beastly

English

Etymology

From Middle English bestely, bestly, equivalent to beast +‎ -ly. Compare West Frisian bistachtich (“beastly”), Dutch beestachtig (“beastly”), German biestig (“beastly”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈbiːstli/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -iːstli

Adjective

beastly (comparative beastlier or more beastly, superlative beastliest or most beastly) (chiefly UK)

1. Pertaining to, or having the form, nature, or habits of, a beast.

   Synonyms: animalian, bestial; see also Thesaurus:animallike

2. Similar to the nature of a beast; contrary to the nature and dignity of human beings.

   Synonyms: brutal, filthy

   beastly culture

3. (UK, dated) Abominable; very unpleasant; hideous.

   beastly weather

   Stop being so beastly to her!

   • 1904, E[dith] Nesbit, “(please specify the page)”, in New Treasure Seekers, London: Ernest Benn, →OCLC:

     And all the time, whenever we went to the Cedars, there was all sorts of silly fuss going on about the beastly wedding; boxes coming from London with hats and jackets in, and wedding presents—all glassy and silvery, or else brooches and chains—and clothes sent down from London to choose from.

   • 1920, Agatha Christie, The Mysterious Affair at Styles, London: Pan Books, published 1954, page 58:

     “Yes, I’ve got the most beastly headache.”

   • 1950, Norman Lindsay, Dust or Polish?, Sydney: Angus and Robertson, page 165:

     "If you saw the care she takes over hoisting her beastly old carcass up and down those stairs, you could make a sure bet against her having another accident there."

4. (slang) Of computer hardware or motor vehicles etc.: ostentatiously powerful.
   • 2010 January 11, Matthew DeCarlo, “Silverstone mini-ITX case can fit Radeon HD 5970”, in TechSpot:

     In addition to a Core i7-860 with a full-sized heatsink and 4GB of DDR3 RAM, the company showed its SUGO SG07 housing today's most beastly graphics card, the dual-GPU Radeon HD 5970, which is about 30cm long.

   • 2014, March 21, Tycho de Feijter, “Hummer H2 is a Big Black Beast in the Rain in China”, CarNewsChina.com:

     A very big, very black, and very beastly Hummer H2, Spotted in China in in^[sic] the rain the great city of Zigong in Sichuan Province.

   • 2018 October 16, Chris Smith, “Huawei just unveiled the most beastly Android phone the world has ever seen”, in BGR:

     Huawei’s Mate 20 phones have instantly become the best iPhone XS rivals out there, at least on paper, and the high-end model is easily the most beastly Android phone the world has seen so far.

Usage notes

Most often used pejoratively, but sense 4 has predominantly positive connotations. Bestial is more narrow, though also often used pejoratively. See also the usage note at nature of the beast.

Derived terms

• beasterly
• beastlihead
• beastlihood
• beastlily
• beastliness
• beastly careless
• beastlyhead

Related terms

• nature of the beast

Translations

pertaining to, or having the form, nature, or habits of a beast

• Bengali: পাশবিক (bn) (paśbik), হায়ওয়ানী (bn) (haẏōẇani)
• Bulgarian: животински (bg) (životinski), зверски (bg) (zverski), скотски (bg) (skotski)
• Catalan: bestial (ca), animal (ca)
• Finnish: petomainen (fi)
• Greek:

  Ancient Greek: κτηνώδης (ktēnṓdēs)

• Middle English: bestial, beestly
• Polish: zwierzęcy (pl)
• Russian: живо́тный (ru) (živótnyj), звери́ный (ru) (zverínyj)
• Scottish Gaelic: brùideil

characterizing the nature of a beast; brutal; filthy

• Bengali: পাশবিক (bn) (paśbik), হায়ওয়ানী (bn) (haẏōẇani)
• Bulgarian: зверски (bg) (zverski)
• Finnish: petomainen (fi)
• German: garstig (de)
• Greek:

  Ancient Greek: κτηνώδης (ktēnṓdēs)

• Middle English: bestial, beestly
• Polish: bestialski (pl)
• Russian: зверский (ru) (zverskij)
• Scottish Gaelic: brùideil

abominable

• Bulgarian: отвратителен (bg) (otvratitelen)
• German: garstig (de)
• Polish: bestialski (pl)

Adverb

beastly (comparative more beastly, superlative most beastly)

1. Like a beast; brutishly.
   • 1590, Edmund Spenser, “Book III, Canto VIII”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC:

     Beastly he threwe her downe, ne car'd to spill / Her garments gay with scales of fish that all did fill.

   • 1901, The Literary World, volume 63, page 35:

     They have insulted me most beastly. Moreover, they are, everyone of them, black-satan filthmen.

2. (dated, colloquial) Very much; terribly.
   • 1923, Ernest Bramah [pseudonym; Ernest Brammah Smith], “(please specify the page)”, in The Eyes of Max Carrados, London: Grant Richards, →OCLC:

     "I'm beastly sorry, Wynn, old man," he muttered. "I ought to have remembered."

   • 1955, Vladimir Nabokov, Lolita:

     The baths were mostly tiled showers, with an endless variety of spouting mechanisms, but with one definitely non-Laodicean characteristic in common, a propensity, while in use, to turn instantly beastly hot or blindingly cold upon you, depending on whether your neighbor turned on his cold or his hot to deprive you of a necessary complement in the shower you had so carefully blended.

Anagrams

• baetyls, baylets