low-hearted

See also: lowhearted

English

Alternative forms

• lowhearted

Etymology

low +‎ hearted

Adjective

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

1. Depressed, despondent, or dispirited
   • 2014, Sir Richard Blackmore, Springhaven: A Tale of the Great War, →ISBN:

     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.

   • 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.

   • 1914, Zane Grey, The Light of Western Stars:

     The afternoon Bonita an' I were married, when Gene an' the padre had gone, I was happy one minute an' low-hearted the next.

2. Morally reprehensible, cowardly, or untrustworthy.
   • 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.

   • 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.

   • 1820, Samuel Richardson, Mrs. Anna Letitia Barbauld, Clarissa; Or, The History of a Young Lady, page 146:

     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;

3. (obsolete) Modest and unassuming.
   • 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.

   • 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.

   • 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.