low-hearted

comparative more low-hearted · superlative most low-hearted · alternative lowhearted

1. Depressed, despondent, or dispirited

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

   1914 January, Zane Grey, The Light of Western Stars: A Romance, New York, N.Y.; London: Harper & Brothers Publishers, →OCLC

   2 more examples

   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.

   1886 April – 1887 April, Richard Doddridge Blackmore, “The Trials of Faith”, in Springhaven. A Tale of the Great War. […], volume II, London: Sampson Low, Marston, Searle & Rivington, […], published 1887, →OCLC, page 65

   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.

   2006, Malcolm Gillies, David Pear, Mark Carroll, Self-Portrait of Percy Grainger, →ISBN

2. Morally reprehensible, cowardly, or untrustworthy.

   Now they harm the people, and the malign influence behind this lies with low-hearted officials who put all their efforts into catching them.

   2004, John Knight, Wildlife in Asia: Cultural Perspectives, →ISBN

   2 more examples

   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; […]

   1748, [Samuel Richardson], Clarissa. Or, The History of a Young Lady: […], volume (please specify |volume=I to VII), London: […] S[amuel] Richardson; [a]nd sold by John Osborn, […], →OCLC

   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.

   1865, Charles James Lever, Tony Butler: A Novel, page 178

3. obsoleteModest and unassuming.

   I was low-hearted in my ways, and she was hoping in hers, like her father was.

   2004, Kathleen Elizabeth Diffley, To Live and Die: Collected Stories of the Civil War, 1861–1876, →ISBN

   2 more examples

   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.

   1792, Emin Joseph Emin, Amy Apcar, Life and Adventures of Emin Joseph Emin, 1726-1809

   He was an aged man, with a withered countenance, down-looking, and low-hearted, probably (I hope it was so) the outcome of remorse.

   1883, Samual Carter Hall, Retrospect of a Long Life: From 1815 to 1883, page 486