beastly

English

Etymology

From Middle English beestely, bestely, beastliche, 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)

1. (UK) Pertaining to, or having the form, nature, or habits of, a beast.
2. (UK) Similar to the nature of a beast; contrary to the nature and dignity of man

   Synonyms: brutal, filthy

   beastly culture

3. (UK, dated) Abominable.

   beastly weather

4. (of computing hardware) Powerful, having a powerful appearance
   • 2010, January 11, Matthew DeCarlo, “Silverstone mini-ITX case can fit Radeon HD 5970”, 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 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”, 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.

Synonyms

• (like a beast): bestial, animalian

Derived terms

• beastliness

Translations

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

• Bulgarian: животински (bg) (životinski), зверски (bg) (zverski), скотски (bg) (skotski)
• Catalan: bestial, animal (ca)
• Greek:

  Ancient: κτηνώδης (ktēnṓdēs)

• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Interlingue:
• Russian: живо́тный (ru) (živótnyj), звери́ный (ru) (zverínyj)
• Scottish Gaelic: brùideil

characterizing the nature of a beast; brutal; filthy

• Bulgarian: зверски (bg) (zverski)
• German: garstig (de)
• Greek:

  Ancient: κτηνώδης (ktēnṓdēs)

• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Russian: зверский (ru) (zverskij)
• Scottish Gaelic: brùideil

abominable

• Bulgarian: отвратителен (bg) (otvratitelen)
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• German: garstig (de)

Adverb

beastly (comparative more beastly, superlative most beastly)

1. Like a beast; brutishly.
   • 1590, Edmund Spenser, The Faerie Queene, III.8:

     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.

   • 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