brute (iou) and abortive (iou)

brute (iou)

brute adjective & noun. [bru:t] LME.
[French brut, brute = Spanish, Italian bruto, from Latin brutus heavy, stupid, dull.]
A. adjective.
Of animals: not possessing the capacity of reason or understanding. LME.
G. Berkeley To degrade human-kind to a level with brute beasts.
Of people or their actions etc.: unthinking, unreasoning; senseless, stupid; bestial, cruel; sensual, passionate. M16.
J. Sylvester Man (alas!) is bruter than a Brute. Y. Menuhin Imposing the only order the Soviets know, which is brute order.
b. Crude, unrefined; = BRUTAL 4. Now rare. M16.
Of things: unconscious, impersonal, merely material. M16.
M. Frayn The brute glare of the noonday sun.
Of surfaces etc.: rugged, unpolished. rare. E17.
Southey The value of the brute diamond.
Special collocations: brute creation the animals (as opp. to humans). brute fact a simple inescapable or unexplained fact; loosely (often in pl.) the plain truth. brute force irrational force; the simple or unthinking exertion of strength.
b. noun.
Any of the lower animals, as distinguished from humans; a large or powerful animal. E17.
the brute animal Nature in man.
Pope Man..the middle Link between Angels and Brutes. W. Holtby The big black brute that Carne rode.
A person of brutish or animal tendencies; a person lacking in sensibility; (colloq.) a disliked or despised person. L17.
G. Stein What could you expect when Melanctha had such a brute of a..father. E. Langley She's often asked him to bring us down to see her; but the brute wouldn't.
b. transf. A large, awkward, or unpleasant thing. colloq. L19.
George Eliot The brute of a cigar required relighting.
brutedom noun brutish Nature L19.
brutehood noun M19.
brutely adverb (now rare) in a brutal or brutish manner L16.
bruteness noun M16.

abortive (iou)

abortive noun, adjective, & verb. ME.
[Old & mod. French abortif, -ive from Latin abortivus, formed as ABORTION: see -IVE.]
A. noun.
A stillborn child or animal. ME-M18.
An imperfect result of an action. E17-E18.
b. adjective.
Of or pertaining to abortion; born prematurely; causing or experiencing abortion. LME-M18.
Shakespeare Richard III If ever he have child, abortive be it.
Fruitless, unsuccessful. L16.
Scott Fitzgerald An abortive attempt at a laugh. T. Pynchon An abortive firing, a warhead that didn't explode.
Biology. Arrested in development. M18.
fig.: S. Spender An abortive tower at one corner.
C. verb trans. Cause abortion of; render fruitless. Only in 17.
abortively adverb M16.
abortiveness noun E17.

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