a. [ad. (post-cl.)L. contemptibil-is, f. contempt- ppl. stem of contemnĕre: see -BLE. Cf. F. contemptible (16th c.).]
1. To be despised or held in contempt; worthy only of contempt; despicable.
1382. Wyclif, Obad. i. 2. Thou art ful myche contemptible, or worthi to be dispisid. Ibid. (1382), 1 Cor. vi. 4. Ordeyne ȝe tho contemptyble men, or of litil reputacioun … for to deme.
1591. Shaks., 1 Hen. VI., I. ii. 75. Heauen and our Lady gracious hath it pleas’d To shine on my contemptible estate.
1664. Power, Exp. Philos., I. 1. So small and contemptible an Animal [the Flea].
1718. Freethinker, No. 59. 29. Let him live, till he grows Contemptible even to Himself.
1775. Johnson, Tax. no Tyr., 30. Those not inconsiderable for number, nor contemptible for knowledge.
1874. Blackie, Self-Cult., 75. There are few things in social life more contemptible than a rich man who stands upon his riches.
† 2. Exhibiting or expressing contempt; full of contempt. Obs. in educated use.
(Chiefly used to qualify opinion, idea, and the like; cf. ‘to have a poor or low opinion of any one.’)
1594. Quest. Profit. Concernings, 23 a. The same easie and contemptible opinion he held of all creatures; the like also he did of God himselfe.
1599. Shaks., Much Ado, II. iii. 187. ’Tis very possible hee’l scorne it, for the man … hath a contemptible spirit.
1697. Collier, Ess. Mor. Subj., I. (1709), 188. To entertain a contemptible Opinion of any Person, cramps his Power.
1762. Gibbon, Misc. Wks. (1814), V. 286. The contemptible idea I always entertained of Cellarius.
1816. G. S. Faber, Orig. Pagan Idol., I. 64. [It] gives one such a thoroughly contemptible idea of the manhood of all the other descendants of Noah.
† 3. absol. A contemptible object. Obs.
1654. R. Whitlock, Ζωοτομια, 11. We bestow wonder on Contemptibles, and value Toyes.
1748. Richardson, Clarissa (1811), I. 222. And the poor contemptible she calls her sister.
