coarseadj.
/kɔːs/, U.S. /kɔrs/ a. Ordinary, common, mean (in the depreciatory sense of these epithets); base; of inferior quality or value; of little account. (Cf. also coarsely adv.)
ΘΠ
the mind > goodness and badness > inferiority or baseness > [adjective]
evil971
lowc1175
poor?c1225
feeblec1275
vilea1300
petty1372
unthende1377
secondary1386
petitc1390
unmeeta1393
illa1400
commonc1400
coarse1424
indigent1426
unlikelyc1450
lesser1464
gross1474
naughty1526
inferior1531
reprobate?1545
slender1577
unlikely1578
puny1579
under1580
wooden1592
sordid1596
puisne1598
provant1601
subministrant1604
inferious1607
sublunary1624
indifferent1638
undermatched1642
unworthy1646
underly1648
turncoated1650
female1652
undergraduate1655
farandinical1675
baddishc1736
ungenerous1745
understrapping1762
tinnified1794
demi-semi1805
shabby1805
dicky1819
poor white1821
tin-pot1838
deterior1848
substandard1850
crumby1859
cheesy1863
po'1866
not-quite1867
rocky1873
mouldy1876
low-grade1878
sketchy1878
midget1879
junky1880
ullaged1892
abysmal1904
bodgie1905
junk1908
crap1936
ropy1941
bodger1945
two-star1951
tripey1955
manky1958
schlocky1960
cack1978
wank1991
bowf1994
the mind > goodness and badness > quality of being good > mediocrity > [adjective]
feeblec1275
demeanc1380
unnoblec1384
coarse1424
colourlessc1425
passable1489
meana1500
indifferent1532
plain1539
so-so1542
mediocre1586
ordinary1590
fameless1611
middling1652
middle-rate1658
ornery1692
so-soish1819
nohow1828
betwixt and between1832
indifferential1836
null1847
undazzling1855
deviceless1884
uncompetitive1885
tug1890
run of the mill1919
serviceable1920
dim1958
spammy1959
comme ci, comme ça1968
vanilla1972
meh2007
1424 in F. J. Furnivall Fifty Earliest Eng. Wills (1882) 56 Too [two] cors bordcloþes, and too peire cors sanapes.
?1478 W. Paston in Paston Lett. & Papers (2004) I. 649 A-nothyr for þe workyng days, how corse so euer it be it makyth no matyr.
1530 J. Palsgrave Lesclarcissement 210/1 Course towe, tanure.
1552–3 Inv. Ch. Goods, Staffs. in Ann. Litchfield IV. 5 Ij cowarce coopes of redde & yellowe silke.
a1566 R. Edwards Damon & Pithias (1571) sig. Cij Course or discourse, your course is very course for all your talke, You had but one bare course, and that was Pike, rise and walke.
1623 W. Shakespeare & J. Fletcher Henry VIII iii. ii. 240 Now I feele Of what course Mettle ye are molded. View more context for this quotation
a1640 J. Fletcher & P. Massinger Spanish Curat iv. i, in F. Beaumont & J. Fletcher Comedies & Trag. (1647) sig. F4 v/1 I shall be most happie, To be emploi'd..Even in the coursest Office.
1653 I. Walton Compl. Angler 199 The worst or coarsest of fresh water fish. View more context for this quotation
1695 J. Woodward Ess. Nat. Hist. Earth 259 Amongst these coarser Metalls are Copper..and Iron.
ΘΠ
the mind > attention and judgement > contempt > hold in contempt [verb (transitive)] > treat with contempt
unworthc950
to make scorn at, toc1320
to take in vainc1330
despise1377
rebuke?a1400
despite1481
indign1490
to make a mumming of1523
flock1545
scandalize1566
to make coarse account of1578
misregard1582
overpeer1583
to make a pish at (also of)1593
to make a push at1600
to bite by the nose1602
blurta1625
to piss ona1625
to make wash-way of, with1642
trample1646
huff1677
snouch1761
to walk over (the course)1779
to run over ——1816
snoot1928
shaft1959
1578 J. Lyly Euphues f. 12 Such fyne dames as.., make suche course accompt of theyr passionate louers.
1578 J. Lyly Euphues f. 48 It is a course which we ought to make a course accompte off.
2.
a. Wanting in fineness, smoothness, or delicacy of texture, granulation, or structure; consisting of comparatively large parts or particles; or of such as are too large for beauty. Opposed to fine.Cf. the early examples referring to cloth in sense 1; it is impossible to say when the notion ceased to be that of ordinary or common quality, and began to be that of the texture which gave this quality.
ΘΠ
the world > matter > constitution of matter > other specific kinds of texture > [adjective] > coarse
greateOE
hardOE
boistous1398
hask?a1425
roidc1485
gross?1504
gruff1533
coarse1582
stoggie1825
broad1908
1582 J. Lyly in W. B. Scoones Four Cent. Eng. Lett. 39 White meale, where others thought to show cours branne.
1697 J. Dryden tr. Virgil Georgics ii, in tr. Virgil Wks. 80 The coarse lean Gravel, on the Mountain sides. View more context for this quotation
1714 B. Mandeville Fable Bees i. 142 A thick Parish Gown and a course Shirt.
1796 J. Morse Amer. Universal Geogr. (new ed.) II. 605 note Course black canvas.
1839 C. Thirlwall Hist. Greece (new ed.) I. 289 The same coarse garment served them for summer and winter.
1846 J. Baxter Libr. Pract. Agric. (ed. 4) II. 187 The ashes are sometimes spread in drills..if the finest portions are sifted from the coarser, [etc.].
1860 J. Tyndall Glaciers of Alps i. §14. 95 Coarse shingle and débris.
b. in a wider sense: said of the physical quality of men and beasts, herbs, land, etc.
Π
a1636 T. Westcote View Devonshire 1630 (1845) 433 We may soon wander and stray [on the moor] and so make longer stay in this coarse place.
1660 R. Sharrock Hist. Propagation & Improvem. Veg. 33 Gardiners that provide cabbage-seed..upon their course ground.
1740 C. Cibber Apol. Life C. Cibber xiii. 247 Coarse Mothers may have comely Children.
1751 S. Johnson Rambler No. 141. ⁋7 A form..so coarse as to raise disgust.
1774 O. Goldsmith Hist. Earth IV. 308 They seem to prefer the coarsest weeds.
1863 C. Kingsley Water-babies vi. 244 Their jaws grow large, and their lips grow coarse.
1883 ‘G. Lloyd’ Ebb & Flow I. ii. 38 Two frightfully dressed women with coarse complexions.
1889 Sat. Rev. 16 Mar. 326/1 A rather coarse horse, with great bone and power.
3. Rough, harsh, or rude, to the taste, perception, or æsthetic sense. (In early use coming near to 1.)figurative.1861 T. Hughes Tom Brown at Oxf. II. viii. 147 It'll be a coarse time for Chanter.
a. of material things; esp. of diet or ‘fare’.
ΘΠ
the world > food and drink > food > qualities of food > [adjective] > coarse or tough
toughc1400
boisterous1483
fulsome1555
foul1560
rough1583
coarse1607
indelicate1751
tough as (old) boots or leather1843
the world > physical sensation > taste and flavour > unsavouriness > [adjective] > unpalatable
unsweetc1440
boisterous1483
untasty1566
untoothsome1576
twice sod1601
coarse1607
irrelishable1608
asper1626
insuave1657
untoward1662
physicala1665
asperous1670
unpalatable1682
woolly1687
inelegant1708
smoked1761
impalatable1782
brassy1789
soddena1800
metallic1800
inky1805
unsweetened1817
weedy1851
tinny1873
tangy1875
raw1881
unappetizing1884
twangy1887
stavy1888
toasty1890
soapy1892
stewy1895
gloppy1976
1587 W. Harrison Descr. Eng. (1877) ii. xii. i. 234 He liked better of our good fare in such course cabins.]
1607 S. Hieron Spirituall Sonne-ship in Wks. (1620) I. 375 The Lord's supper, as some course, homely, sluttish fare, is..refused with scorne.
1638 W. Rawley tr. F. Bacon Hist. Nat. & Exper. Life & Death 102 Diogenes..used..Tyranny over Himselfe; Of a course Diet.
1766 O. Goldsmith Vicar of Wakefield II. xii. 215 Coarser provisions [were] distributed..among the populace.
1859 Ld. Tennyson Enid in Idylls of King 57 You, My lord, eat also, tho' the fare is coarse.
b. of immaterial things.
ΘΠ
the mind > attention and judgement > bad taste > lack of refinement > [adjective] > coarse > specifically of immaterial things
coarse1723
1604 S. Hieron Preachers Plea in Wks. (1620) I. 476 That, which I haue framed, is but a homely and course discourse.
1604 S. Hieron Preachers Plea in Wks. (1620) I. 487 The meanest profession, the coursest trade.]
1723 D. Defoe Hist. Col. Jack (ed. 2) 125 It was but very course Travelling.
1856 R. W. Emerson Eng. Traits viii. 133 They are full of coarse strength, rude exercise..and sound sleep.
1878 J. Morley Carlyle in Crit. Misc. 188 [Fatalism] in its coarsest and most childish kind.
c. Of the weather: Rough, stormy, foul. Now chiefly dialect.
ΘΚΠ
the world > the earth > weather and the atmosphere > weather > bad weather > [adjective] > stormy
reigheOE
stormya1200
wilda1250
troublec1374
rougha1400
stormishc1430
rude?a1439
boistous1470
troublous1482
wair?a1500
tempestuous1509
blusterous1548
rugged1549
stormful1558
troublesome1560
turbulent1573
ruggy1577
rufflered1582
oragious?1590
boisterous?1594
broily1594
unruly1594
procellousa1629
gurly1718
coarse1774
ugly1844
1774 Gentleman's Mag. 242 July 4, Bright morning, coarse midday, wet evening. July 5, a cloudy coarse day.
a1825 R. Forby Vocab. E. Anglia (1830) (at cited word) It is a coarse morning.
1854 C. D. Badham Prose Halieutics 44 When the weather is too coarse for fishing.
1864 D. M. Mulock in Good Words 428 In the Highlands just before ‘coarse’ weather sets in.
1877 R. D. Blackmore Cripps v. 25 We shall have a coarse night of it, I doubt.
1887 W. D. Parish & W. F. Shaw Dict. Kentish Dial. Coarse, rough, snowy, windy weather.
d. Of sound: Rough and harsh; spec. in Pathology of certain sounds heard on auscultation in diseased conditions of the chest.
ΘΚΠ
the world > physical sensation > hearing and noise > degree, kind, or quality of sound > unpleasant quality > harsh or discordant quality > [adjective]
hardOE
rudea1375
stern1390
rougha1400
discordanta1425
stoutc1440
hoarse1513
harsh1530
raughtish1567
rugged1567
dissonant1573
harshy1582
jarry1582
immelodious1601
cragged1605
raggeda1616
unmusicala1616
absonousa1620
unharmoniousa1634
inharmonical1683
unharmonic1694
inharmonious1715
craggy1774
pebbly1793
reedy1795
iron1807
dry1819
inharmonic1828
asperated1835
sawing1851
shrewd1876
coarse1879
callithumpian1886
dissonantal1946
ear-bending1946
sandpaper1953
the world > physical sensation > hearing and noise > degree, kind, or quality of sound > sounds heard in body > [adjective] > sounds in auscultation
puerile1821
pectoriloquous1824
large1827
sibilant1833
tubular1834
moist1843
rhonchal1843
pectoriloquial1846
redux1848
murmurish1851
rhonchial1852
bronchophonic1862
sticky1872
coarse1879
skodaic1882
1879 J. Stainer Music of Bible 89 The quality of tone produced by the reed-pipes was..very coarse and shrill.
1883 R. Quain Dict. Med. (new ed.) 1118 If the larger tube be affected, and the narrowing not great, the coarser sound is produced.
4. Of persons: Wanting in delicacy of perception, apprehension, action; hence of observations, phenomena, etc.: Not refined or delicate, rough.
ΘΠ
the mind > attention and judgement > bad taste > lack of refinement > [adjective] > coarse
agrest?1440
robust1511
roynish1570
sowish1570
lubberlike1572
lubberly1580
ordinarya1586
roborean1656
porcine1660
coarse1680
crude1722
low1725
piggish1742
coarse-graineda1774
crass1861
coarse-fibred1872
barnyard1895
farmyard1911
rough as guts1919
the world > action or operation > behaviour > bad behaviour > [adverb] > unmannerly > roughly or with lack of refinement
homelyc1390
rudelyc1405
greata1425
swinishly1542
clubbishly1548
carterly1556
homelily1556
brutishly1580
loutishly1580
boorishly1605
brutely1605
inurbanely1610
mechanically1613
porterly1659
coarsely1678
coarse1680
brutally1824
vulgarly1831
crudely1881
cubbishly1883
yobbishly1984
1680 H. More Apocalypsis Apocalypseos 308 Exceeding stupid and slow-witted, or of a course perverse Spirit.
1685 T. Otway Windsor Castle 5 We had Appetites too coarse to taste.
1788 J. Priestley Lect. Hist. ii. xii. 96 As nearly..as their coarse observations would enable them to determinate.
1860 J. Tyndall Glaciers of Alps ii. § i. 226 The coarser phenomena, which come under the cognizance of the senses.
1870 T. H. Huxley Lay Serm. iii. 33 The coarser monitors pleasure and pain.
5.
a. Of personal behaviour, manners, language, etc.: Unrefined; rough, rude, uncivil, vulgar.
ΘΚΠ
the world > action or operation > behaviour > bad behaviour > [adjective] > ill-mannered > unrefined
boistousc1300
untheweda1325
uplandisha1387
unaffiled1390
rudea1393
knavishc1405
peoplisha1425
clubbedc1440
blunt1477
lob?1507
robust1511
borel1513
carterly1519
clubbish1530
rough?1531
rustical?1532
incondite1539
agrestc1550
rusticc1550
brute1555
lobcocka1556
loutisha1556
carterlike1561
boorish1562
ruggedc1565
lobbish1567
loutlike1567
sowish1570
clownish1581
unrefined1582
impolished1583
homespun1590
transalpinea1592
swaddish1593
unpolished1594
untutored1595
swabberly1596
tartarous1602
porterly1603
lobcocked1606
lob-like1606
cluster-fisted1611
agrestic1617
inurbane1623
unelevated1627
incult1628
unbrushed1640
vulgar1643
unhewed1644
unsmooth1648
hirsute1658
loutardly1658
unhewn1659
roughsome?c1660
sordid1668
inhumanea1680
coarse1699
brutal1709
ramgunshoch1721
tramontane1740
uncouth1740
no-nationa1756
unurbane1760
turnipy1792
rudas1802
common1804
cubbish1819
clodhopping1828
vulgarian1833
cloddish1844
unkempt1846
bush1851
vulgarish1860
rodney1866
crude1876
ignorant1886
yobby1910
nekulturny1932
oikish1959
yobbish1966
ocker1972
down and dirty1977
society > leisure > the arts > literature > style of language or writing > inelegance > [adjective]
wanmola1325
rudea1393
lewdc1425
rustyc1425
unpolisheda1450
roidc1485
inelegant1509
gross1513
rough?1520
barbarous1526
ineloquent1532
inconcinnate1534
crabby1550
crabbed1561
uneloquent1565
unelegant1570
unkempt1579
unfiled1590
illiterate1598
unconceived1599
aliterate1624
incompta1628
scabbed1630
uncombed1633
uncompt1633
uncouth1694
coarse1699
slatternly1783
crude1786
warty1822
stumbling1859
?1518 A. Barclay tr. D. Mancinus Myrrour Good Maners sig. Av In barbaryke langage, and wordes course & vyle.
1592 A. Day 2nd Pt. Eng. Secretorie sig. N4v, in Eng. Secretorie (rev. ed.) As an other sayd to a rude fellow, you are too course to keepe course in our company, here is course for rudenes, and course in an other sence for good order.]
1699 R. Bentley Diss. Epist. Phalaris (new ed.) Pref. p. lxxiv That Language is too course to be given by Me.
1763 J. Brown Diss. Poetry & Music vii. §10. 153 Their coarse Manners melted gradually into false Politeness.
1854 H. H. Milman Hist. Lat. Christianity III. vii. v. 216 A coarse age, with that deadness to delicacy which belongs to monastic life.
1880 L. Stephen Alexander Pope ii. 52 That style of coarse personal satire of which Swift was a master.
b. The sense ‘gross, indelicate’ passes into that of ‘indecent, obscene’. (Chiefly of language.)
ΘΠ
society > morality > moral evil > licentiousness > moral or spiritual impurity > indecency > [adjective] > extremely
ranka1529
gross?1533
coarse1711
1711 J. Addison Spectator No. 119. ¶5 The most coarse uncivilized Words.
1771 ‘Junius’ Stat Nominis Umbra (1772) II. liv. 228 Any coarse expressions..are unfit..to make use of.
1858 J. Doran Hist. Court Fools 332 Coarse jokes, acceptable to coarse people in coarse times.
1880 ‘V. Lee’ Stud. 18th Cent. Italy iii. i. 86 Comic operas were most often coarse and even gross.
6. Used adverbially = coarsely adv.
ΘΠ
the mind > attention and judgement > bad taste > lack of refinement > [adverb] > coarsely
swinelyeOE
greata1425
swinishly1542
coarsely1678
coarse1680
crudely1881
swinely1881
crassly1883
1680 T. Otway Orphan i. 11 No hungry Churle feeds courser at Feast.
Compounds
General attributive. C1. Parasynthetic.
coarse-featured adj.
Π
1850 J. W. Carlyle Lett. II. 113 A coarse-featured red-haired squat woman.
coarse-haired adj.
coarse-handed adj.
coarse-lipped adj.
Π
1871 F. T. Palgrave Lyrical Poems 48 The coarse-lipped Austrian tyrant.
coarse-minded adj.
Π
1832 F. Trollope Domest. Manners Amer. (ed. 2) II. xxv. 54 The coarse-minded custom which sends alternate groups of males and females into the room.
1855 T. B. Macaulay Hist. Eng. IV. 171 The rancorous and coarseminded Countess.
coarse-mouthed adj.
Π
1898 O. Wilde Ballad of Reading Gaol 4 Some coarse-mouthed Doctor.
coarse-piped adj.
Π
a1774 A. Tucker Light of Nature Pursued (1777) III. iv. 153 A ballad tune sung by the coarse-piped chamber maid.
coarse-tongued adj.
coarse-toothed adj.
Π
1678 J. Moxon Mech. Exercises I. i. 14 The Rough or Course-Tooth'd File.
C2. Adverbial.
coarse-spun adj. (also as n. = coarse-spun stuff.)
Π
a1657 G. Daniel Trinarchodia: Henry V cclxvi, in Poems (1878) IV. 167 Forraging Bees..Not recking course-spun Thistles.
coarse-wrought adj.
Π
a1774 A. Tucker Light of Nature Pursued (1777) III. iii. 169 His coarse-wrought texture.
C3. General attributive.
coarse-fibred adj. having coarse fibres, ‘grain’ or texture; also figurative having a coarse nature, wanting in refinement.
ΘΠ
the mind > attention and judgement > bad taste > lack of refinement > [adjective] > coarse
agrest?1440
robust1511
roynish1570
sowish1570
lubberlike1572
lubberly1580
ordinarya1586
roborean1656
porcine1660
coarse1680
crude1722
low1725
piggish1742
coarse-graineda1774
crass1861
coarse-fibred1872
barnyard1895
farmyard1911
rough as guts1919
the world > action or operation > behaviour > bad behaviour > [adjective] > ill-mannered > unrefined > specifically of persons
uplandisha1387
rustyc1485
rustical?1532
gross?1533
rusticc1550
rough-hewn1591
unfashioned1606
unpolite1674
crude1722
uncouth1732
piggish1742
rough-spun1768
coarse-graineda1774
coarse-fibred1872
rough as guts1919
1872 O. W. Holmes Poet at Breakfast-table (1885) x. 251 Coarse-fibred and fine-fibred people.
coarse fish n. any freshwater fish except the Salmonidæ (or game-fish); so .
ΘΚΠ
the world > animals > fish > [noun] > defined by habitat > freshwater
river fisha1398
pond fish1631
pulch1655
game fish1837
coarse fish1895
1895 C. J. Cornish Wild Eng. Today 178 Autumn and winter are the proper seasons in which to take coarse fish.
1897 Earl of Suffolk et al. Encycl. Sport I. 16/1 The taking of spinning-baits by grayling, and by the minor coarse fish.
1897 Earl of Suffolk et al. Encycl. Sport I. 29/2.
1898 Daily News 9 Mar. 5/1 The coarse-fish men who aspire to baskets of pike, perch, and roach.
1959 J. Clegg Freshwater Life Brit. Isles (ed. 2) xvii. 280 To the Carp family belong the majority of the so-called ‘coarse fish’.
coarse fisherman n.
ΘΚΠ
the world > food and drink > hunting > fishing > fisher > [noun] > for coarse fish
coarse fisherman1959
1959 Times 7 Feb. 9/3 I do not suggest that coarse fishermen should ‘lay on’ with small roach to catch bigger ones.
coarse fishing n.
ΘΚΠ
the world > food and drink > hunting > fishing > fishing for type of fish > [noun] > for coarse fish
coarse fishing1966
1966 New Statesman 11 Nov. 694/3 I like the small scale and puny ambition of coarse fishing.
coarse-grained adj.
ΘΠ
the world > matter > constitution of matter > granular texture > [adjective] > fine or coarse
fine-graineda1552
rough-grained1597
large-grained1670
coarse-graineda1774
fine-grain1794
the mind > attention and judgement > bad taste > lack of refinement > [adjective] > coarse
agrest?1440
robust1511
roynish1570
sowish1570
lubberlike1572
lubberly1580
ordinarya1586
roborean1656
porcine1660
coarse1680
crude1722
low1725
piggish1742
coarse-graineda1774
crass1861
coarse-fibred1872
barnyard1895
farmyard1911
rough as guts1919
the world > action or operation > behaviour > bad behaviour > [adjective] > ill-mannered > unrefined > specifically of persons
uplandisha1387
rustyc1485
rustical?1532
gross?1533
rusticc1550
rough-hewn1591
unfashioned1606
unpolite1674
crude1722
uncouth1732
piggish1742
rough-spun1768
coarse-graineda1774
coarse-fibred1872
rough as guts1919
a1774 A. Tucker Light of Nature Pursued (1777) III. i. 205 The coarse grained heron.
1818 S. Smith Lett. cxxxv Rather a coarse-grained fellow.
coarse-grainedness n.
ΘΠ
the world > matter > constitution of matter > granular texture > [noun] > state of being coarse-grained
coarse-grainedness1876
the world > matter > constitution of matter > other specific kinds of texture > [noun] > coarse texture
boistousness1398
boistness1495
coarseness1541
coarse-grainedness1876
grossnessa1898
1876 P. G. Tait Lect. Recent Adv. in Physical Sci. xiii. 315 The coarse-grainedness of what appears..even to our most powerful microscopes, to be absolutely uniform matter.
coarse groove n. the type of groove used on a 78 r.p.m. gramophone record.
ΘΚΠ
society > communication > record > recording or reproducing sound or visual material > sound recording and reproduction > a sound recording > [noun] > record or disc > groove
groove1902
track1904
fine-groove1948
microgroove1948
locked groove1956
coarse groove1958
run-in1962
1958 Chambers's Techn. Dict. (ed. 2) 967/1 Coarse groove, in disc/sound-recording for transcription and gramophone records the technique for shellac 78 r.p.m. discs, as distinct from fine groove or microgroove, used for vinylite long-playing discs.
1958 Times 18 Oct. 9/5 Why should the abridged version of The Rape of Lucretia languish on coarse-groove records?
1962 A. Nisbett Technique Sound Studio 255 Coarse-groove... Approximate dimensions: width 6 mils, depth 2·5 mils.
coarse-stuff n. see stuff n.1
Π
1881 Mechanic 629 The plaster used by plasterers is generally classified as ‘coarse-stuff’, ‘fine stuff,’ and ‘gauged stuff’.
coarse tithe n. = great tithe n. at great adj., n., adv., and int. Compounds 1e.
This entry has not yet been fully updated (first published 1891; most recently modified version published online June 2022).
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adj.1424