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American Dictionary of the English Language

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Scandal


SCAN'DAL, noun [Latin scandalum; Gr. In Greek, this word signifies a stumbling block, something against which a person impinges, or which causes him to fall.]

1. Offense given by the faults of another.

His lustful orgies he enlarg'd even to the hill of scandal

[In this sense, we now generally use offense.]

2. Reproachful aspersion; opprobrious censure; defamatory speech or report; something uttered which is false and injurious to reputation.

My known virtue is from scandal free.

3. Shame; reproach; disgrace. Such is the perverted state of the human mind that some of the most heinous crimes bring little scandal upon the offender.

SCAN'DAL, verb transitive

1. To treat opprobriously; to defame; to asperse; to traduce; to blacken character.

I do fawn on men, and hug them hard, and after scandal them. [Not used.]

2. To scandalize; to offend. [Not used.]