ugsome

English

Etymology

From Middle English ugsom, equivalent to ug +‎ -some.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈʌɡsəm/

Adjective

ugsome (comparative more ugsome, superlative most ugsome)

1. (chiefly UK dialectal, Scotland, Northern England) Ugly; horrible; disgusting; offensive, loathsome, repellent.
   • 1553, Hughe Latymer [i.e., Hugh Latimer], Augustine Bernher, compiler, “[Certayn Other Sermons Preached … in Lincolneshyre …] Edward VI 7”, in Certayn Godly Sermons, Made uppon the Lords Prayer, […], London: […] John Day, […], published 1562, →OCLC, folio 81, recto:

     This is hell, this is the image of death, this is hell, ſuch an euil fauored face, ſuch an ugſom countenance, ſuche an horrible viſage our ſauiour Chriſt ſaw of death and hell in the gardein.

   • 1972, W. H. Auden, Epistle to a Godson: and Other Poems‎^[1], page 28:

     Still, it's a cosy country, / unracked by riots or strikes / and backward at drug-taking: / I've heard of a dozen lands / where life sounds far more ugsome, / fitter goals for your disgust.

   • 1975, Scottish Mountaineering Club Journal, volume 30, numbers 163-166, page 397:

     We have italicised the more ugsome parts of the S.S.C. paper so that those of our readers who are too busy mountaineering to read the whole thing may grasp the fundamental psychopathology of the unattractive predators that have battened onto us.

Derived terms

• ugsomeness