Forms: 1 wundian, 2 wundie, 3 wunden (4 wnden); 3–5 wonde, 5–6 wond; 3–6 wounde (4 wownde, 5 wowndyn, 6 arch. wounden), 4– wound (5 Sc. vound). Pa. t. 5 (9 arch.) wound. [OE. wundian (f. wund WOUND sb.) = OFris. (w)undia (WFris. wounje), MDu. and Du. wonden, OHG. wuntôn (MHG. wunden, G. verwunden), OIcel. undaðr pa. pple.; also OE. ʓewundian = Goth. gawundôn.]
1. trans. To inflict a wound on (a person, the body, etc.) by means of a weapon; to injure intentionally in such a way as to cut or tear the flesh.
c. 760. Pœnit. Abp. Ecgbert, IV. xxii. in Thorpe, Laws, II. 210. Ʒif hwylc læwede man oðerne wundiʓe, ʓebete wid hine ða wunde.
c. 897. K. Ælfred, Gregory’s Past. C., xxxviii. 277. Swelce he … sua nacodne hine selfne eowiʓe to wundiʓeanne [v.r. wundianne] his feondum.
c. 1000. Ælfric, Exod. xxi. 12. Se ðe man wundað & wile hine ofslean, swelte he deaðe.
c. 1175. Lamb. Hom., 15. Ȝif þu me wundedest, ic sculde wundie þe þer on-ȝein.
c. 1200. Trin. Coll. Hom., 33. Hie him bireueden alle hise riche weden and wundeden him swiðe.
c. 1205. Lay., 1724. Heo … mid wepnen hine wundeden [c. 1275 wondede] & seoððen hine slewen.
c. 1290. Beket, 2101, in S. E. Leg., 166. He woundede is Arm swyþe sore, þat blod orn faste a-doun.
1338. R. Brunne, Chron. (1810), 330. Come Roberde’s squiere, & wonded him wele more.
c. 1380. Wyclif, Wks. (1880), 421. Crist … koude not ordeyne siche buschementis to robbe men & to wounde hem.
1412–20. Lydg., Chron. Troy, I. 3403. Eueryche gan oþer for to hurte and wounde, Til eche his felawe hath cruelly y-slawe.
1503–4. Act 19 Hen. VII., c. 36. Preamble, Stanhop … lay in wayte uppon the seid sir William and hym grevously wouneded and maymed.
1556. Chron. Gr. Friars (Camden), 17. Brake owte of the kynges jayle of Newgatte Owyn … & wondyd hys keper.
1651. Hobbes, Leviath., II. xxvii. 155. If he wound him to death, this is no Crime.
1704. Pope, Windsor For., 180. With her dart the flying deer she wounds.
c. 1800. Young Hunting, iv. in Child, Ballads, II. 148/1. He … little thocht o that penknife Wherewith she wound him deep.
1839. Lane, Arab. Nts., I. 110. From the day on which I had wounded him, he had never spoken.
1887. Rider Haggard, Allan Quatermain, xxii. 254. They hacked and hewed at him with swords and spears, wounding him in a dozen places.
refl. c. 1400. Maundev. (Roxb.), xix. 87. Þai wound þam self in þe legges and þe armes.
c. 1450. Mirk’s Festial, 136. He wondyd hymselfe in þe honde wyth his nalle grevesly.
b. Said of the weapon, etc.
c. 1000. Ags. Ps. (Th.), lvi. 5. Wæpen-strælas þa me wundedon.
1303. R. Brunne, Handl. Synne, 1374. One of þe arwys wounded [v.r. wndede] a knyȝt.
1581. A. Hall, Iliad, IV. 75. His cruell darte did Pirus wounde.
1593. Shaks., Lucr., 1185. My Honor ile bequeath vnto the knife That wounds my bodie so dishonored.
1727. De Foe, Hist. Appar., iv. (1840), 31. No engine or human art can wound him.
1735. Johnson, Lobo’s Abyssinia, Voy., v. 29. One [of the muskets] … flew out of the Soldier’s Hand, and falling against my Leg wounded it very much.
c. Freq. in passive.
c. 900. O. E. Chron. (Parker MS.), an. 894. Hiora cyning wæs ʓewundod on þæm ʓefeohte, þæt hi hine ne mehton ferian.
c. 1200. Ormin, 17431. Aȝȝ þan aniȝ wundedd wass Þurrh þa firene neddress.
c. 1250. Gen. & Ex., 853. Wunded ðor was gret folc and slaȝen.
1297. R. Glouc. (Rolls), 2974. Þe king let … do vnder lechecraft hom þat iwounded were.
a. 1300. Cursor M., 7762. Þe king saul was wonded sare.
c. 1350. Will. Palerne, 1377. Wel weldes he nouȝt his hele, for wonded was he sore.
1382. Wyclif, Zech. xiii. 6. With these Y was woundid in the hous of hem that loueden me.
c. 1450. Lovelich, Grail, xliii. 283. Of a wilde swyn thow were wondid sore thoruh thin hype.
1538. in P. H. Hore, Hist. Wexford (1900), I. 237. The residue being wondide to death flede away.
1610. Holland, Camden’s Brit. (1637), 453. Hee was deadly wounded in the head.
1672. Wiseman, Wounds, I. 88. In a wound in the right Temporal Muscle, where the Artery was wounded.
1712. Addison, Spect., No. 383, ¶ 2. An honest Man that has been wounded in the Queen’s Service.
1794. Mrs. Radcliffe, Myst. Udolpho, xxv. Count Morano was wounded as bad as he.
1836. Dickens, Sk. Boz, Tuggs’s at Ramsgate. All the coaches had been upset,… each coach had averaged two passengers killed, and six wounded.
1891. Farrar, Darkn. & Dawn, lxv. For nearly three centuries the legend lingered on … that Nero was the wild beast, wounded to death, but whose deadly wound had been healed.
2. fig. To injure, inflict pain or hurt upon, in a manner comparable to the infliction of a wound; in later use esp. to pain or grieve deeply.
a. 1200. Vices & Virtues, 71. Ðar ðu art ðurh hem [sc. sins] ȝewunded, ðat ðu cunne hes halen.
c. 1200. Ormin, 12484. Þe deofell comm to wundenn Crist Þurrh gluterrnessess wæpenn.
c. 1230. Hali Meid., 15. He … schoteð niht & dai hise earewen … to wundi þe wið wac wil & makien to fallen.
a. 1340. Hampole, Psalter, vii. 14. Thai may say we ere woundid with charite.
c. 1374. Chaucer, Troylus, II. 533. So sore hath she me wounded That stod in blak wyth lokyng of her eyen.
1435. Misyn, Fire of Love, II. v. 78. Nedy I am & hongry,… wonedyd & ill-colorde for absens of my lufe.
1531. Elyot, Gov., II. xii. (1883), II. 155. Wherwith Gysippus was so wounded to the harte,… that oppressed with mortall heuynes he fell in a sowne.
1600. Shaks., A. Y. L., V. ii. 25. I thought thy heart had beene wounded with the clawes of a Lion. Orl. Wounded it is, but with the eyes of a Lady.
1667. Pepys, Diary, 6 May. He has said that he would wound me with the person where my greatest interest is.
1675. Dryden, Aurengz., II. (1676), 16. Oh! Indamora, hide those fatal Eyes; Too deep they wound, whom they too soon surprise.
1738. Johnson, Lond., 168. Fate never wounds more deep the gen’rous Heart, Than when a Blockhead’s Insult points the Dart.
1797. Jane Austen, Sense & Sensib., xxix. She dared not trust herself to speak, lest she might wound Marianne still deeper.
1814. Scott, Ld. of Isles, V. xviii. And many a word, at random spoken, May soothe or wound a heart that’s broken!
1873. Black, Pr. Thule, xxiv. 402. If he says something careless she is sensitive to it, and it wounds her.
1905. ‘G. Thorne,’ Lost Cause, viii. It does wound one deeply to hear the highest and holiest things spoken of in this way.
b. With immaterial objects.
c. 1340. Richard Rolle of Hampole, Prick of Conscience, 1702. When þe saule es wounded with syn.
1526. Pilgr. Perf. (W. de W., 1531), 43 b. The mynde is so wounded with ignoraunce … that [etc.].
1526. Tindale, 1 Cor. viii. 12. When we synne so agaynst the brethren and wounde their weake consciences.
1609. B. Jonson, Sil. Wom., V. i. We must not wound reputation.
16[?]. Lust’s Domin., II. v. It wounds my soul, To see the miserablest wretch to bleed.
1631. Heywood, 1st Pt. Fair Maid of West, III. i. 31. To spare my flesh And wound my fame, what is ’t?
1713. Addison, Cato, I. iv. Better to die ten thousand thousand deaths, Than wound my honour.
1753–4. Richardson, Grandison, II. xviii. 128. I come to attend you as a duty which I owe to my mother’s memory, and I hope this may be done without wounding that of my father.
1832. J. Austin, Jurispr. (1879), I. 342. The execution would wound the sovereignty of the foreign supreme government.
1859. Kingsley, Misc., I. 92. You have undone me, wounded my credit with the King, past recovery.
1884. L. J. Jennings, Croker Papers, I. 51. Moore’s vanity was easily wounded at any time.
c. Used to express the effect of harsh or disagreeable sounds upon the ear.
1669. Dryden, Tyrannic Love, I. i. [A Dead March within, and Trumpets.] Max. Somewhat of mournful, sure, my Ears does wound.
a. 1675. Traherne, Poems of Felicity (1910), 52. The Bells do ring,… Their shriller Sound doth wound the Air.
1766. Fordyce, Serm. Yng. Wm. (1767), I. iii. 94. Their ears are wounded by the language of vice.
1866. Trollope, Claverings, i. I shall be away from Clavering, so that the marriage-bells may not wound my ears.
3. absol. or intr. To inflict a wound or wounds; to do harm, hurt or injury (physically or otherwise); to impair in any way. Freq. fig.
c. 897. K. Ælfred, Gregory’s Past. C., xi. 71. Se cleweþa … wundað & sio wund sarað.
1426. Lydg., De Guil. Pilgr., 2540. The swerd, Wych ys sharp … To wonde, & hurte, & parte atwene.
1591. Drayton, Harmony Ch., Song Moses, xx. I kil, giue life, I wound, make whole again.
1622[?]. Fletcher, Love’s Cure, V. 1. This curtesie Wounds deeper than your Sword can, or mine own.
1668. J. Wilson, trans. Erasm. Praise of Folly (1913), 137. Sometimes also they use somewhat of a sting, but so nevertheless that they rather tickle than wound.
1692. Prior, Ode Imit. Hor., xi. He Wounds, to Cure; and Conquers, to Forgive.
1735. Pope, Prol. Sat., 203. Willing to wound, and yet afraid to strike, Just hint a fault, and hesitate dislike.
1744. E. Moore, Fables, x. 30. From the hoop’s bewitching round, Her very shoe has pow’r to wound.
1818. Shelley, Julian & Maddalo, 413. Even the instinctive worm on which we tread Turns, though it wound not.
1829. Chapters Phys. Sci., 272. Its strokes are so fine and delicate, that while it wounds it pleases.
1860. Thackeray, Roundabout P., Thorns in Cushion. Ah me! we wound where we never intended to strike.
4. transf. To pierce or cut as with a wound; to damage in this way.
a. 1225. Ancr. R. 124. & te ilke wind ne wundeð nout bute þe eare one.
c. 1374. Chaucer, Former Age, 9. Yit nas the grownd nat wownded with þe plowh.
1387. Trevisa, Higden, III. 459. Hit is unlaweful among us to woundy þe hilles wiþ culter and wiþ schare.
1553. Eden, Treat. New Ind. (Arb.), 14. The anuyl and hammer shall soner be wounded and leape away.
1592. Shaks., Ven. & Ad., 267. His wouen girthes he [the steed] breakes asunder, The bearing earth with his hard hoofe he wounds. Ibid. (1608), Per., IV. Prol. 23. When she would with sharpe needle wound The Cambricke which she made more sound By hurting it.
1697. Dryden, Æneis, X. 412. Force on the Vessel that her Keel may wound This hated Soil.
1743. R. Blair, Grave, 192. The tapering Pyramid!… whose spiky Top Has wounded the thick Cloud.
a. 1766. J. W. Baker, in Complete Farmer, s.v. Turnep, Some [turnips], which had been accidentally wounded by cows.
1833. Penny Cycl., I. 446/1. (America), The American aloe … yields, when wounded, an abundance of sweet fluid.
1886. Encycl. Brit., XXI. 820/1. s.v. Shipbuilding, For the sake of avoiding unnecessarily wounding the timbers.
† b. spec. To damage (a mast), esp. in a naval action. Obs. (freq. in 18th cent.)
1743–4. in 10th Rep. Hist. MSS. Comm., App. I. 211. The Namure being in a shattered Condition,… all the Topmasts wounded.
1758. Ann. Reg., I. 100/2. The Orpheus … is peppered very well too, her masts very much wounded.
1798. Hull Advertiser, 26 June, 1/3. Her rigging was much cut, and her mainmast wounded.
c. fig. Of wine: To overpower.
1613. T. Milles, trans. Mexia’s, etc., Treas. Anc. & Mod. T., I. 610/1. Vpon the left hand … lay the bodies of beasts stretched out along, sleeping verie soundly…. All were wounded with Wine.
1819. Shelley, Cyclops, 416. I … filled Another cup, well knowing that the wine Would wound him soon.
