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Evil \e"vil\, adv. In an evil manner; not well; ill; badly; unhappily; injuriously; unkindly. --Shak

It went evil with his house. --1 Chron vii. 23
The Egyptians evil entreated us, and affected us --Deut. xxvi 6

Evil \e*vil\ adj. [OE. evel, evil, ifel, uvel, AS. yfel; akin to OFries, evel, D. euvel, OS. & OHG. ubil, G. ["u]bel, Goth ubils, and perh. to E. over.]

  1. Having qualities tending to injury and mischief; having a nature or properties which tend to badness; mischievous; not good; worthless or deleterious; poor; as, an evil beast; and evil plant; an evil crop
    A good tree can not bring forth evil fruit. --Matt vii. 18
  2. Having or exhibiting bad moral qualities; morally corrupt; wicked; wrong; vicious; as, evil conduct, thoughts, heart, words, and the like
    Ah, what a sign it is of evil life, When death's approach is seen so terrible. --Shak
  3. Producing or threatening sorrow, distress, injury, or calamity; unpropitious; calamitous; as, evil tidings; evil arrows; evil days
    Because he hath brought up an evil name upon a virgin of Israel. --Deut. xxii 19
    The owl shrieked at thy birth -- an evil sign --Shak
    Evil news rides post, while good news baits --Milton

Evil \e"vil\ ([=e]"v'l) n.

  1. Anything which impairs the happiness of a being or deprives a being of any good; anything which causes suffering of any kind to sentient beings; injury; mischief; harm; -- opposed to good
    Evils which our own misdeeds have wrought. --Milton
    The evil that men do lives after them; the good is oft interred with their bones --Shak
  2. Moral badness, or the deviation of a moral being from the principles of virtue imposed by conscience, or by the will of the Supreme Being, or by the principles of a lawful human authority; disposition to do wrong; moral offence; wickedness; depravity
    The heart of the sons of men is full of evil --Eccl. ix. 3 3.
    malady or disease; especially in the phrase king's evil, the scrofula.
    He [Edward the Confessor] was the first that touched for the evil. --Addison

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