Virtuous

a. Forms: α. 4–5 vertuos, 4–6 -uose, 4–7 -uouse, 4–8 -uous (4 -ouous, -uuus, -ueous), 5 -uus, -uows(e, -ueux (Sc. wertuo(u)sse, -uwisse, -uus, 6 vertwus); 5 vertues (wert-), vertuys (Sc. -uyse, -uise), 5–6 -uis; 5 vertus (Sc. -use), wertuz (Sc. -us); 4 vertiuus, 5–6 Sc. verteous, 6 Sc. -ewous, -ewus, -eus, werteous. Also superl. 5 vertues, 6 vertuest, vertuost. β. 4 uirtuous, virtuus, 5 virtuose, 7– virtuous. [a. AF. and OF. vertuous, OF. vertuos, vertuus, (also mod.F.) vertueux, etc., = Pr. vertuos, Cat. virtuos, Sp. and Pg. virtuoso, It. ver-, virtuoso, late L. virtuōsus, f. L. virtus VIRTUE sb. see -OUS.]

  I.  Of persons, personal qualities or actions, etc.

  † 1.  Distinguished by manly qualities; full of manly courage; valiant, valorous. Obs.

13[?].  K. Alis., 2408 (Laud MS.). Alisaunder and tholomeus, Mid her men þat weren so vertuous, Þat hij weren passed ostes two. Ibid., 3319. Ne seiȝ ich neuer so hardy kniȝth … So stronge on hors ne so vertuouse.

c. 1330.  Arth. & Merl., 4310. For alle hem werreþ Galeus, Þe riche king so vertouous.

c. 1450.  Merlin, xxix. 595. The slaughter [was] grete on bothe sides. Neuertheles whan Merlin saugh the saisnes so vertuouse, he [etc.].

1474.  Caxton, Chesse, IV. vi. 178. Ye shalle vnderstande that they ben stronge and vertuous in bataylle. Ibid. (c. 1489), Sonnes of Aymon, xx. 451. ‘Brother,’ sayd reynawde, ‘I praye you that ye shewe yourselfe vertuous & stronge agenste our enmyes.’

1606.  Chapman, Gentl. Usher, I. i. My Lord, I know too well your vertuous spirit; Take heede for God’s loue if you rowse the bore You come not neere him. Ibid. (c. 1611), Iliad, XIII. 148. With this all strengths and minds he mov’d; but young Deiphobus, Old Priam’s son, amongst them all was chiefly virtuous.

1611.  Beaum. & Fl., King & No K., I. Must all men that are vertuous Think suddenly to match themselves with me? I conquered him and bravely, did I not?

  † b.  Of an act: Evincing a manly spirit; brave, heroic, courageous. Obs. rare.

1560.  Whitehorne, trans. Machiavell’s Arte Warre, 85. Thei had appointed rewardes to euery worthie acte: as he that faighting, saued the life of one of his Citezeins,… to him that had … slaine the enemie, and so euery vertuous act, was of the Consulles knowen and rewarded.

1653.  Cogan, Diodorus Siculus, V. ii. 174. The child,… catching them [sc. two Dragons] by the throat, strangled them both; for which his vertuous act, the Argives called him Hercules.

  † c.  Capable, able. Obs.^–1

1483.  Caxton, Cato, e viij. It happeth oftymes that they to whome nature hath denyed … her forces or strengthes been better and more vertuous to gyue a good counceyl than the other.

  2.  Possessing or showing virtue in life and conduct; acting with moral rectitude or in conformity with moral laws; free from vice, immorality or wickedness; good, just, righteous.

  The prevailing sense. In some early quots. as a general term of commendation (cf. sense 3).

  α.  c. 1340.  Hampole, Prose Tr., 14. Þe mare þat a saule es … joynede to oure Lorde Godd, þe mare stabill it es and myghty,… gude, peyseble, luffande, and mare vertuous.

1390.  Gower, Conf., II. 78. Bot if a man of bothe two Be riche and vertuous also, Thanne is he wel the more worth.

c. 1400.  Apol. Loll., 91. Crist is more exellent & vertuosar þan oþer createris.

a. 1475.  G. Ashby, Active Policy, 480. Looke that youre servauntes be of the best,… And eueriche in his degre vertuest.

1509.  Fisher, Funeral Serm. C’tess Richmond, Wks. (1876), 301. All the vertuous and deuoute persones to whome she was as a louynge syster.

1534.  Cromwell, in Merriman, Life & Lett. (1902), I. 375. Diuerse other vertuose prestes men of good lernyng and reputation, shuld so testifie of her.

1563.  Homilies, II. Peril Idol., III. Ss iij b. The vertuest and best learned … auncient fathers.

1567.  Paynell, trans. Treas. Amadis of Gaule, E ij b. I neuer saw a wiser, vertuouser or a more temperate prince.

1611.  Bible, Transl. Pref., ¶ 8. A man may be counted a vertuous man, though hee haue made many slips in his life.

1640.  Quarles, Enchiridion, xci. If a Prince expect vertuous Subjects, let his Subjects have a vertuous Prince.

1695.  Ld. Preston, Boeth., IV. 172. The Reward of vertuous Men.

1701.  Rowe, Amb. Step-Moth., Ep. Ded. Two Vertuous (or at least Innocent) Characters.

1706.  Stanhope, Paraphr., III. 206. Approving ourselves vertuous in our Behaviour as well as orthodox in our Belief.

  transf.  1426.  Lydg., De Guil. Pilgr., 22098. Byholde ȝonder a Chartrehous, An ordur that is full vertuous.

1539–40.  Wriothesley, Chron. (Camden), I. 109. The howse of Sion … which was the vertues [= most virtuous] howse of religion that was in England.

  β.  1487.  Barbour’s Bruce, IV. 742. He had beyn fals and couatus; Bot his vit maid him virtuous.

1660.  Ingelo, Bentiv. & Ur., II. (1682), 72. When that which is worse hath cunningly contriv’d the destruction of Virtuous persons.

1691.  Hartcliffe, Virtues, 397. It were impossible so long as Men … have a desire of their own Happiness, but they should be virtuous.

1707.  Curios. in Husb. & Gard., 7. Ecclesiasticus injoins Labour and Agriculture as a Duty of virtuous Men.

1777.  R. Watson, Philip II. (1839), 23. Thus did this monarch, who was not less virtuous than most of his cotemporary princes, deliberately resolve to add treachery to the perjury and falsehood into which he had been betrayed.

1826.  Disraeli, Viv. Grey, V. xiii. I have been too weak to be virtuous: but I have been … tried most bitterly.

1859.  Geo. Eliot, A. Bede, xvii. Let your most faulty characters always be on the wrong side, and your virtuous ones on the right.

1881.  Jrnl. Inst. Bankers, II. IX. 563. The virtuous debtor, whose insolvency was attributable to unavoidable losses and misfortune.

  b.  Of women. Freq. = CHASTE a.

  In quot. c. 1400 merely an epithet of commendation.

c. 1386.  Chaucer, Man of Law’s T., 526. They can not gesse That sche had doon so gret a wikkednesse, For they han seyen hir so vertuous.

c. 1400.  Destr. Troy, 2432. Venus the vertuus was verely the fairest.

c. 1420.  Chron. Vilod., 1573. Þer nasse A wysor wommon … Ny vertuoser in levyng,… Þen was þis holy mayde.

1536.  Cromwell, in Merriman, Life & Lett. (1902), II. 21. Soo hath his grace I thinke chosen the vertuost lady and the veriest gentlewoman that lyveth.

a. 1578.  Lindesay (Pitscottie), Chron. Scot. (S.T.S.), I. 157. Quene Margarit was werie wyse and werteous in hir husbandis tyme, bot sune efter his deid … scho became leichorous of hir body.

1598.  Shaks., Merry W., IV. ii. 136. Mistris Ford, the honest woman, the modest wife, the vertuous creature, that hath the iealious foole to her husband.

1611.  Bible, Prov. xii. 4. A vertuous woman is a crowne to her husband.

1632.  High Commission Cases (Camden), 265. That she being a vertuous and a chaste lady, he called her whore often tymes.

1712.  Steele, Spect., No. 286, ¶ 1. In my Opinion, and in that of many of your virtuous Female Readers.

17[?].  Suffolk Miracle, ii. in Child, Ballads, V. 66/1. Her beauty was beyond compare, She was both virtuous and fair.

1796.  H. Hunter, trans. St.-Pierre’s Stud. Nat. (1799), III. 77. ‘She will be virtuous,’ said she, ‘and she will be happy: I knew calamity only in ceasing to be virtuous.’

1837.  Lytton, E. Maltrav., II. i. Madame D’Epinay’s memoirs are of this character. She was not a virtuous woman—but she felt virtue and loved it.

1843.  Bethune, Scott. Peasant’s Fire-side, 35. A virtuous woman, who has given her heart … to one whom [etc.].

  † c.  Used as a title of courtesy in addressing or referring to persons, esp. ladies of rank or eminence. Obs.

c. 1532.  Du Wes, Introd. Fr., in Palsgr., 896. Most illustre, ryght exellente & ryght vertuouse lady my lady Mary of Englande.

1588.  Kyd, Househ. Philos., Ded. To the Worshipfvll and Vertvovs Gentleman Maister Thomas Reade, Esqvier, Health and all Happines.

1616.  Sir W. Mure, Misc. Poems, xvii. title, Epitaph of the wery excellent, vertuouse … and trulie honoured Lady, the Lady Arnestoun.

a. 1700.  Evelyn, Diary, 4 Feb. 1668. I saw the tragedy of ‘Horace’ (written by the virtuous Mrs. Phillips).

  d.  absol. (as pl.), chiefly with the.

1390.  Gower, Conf., III. 226. He putte awey the vicious And tok to him the vertuous.

c. 1425.  Wyntoun, Cron., VII. 832. He chastit þa þat war wiciousse, And relewit al wertuousse.

1589.  Nashe, Anat. Absurd., Wks. (Grosart), I. 35. The acts of the ventrous, and the praise of the vertuous.

1597.  Morley, Introd. Mus., Ded. A second being … causing vs liue in the mindes of the vertuous, as it were, deified to the posteritie.

1651.  Hobbes, Leviath., IV. xlvi. 373. As if the Vertuous, and their Vertues could be asunder.

a. 1711.  Ken, Urania, Wks. 1721, IV. 498. They priz’d an humble modest Air, Sang more the Virtuous than the Fair.

1759.  Johnson, Rasselas, xxxvii[i.] But the angels of affliction spread their toils alike for the virtuous and the wicked.

c. 1805.  Leyden, in Life & Poems (1875), 195. The soft descending dews of sleep, That bathe the virtuous in serene repose.

1846.  Mrs. A. Marsh, Father Darcy, II. viii. 137. The esteem of the noble and virtuous I would still retain.

  e.  Of the disposition or mind.

1584.  Powel, Lloyd’s Cambria, 398. Of a good and vertuous disposition.

1598.  Shaks., Merry W., I. i. 189. Slen. If I be drunke, Ile be drunke with those that haue the feare of God, and not with drunken knaues. Euan. So got-udge me, that is a vertuous minde.

1602.  Ld. Cromwell, IV. i. 20. He was my Maister, And each vertuous part, That liued in him, I tenderd with my hart.

1634.  Milton, Comus, 211. These thoughts may startle well, but not astound The vertuous mind.

1660.  Ingelo, Bentiv. & Ur., II. (1682), 196. Many Vertuous Dispositions are fair Resemblances of the Divine Perfections.

1780.  A. Hamilton, Lett. to Miss Schuyler, Wks. 1850, I. 187. A virtuous mind cannot long esteem a base one.

1784.  Cowper, Tiroc., 436. The most disint’rested and virtuous minds.

1816.  Shelley, Dæmon of World, II. 136. The bliss … Which … Dawns on the virtuous mind.

  f.  Sc. Diligent or industrious in work.

  Perhaps due to Prov. xii. 4: see b. above, quot. 1611.

1725.  Ramsay, Gentle Sheph., I. ii. I’ve heard my honest uncle aften say, That lads should a’ for wives that’s vertuous pray.

a. 1825.  Scott, in Jamieson, Sc. Dict., Suppl. s.v., Her daughter was the most virtuous woman in the parish, for that week she had spun sax spyndles of yarn.

  3.  Of acts, life, manners, etc.: Characterized by, of the nature of, virtue; according with, or conforming to, moral law or principles; morally good or justifiable.

  Occas. in a weakened sense: ‘estimable, commendable, praiseworthy.’

c. 1375.  Sc. Leg. Saints, xix. 634. God to christofore gafe sic grace of vertuyse lare. Ibid., xxxvi. 424. Aganis þaim … Þat awantis þaim-selfe of uertuise lif.

c. 1393.  Chaucer, Gentilesse, 17. Ther may no man … beqweythe his heyre his vertuous noblesse.

a. 1400.  Apol. Loll., 36. In meknes, pouert, paciens, & labour, & oþer vertuus dedis.

1450.  Lett. Marg. of Anjou, etc. (Camden), 97. The womanly and vertuouse governance that ye be renowned of.

1484.  Caxton, Fables of Auian, xi. None oughte to preyse hym self but oughte to doo good and vertuous werkes whereof other may preyse hym.

1509.  Fisher, Serm., Wks. (1876), 271. Blessyd are tho whiche haue made vertuous ende and conclusyon of theyr lyfe in our lorde.

1585.  T. Washington, trans. Nicholay’s Voy., II. vii. 37. [They] are much giuen too musick and all other vertuous & honest exercises.

1607.  Shaks., Timon, III. ii. 44. If his occasion were not vertuous, I should not vrge it halfe so faithfully.

1667.  Milton, P. L., VIII. 550. That what she wills to do or say, Seems wisest, vertuousest, discreetest, best.

1712.  Steele, Spect., No. 500, ¶ 3. There is one thing I am able to give each of them, which is a virtuous Education.

1759.  Johnson, Rasselas, xxxiii. The present reward of virtuous conduct.

1782.  J. Brown, Compend. View Nat. & Rev. Relig., I. 25. To constitute an act truly virtuous, it must originate from a virtuous principle or habit.

1836.  J. S. Gilbert, Chr. Atonem., ix. (1852), 297. Can pride be virtue, or can any act be truly virtuous, if done in pride?

1838.  Dickens, Nickleby, i. My Father has got it [sc. my uncle’s money] now, and is saving it up for me, which is a highly virtuous purpose.

1871.  R. W. Dale, Commandm., Introd. 11. It is only the virtuous man who knows what is virtuous.

  † b.  Of writings: = MORAL a. 3 b. Obs.^–1

1509.  Hawes, Past. Pleas., XIV. (Percy Soc.), 53. He made also the tales of Caunterbury; Some vertuous, and some glad and mery.

  c.  Of a blush: Chaste, modest.

1818.  Byron, Juan, I. Ded. vii. Your bays may hide the baldness of your brows—Perhaps some virtuous blushes.

  † 4.  Belonging to the virtuosi. Also absol. with the. Obs. rare.

a. 1680.  Butler, Rem. (1759), I. 10. Most excellent and virtuous Friends, This great Discovery makes amends For all our unsuccessful Pains.

1685.  Petty, Will, in Ld. Fitzmaurice, Life (1895), 319. I obtained my degree of Doctor of Phisick in Oxford, and forthwith thereupon to be admitted into the College of Phisitians, London, and into severall clubbs of the virtuous.

  II.  Of things, their operations, etc.

  5.  Producing, or capable of producing, (great) effect; powerful, potent, strong.

  In some quots. influenced by or approximating to sense 6.

13[?].  K. Alis., 5228 (Laud MS.). Hij maden fyres vertuous Fyue hundreþ, vche gret als an hous.

1390.  Gower, Conf., III. 137. That word above alle erthli thinges Is vertuous in his doinges, Wher so it be to evele or goode.

1598.  Chapman, Iliad, IV. [VIII.] 22. Then wil I to Olimpus top our vertuous engine binde, And by it euerie thing shall hang.

1616.  J. Lane, Contn. Sqr.’s T., IX. 394. Till happelie her ffather slewe the snake, and by his virtuous wordes did th’ venom slake.

  b.  Of actions, qualities, etc.

1387.  Trevisa, Higden (Rolls), II. 185. Touchynge þe þridde liknesse, þat is vertuous worchynge.

1422.  Yonge, trans. Secreta Secret., 246. Therfor the dygestion is the bettyr and more vertuose in wyntyr than in any othyr tyme.

1426.  Lydg., De Guil. Pilgr., 3427. And ye may ther … Maken thynges fresshe of hewe, And whan ye lyst, transforme hem newe, Your power ys so vertuous.

1578.  Lyte, Dodoens, 1 (heading), Plantes … their temperature, complexions, and vertuous operations.

1590.  Shaks., Mids. N., III. ii. 367. Then crush this herbe into Lysanders eie; Whose liquor hath this virtuous propertie, To take from thence all error.

1644.  [H. Parker], Jus Populi, 18. Such causes as remain more vertuous then their effects, as the water heated is lesse hot then the fire.

1667.  Milton, P. L., III. 608. With one vertuous touch Th’ Arch-chimick Sun, so farr from us remote … Produces … so many precious things.

1797.  Coleridge, Christabel, I. xxi. It is a wine of virtuous powers; My mother made it of wild flowers.

1813.  Scott, Rokeby, I. ix. Yet the soil … Had depth and vigour to bring forth The hardier fruits of virtuous worth.

  6.  Endowed with, or possessed of, inherent or natural virtue or power (often of a magical, occult or supernatural kind); potent or powerful in effect, influence or operation on this account; spec. having potent medicinal properties or qualities; efficacious or beneficial in healing. Now arch. a. Of precious stones, etc.

13[?].  Gaw. & Gr. Knt., 2027. His cote, wyth þe conysaunce of þe clere werkez, Ennurned vpon veluet vertuuus stonez.

13[?].  E. E. Allit. P., B. 1280. Þe vyoles & þe vesselment of vertuous stones.

1398.  Trevisa, Barth. De P. R., XVI. liii. (Bodl. MS.). [The more] þat Jacinctus is liche to þe Saphire in coloure,… þe more vertuous it is.

c. 1400.  Maundev. (Roxb.), xvii. 80. If þe dyamaund be gude and vertuous, þe adamand drawes noȝt þe nedill to him.

1483.  Caxton, Gold. Leg., 214/2. A Margaryte, whyche gemme is white lytyl and vertuouse…. The virtu of thys Stone is sayd to be ayenst effusyon of blood.

1503.  Hawes, Examp. Virt., iv. 40. Of vertuous turkeys there was a cheyr.

a. 1533.  Ld. Berners, Huon, cxlix. 562. The stone was so vertuous that none coud esteme the valure therof.

1626.  Bacon, Sylva, § 499. There is a virtuous Bezoar and another without virtu which appear to the show alike.

  b.  Of things in general.

1340.  Ayenb., 113. Me zayþ þet hit [sacramental bread] is ope substance þet is uirtuous and substanciel aboue onderstondigge.

c. 1440.  Gesta Rom., lxii. 264 (Add. MS.). This knyght than had a vertuous welle beside his bedde.

c. 1510.  Gesta Rom. (W. de W.), A iij. All my temporall rychesse I haue exspended, & almoost no thynge is lefte me, excepte a vertuous tre … in the myddes of myne empyre.

1527.  Brunswyke (title), The vertuose boke Of the distyllacyon of all maner of waters of the herbes in this present volume expressed.

1586.  Marlowe, 1st Pt. Tamburl., III. i. For neither rain can fall vpon the earth, Nor Sun reflexe his vertuous beames thereon.

1590.  Spenser, F. Q., II. xii. 86. Streight way he with his vertuous staffe them strooke And streight of beasts they comely men became.

1629.  A. Symmer, Spir. Posie, I. iii. 13. Behold the timely vertuous presence of Gods Providence.

1632.  Milton, Penseroso, 113. Canace…, That own’d the vertuous Ring and Glass.

  c.  Of herbs, etc.

1390.  Gower, Conf., III. 129. And ek his herbe in special The vertuous Fenele it is.

c. 1407.  Lydg., Reson & Sens., 4433. The erbys … be so vertuous, That no beste venymous … Ne may in no Wyse aproche.

c. 1460.  Wisdom, 92, in Macro Plays, 38. The drede of God,… þat makyst … swete wertuus herbys in þe sowll [to] sprynge.

1578.  Lyte, Dodoens, V. xxv. 584. The leaves [of mallow] are good for all the greefes aforesayde,… yet they be nothing so vertuous as the roote.

1609.  C. Butler, Fem. Mon. (1634), 108. Where the flowers are most fragrant and vertuous, there the Honey dews … are most fine and pure.

1614.  W. B., Philosopher’s Banquet (ed. 2), 81. Fylberds … are vertuous in Medicine.

1632.  J. Hayward, trans. Biondi’s Eromena, 84. These our mountaines are full of vertuous herbes.

1700.  Dryden, Flower & Leaf, 418. The Ladies sought around For virtuous herbs.

1853.  G. Johnston, Nat. Hist. E. Bord., I. 264. Twenty-five ‘elegant’ copper-plates containing the figures of many of the most virtuous herbs.

1871.  Browning, Balaust., 2124. Cutting the roots of many a virtuous herb To solace overburdened mortals! Ibid. (1884), Ferishtah, Wks. (1896), II. 665/1. By application of a virtuous root The burning has abated.

  d.  Of drugs, etc.

1600.  Rowland, Lett. Humours Blood, vi. 77. Strong sodden Water is a vertuous thing.

c. 1614[?].  J. Davies, Lett., Wks. 1876, I. p. xlviii. Least the intention of to much Reading hinder the working of those vertuous drugs.

1615.  Chapman, Odyss., X. 283. Before her gates hill-wolves, and lions, lay; Which with her virtuous drugs so tame she made, That [etc.].

1694.  Salmon, Bate’s Dispens. (1713), 43/1. By that means you will have a very strong and virtuous Spirit.

1871.  Hawthorne, S. Felton (1879), 99. It is the most virtuous liquor that ever was.

  † 7.  Of great excellence or worth. Obs.

c. 1400.  Laud Troy Bk., 9460. For now is non so glorious, Ne non in this world so vertuous, As Ilion was the while it stode.

c. 1420.  Chron. Vilod., 1171. Harp he couthe & syng welle þerto, & carff welle ymagus, & peyntede bothe—Suche virtuose werkus he wolde welle do.

c. 1430.  Lydg., Min. Poems (Percy Soc.), 80. The douffe … Unto the erthe she toke hir flight, And sang a song ful gracious, Of al songes most vertuous.

  III.  8. Comb. (in sense 4), as virtuous disposed, -hearted, -like, -making, -minded, souled adjs.

1450.  Rolls of Parlt., V. 206/1. By ther Founders and other vertuous disposed persones.

1654.  R. Whitlock, Ζωοτομια, 347. Becoming … as virtuous-making a Pattern among Wives, as she was before among Virgins.

1699.  Shaftesb., Charac. (1711), II. 36. If that which restrains the Person, and holds him to a virtuous-like Behaviour, be no Affection towards … Virtue it-self,… he is not in reality the more virtuous.

1807.  Europ. Mag., LII. 469/2. Those, on whom the virtuous-minded Muse Ne’er breath’d a portion of her hallow’d fire.

1848.  T. Roscoe, in Ainsworth’s Mag., XIV. 122. When two virtuous-hearted women lay their heads together, they are a bold regiment of men who dare draw lots to out-general and to out-manœuvre them.

1858.  Mary Cowden Clarke, World-Noted Women, 38. It might be thought that the chaste rectitude of this virtuous-hearted woman [Lucretia], must have ensured its own clear comprehension, and honest representation; but on the contrary, her conduct has been both misinterpreted and mis-stated.

1872.  R. T. H. Griffith, trans. Rámáyan of Válmíki, III. 43.