Come hither purpoſely to poyſon me.

   Not with more madneſs, rolling from afar, / The ſpumy Waves proclaim the watry War. / And mounting upwards, with a mighty Roar, / March onwards, and inſult the rocky ſhoar.

3. 3

   obsoleteTo behave in an obnoxious and superior manner (against or over someone).

   And doe you ſe how he inſulteth ouer me, as though hee had gotten a great aduantage, and how hee taketh heere his reuenge vpon me, for the ſhipwracke hee ſuffered before, in the matter of his ſyllogyſme?

   Now with the drops of this moſt balmie time, / My loue lookes freſh, and death to me ſubſcribes, / Since ſpight of him Ile liue in this poore time / While he inſults ore dull and ſpeachleſſe tribes.

   But be it ſo thou haſt loſt all, poore thou art deiected, in paine of body, griefe of mind, thine enimies inſult ouer thee, thou art as bad as Iob, yet tel me (ſaith Chryſoſtome), was Iob or the Diuell the greater conqueror, ſurely Job, [...]

4. 4

   obsoleteTo leap or trample upon.

   So looks the pent-vp Lyon o're the Wretch, / That trembles vnder his deuouring Pawes: / And ſo he walkes, inſulting o're his Prey, / And ſo he comes, to rend his Limbes aſunder.

noun

1. 1

   Action or form of speech deliberately intended to be rude; (countable) a particular act or statement having this effect.

   Preſent we meet thy ſneaking treacherous ſmiles; The harmleſs abſent ſtill thy ſneer reviles; Such as in thee all parts ſuperior find, The ſneer that marks the fool and knave combin'd; When melting pity would afford relief The ruthleſs ſneer that insult adds to grief.

   To call you stupid would be an insult to stupid people!

2. 2

   Something that causes offence (for example, by being of an unacceptable quality).

   The way the orchestra performed tonight was an insult to my ears.

   Such marriages he had held were insults to the manhood of any man and the womanhood of any woman. In such unions neither party could respect himself or his companion.

   The story we will share in the pages of this book, you as the reader and I as the author, contains a modicum of mathematics. I have used it sparingly, and judiciously, but to eliminate it altogether would have been dishonest, a form of intellectual deception and condescension, and an insult to your curiosity and intelligence.

3. 3

   Something causing disease or injury to the body or bodily processes; the injury so caused.

   The exact nature of the teratological insult in diabetic pregnancy, and the cell biological details of the induced disturbances, are not known.

   [M]ost investigators agreed with the characterization of early brain plasticity as a transiently available, ancillary system that is triggered by neural insult, and that serves, most importantly, as a means of shielding the developing organism from the potentially debilitating effects of neural insult.

   Within the complex genome of most organisms there are alternative multiple pathways of proteins which can help the individual cell survive a variety of insults, for example radiation, toxic chemicals, heat, excessive or reduced oxygen.

4. 4

   archaicAn assault or attack; (specifically, military, obsolete) an assault, attack, or onset carried out without preparation.

   Then fir'd with pious Rage, the gen'rous Train / Run madly forward, to revenge the ſlain. / And ſome with eager haſte their Jav'lins throw; / And ſome, with Sword in hand, aſſault the Foe. / The wiſh'd Inſult the Latine Troops embrace; / And meet their Ardour in the middle Space.

   The government was continually expoſed to the inſults of a faction, and deſtitute of the neceſſary reſources.

5. 5

   obsoleteAn act of leaping upon.

   The Bull's Inſult at Four ſhe [the mother cow] may ſuſtain; / But, after Ten, from Nuptial Rites refrain. / Six Seaſons uſe; but then releaſe the Cow, / Unfit for Love, and for the lab'ring Plough.

Forms

plural

insults

past tense

insulted

past participle

insulted

present participle

insulting

third person singular

insults