Whoreson

Obs. or arch. Forms: see WHORE sb.; also 5 hoursen, horosonne, 6 horisson. [f. WHORE sb. + SON sb., after AF. fiz a putain (see FITZ).] prop. The son of a whore, a bastard son; but commonly used as a coarse term of reprobation, abuse, dislike, or contempt; sometimes even of jocular familiarity. (Cf. BUGGER 2 b.) Also rarely applied to a thing.

13[?].  K. Alis., 880 (Laud MS.). Fy vyle ateynt hores sone! To mysdon was ay þi wone.

13[?].  Sir Beues (A.), 410. An houre sone for soþ ich wes.

c. 1380.  Sir Ferumb., 2016. Þow gadelyng horesone, lecher, & stronge þef.

c. 1400.  Brut, I. 207. He despisede þe grettest lordes…, and callede Sir Robert Clare Erl of Gloucestre, ‘Horessone.’

a. 1425.  Cursor M., 11879 (Trin.). ‘Hore sones [Cott. Fiȝ aputains]’ he seide ‘what are ȝe’? ‘Leches’ þei seide ‘to leche þe.’

1481.  Caxton, Reynard, xxi. (Arb.), 53. I trusted … so moche the fals horeson the foxe.

a. 1483.  Liber Niger, in Househ. Ord. (1790), 69. Of what estate soever he be,… usyng to swere customably by Goddes body … unreverently … that they charge the Butler to geve him no wyne at the meles…. There was a lyke motion to be made for the customable word of hoursen.

1523.  Ld. Berners, Froiss., I. ccxxxvii. 139 b/1. Kyng Dampeter was greatly chafed and moche desyred to mete with the bastarde his brother, and sayd, where is y^t horeson, that calleth hym selfe kynge of Castell.

1553.  T. Wilson, Rhet., 79 b. The mother merelye beynge disposed, wyll saye to her swete Sonne: Ah you little horeson, wyll you serue me so?

1560.  Daus, trans. Sleidane’s Comm., 135. Do they not graunt them selues to be whore sonnes all the packe of them? [orig. nonne meretricum sese filios esse fatentur?].

1592.  Shaks., Rom. & Jul., IV. iv. 19. Masse, and well said, a merrie horson, ha! Ibid. (1613), Hen. VIII., I. iii. 39. The slye whorsons Haue got a speeding tricke to lay downe Ladies.

1659.  Gayton, Art Longevity, 83. Nuts are dry whorsons.

1679.  Roxb. Ball. (1883), IV. 614. Beware of those that … tamper with thy foolish whoreson, And by false arguments ensnare The youth to think he is thy heir.

1712.  Arbuthnot, John Bull, I. v. Nic. Frog was a cunning sly Whoreson.

1821.  Scott, Kenilw., xxxviii. They … bestowed … some round dozen of curses on them, as lazy knaves and blind whoresons.

1826.  Southey, Devil’s Walk, liii. Whoever shall say that to Porson These best of all verses belong, He is an untruth-telling whoreson.

  b.  attrib.: commonly as a coarsely abusive epithet, applied to a person or thing: Vile, abominable, execrable, detestable, ‘wretched,’ ‘scurvy,’ ‘bloody’; also sometimes expressing humorous familiarity or commendation.

c. 1440.  York Myst., xxx. 60. Why, go bette, horosonne boy, when I bidde þe.

1533.  Gau, Richt Vay, 15. Scheyme happine the lowne hursone theiff.

1534.  in Suss. Star Chamber Proc. (1913), 40. Thow horisson prist yff thow ons move thow shalt dye.

1577–82.  Breton, Toys of an Idle Head, Wks. (Grosart), I. 30/1. Faith, she will say, you whorson Page, Ile purchase you an heritage.

1597.  Shaks., 2 Hen. IV., II. iv. 225. Ah, you whorson little valiant Villaine, you! Ibid., III. ii. 193. Fal. What disease hast thou? Bul. A whorson cold sir, a cough sir.

1612.  Beaum. & Fl., Philaster, I. i. Oh! this same whorson Conscience, how it jades us!

1646.  Trapp, Comm. John x. 8. Ah whoreson-thieves, rob God of his glory! said D. Taylor.

1739.  Joe Miller’s Jests, 37. Thou Whoreson Rascal.

1760.  Sterne, Tr. Shandy, III. xx. Ambition, and pride, and envy, and lechery, and other whoreson passions.

a. 1763.  Shenstone, Ess., iv. Wks. 1777, II. 16. The Impromptu, for which I was utterly disqualified by a whoreson slowness of apprehension.

1816.  Keats, Lett., Wks. 1889, III. 47. It was so whoreson a Night that I stopped there all the next day.

1821.  Scott, Kenilw., xvii. Some of his whoreson poetry (I crave your Grace’s pardon for such a phrase) has rung in mine ears.