Evil
Evil (ē"v'l) , adjective
[Old English evel, evil, ifel, uvel, Anglo-Saxon yfel; akin to OFries, evel, Dutch euvel, Old Saxon & Old High German ubil, German ubel, Gothic ubils, and perh. to English over.]
1.
Having qualities tending to injury and mischief; having a nature or properties which tend to badness; mischievous; not good; worthless or deleterious; poor; as, an evil beast; and evil plant; an evil crop.
A good tree can not bring forth evil fruit.
2.
Having or exhibiting bad moral qualities; morally corrupt; wicked; wrong; vicious; as, evil conduct, thoughts, heart, words, and the like.
Ah, what a sign it is of evil life,
When death's approach is seen so terrible.
3.
Producing or threatening sorrow, distress, injury, or calamity; unpropitious; calamitous; as, evil tidings; evil arrows; evil days.
Because he hath brought up an evil name upon a virgin of Israel.
The owl shrieked at thy birth -- an evil sign.
Evil news rides post, while good news baits.
It almost led him to believe in the evil eye.
Evil is sometimes written as the first part of a compound (with or without a hyphen). In many cases the compounding need not be insisted on. Examples: Evil doer or evildoer, evil speaking or evil-speaking, evil worker, evil wishing, evil-hearted, evil-minded.
Evil (ē"v'l) , noun
1.
Anything which impairs the happiness of a being or deprives a being of any good; anything which causes suffering of any kind to sentient beings; injury; mischief; harm; -- opposed to good.
Evils which our own misdeeds have wrought.
The evil that men do lives after them.
2.
Moral badness, or the deviation of a moral being from the principles of virtue imposed by conscience, or by the will of the Supreme Being, or by the principles of a lawful human authority; disposition to do wrong; moral offense; wickedness; depravity.
The heart of the sons of men is full of evil.
3.
malady or disease; especially in the phrase king's evil, the scrofula. [Rare] — Shakespeare
He [Edward the Confessor] was the first that touched for the evil.
Evil , adverb
In an evil manner; not well; ill; badly; unhappily; injuriously; unkindly. — Shakespeare
It went evil with his house.
The Egyptians evil entreated us, and affected us.