peccant

peccant

English

Etymology

From Latin peccāns, peccantis.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈpɛkənt/

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Adjective

peccant (comparative more peccant, superlative most peccant)

1. (obsolete) Unhealthy; causing disease.
   • 1605, Francis Bacon, “(please specify |book=1 or 2)”, in The Tvvoo Bookes of Francis Bacon. Of the Proficience and Aduancement of Learning, Diuine and Humane, London: […] [Thomas Purfoot and Thomas Creede] for Henrie Tomes, […], OCLC 932932554:

     peccant humours

   • 1823 April 14, Lord Byron, “Letter DXIV. To the Earl of B**.”, in Thomas Moore, editor, Letters and Journals of Lord Byron: With Notices of His Life, […], volume II, London: John Murray, […], published 1830, OCLC 629975661, page 640:

     I am truly sorry that I cannot accompany you in your ride this morning, owing to a violent pain in my face, arising from a wart to which I by medical advice applied a caustic. Whether I put too much, I do not know, but the consequence is, that not only I have been put to some pain, but the peccant part and its immediate environ are as black as if the printer's devil had marked me for an author.

2. Sinful.
   • 1667, John Milton, “Book X”, in Paradise Lost. […], London: […] [Samuel Simmons], […], OCLC 228722708; republished as Paradise Lost in Ten Books: […], London: Basil Montagu Pickering […], 1873, OCLC 230729554:

     peccant angels

3. Wrong; defective; faulty.
   • 1726, John Ayliffe, Parergon juris canonici Anglicani

     in each Case the Law is or may be peccant , by commanding an Evil , or a Thing immoderately severe

   • 1886, Henry James, The Bostonians, London; New York, N.Y.: Macmillan and Co., OCLC 3179002:

     Olive rested her eyes for some moments upon Mrs. Luna, without speaking. Then she said: 'Your veil is not put on straight, Adeline.' 'I look like a monster—that, evidently, is what you mean!' Adeline exclaimed, going to the mirror to rearrange the peccant tissue.

Related terms

• impeccable
• peccable

Noun

peccant (plural peccants)

1. (obsolete) An offender.
   • 1654, Richard Whitlock, Zootomia; Or, Observations on the Present Manners of the English

     Yet this conceitednesse and Itch of being taken for a Counsellour, maketh more Reprovers, than Peccants in the world.

Further reading

• peccant in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913
• peccant in The Century Dictionary, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911
• peccant at OneLook Dictionary Search

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Latin

Verb

peccant

1. third-person plural present active indicative of peccō