low-hearted

See also: lowhearted

English

Alternative forms

Etymology

From low +‎ hearted.

Adjective

low-hearted (comparative more low-hearted, superlative most low-hearted)

  1. Depressed, despondent, or dispirited
    • 1886 April – 1887 April, Richard Doddridge Blackmore, “The Trials of Faith”, in Springhaven. A Tale of the Great War. […], volume II, London: Sampson Low, Marston, Searle & Rivington, […], published 1887, →OCLC, page 65:
      Weary, slack-jointed, low-hearted as they were, the deadly Coast-fever fell upon them, and they shivered, and burned,and groaned,and raved, and leaped into holes, or rolled into campfires.
    • 1914 January, Zane Grey, The Light of Western Stars: A Romance, New York, N.Y.; London: Harper & Brothers Publishers, →OCLC:
      The afternoon Bonita an' I were married, when Gene an' the padre had gone, I was happy one minute an' low-hearted the next.
    • 2006, Malcolm Gillies, David Pear, Mark Carroll, Self-Portrait of Percy Grainger, →ISBN:
      A dull, sulky, low-hearted state has always been natural to me, relieved only by quick bursts of excitement (not happiness) over my own art, other men's art, sex & sport.
  2. Morally reprehensible, cowardly, or untrustworthy.
    • 1748, [Samuel Richardson], Clarissa. Or, The History of a Young Lady: […], volume (please specify |volume=I to VII), London: […] S[amuel] Richardson;  […], →OCLC:
      A base, low-hearted wretch, as you justly call him, with all his pride of ancestry; and more an enemy to himself with regard to his present and future happiness, than to you, in the barbarous and ungrateful wrongs he has done you; […]
    • 1865, Charles James Lever, Tony Butler: A Novel, page 178:
      I would not find myself at thirty brigaded with a set of low-hearted priests and seminarists, who have no other weapons than treachery, nor any strategy but lies.
    • 2004, John Knight, Wildlife in Asia: Cultural Perspectives, →ISBN:
      Now they harm the people, and the malign influence behind this lies with low-hearted officials who put all their efforts into catching them.
  3. (obsolete) Modest and unassuming.
    • 1792, Emin Joseph Emin, Amy Apcar, Life and Adventures of Emin Joseph Emin, 1726-1809:
      His poor countrymen, seeing his boldness, began to fetch deep sighs and groan like so many chained lions, speaking so loud that the khan as well as the four low-hearted chiefs, could hear them.
    • 1883, Samual Carter Hall, Retrospect of a Long Life: From 1815 to 1883, page 486:
      He was an aged man, with a withered countenance, down-looking, and low-hearted, probably (I hope it was so) the outcome of remorse.
    • 2004, Kathleen Elizabeth Diffley, To Live and Die: Collected Stories of the Civil War, 1861–1876, →ISBN:
      I was low-hearted in my ways, and she was hoping in hers, like her father was.

Derived terms

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