[f. WORSE v. + -MENT, after betterment. Cf. WORSENMENT.] Deterioration and depreciation of real property caused by the action of persons outside without the owner’s consent.
1884. Ld. Salisbury, in 1st Rept. Royal Commiss. Housing Working Classes Q. 13690. If you charge for betterment, do not you think you should pay for worsement?
1890. Pall Mall Gaz., 18 July, 2/2. We doubt whether the abolition of the gates and bars will in fact conduce to the ‘worsement’ of the squares and streets in question.
1908. Arnold-Forster, in Mem. (1910), xxii. 340. That the principle of betterment should only be adopted concurrently with the principle of worsement, or deterioration.
b. transf. and gen. (nonce-uses).
1893. Westm. Gaz., 30 May, 1/1. This morning’s batch contains 52 pages of ‘amendments’ (or worsements, ought not Mr. Plunket to call them?) on the Home Rule Bill. Ibid. (1902), 17 June, 11/1. The ‘Worsement’ or ‘Betterment’ of Directors…. Do the Directors stand to lose or gain … by the consolidation of the companies and the enlargement of the capital?
