nasty

comparative nastier · superlative nastiest

1. USDirty, filthy.First known use 14th c.

   I really don't have any friends at school Mama Mia. They talk about me all the time. They say my hair's nappy and my clothes are nasty.

   2006, Marie Fontaine, The Chronicles of my Ghetto Street Volume One, page 156

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   In such condition, there is no place for Industry; because the fruit thereof is uncertain: and consequently no Culture of the Earth; no Navigation, nor use of the commodities that may be imported by Sea; no commodious Building; no Instruments of moving, and removing such things as require much force; no Knowledge of the face of the Earth; no account of Time; no Arts; no Letters; no Society; and which is worst of all, continuall feare, and danger of violent death; And the life of man, solitary, poore, nasty, brutish, and short.

   1651, Thomas Hobbes, Leviathan

2. Contemptible, unpleasant (of a person).First known use 15th c.

   Jonathan kept staring at him, till I was afraid he would notice. I feared he might take it ill, he looked so fierce and nasty.

   1897, Bram Stoker, Dracula, Westminster [London]: Archibald Constable and Company, […], →OCLC

3. Objectionable, unpleasant (of a thing); repellent, offensive.First known use 16th c.

   ‘It's a nasty trade,’ said Mr. Limbkins, when Gamfield had again stated his wish.

   1838, Boz [pseudonym; Charles Dickens], Oliver Twist; […], volume (please specify |volume=I, II, or III), London: Richard Bentley, […], →OCLC

4. Indecent or offensive; obscene, lewd.First known use 17th c.

   He said to Mr. Tallboy he thought the headline was a bit hot. And Mr. Tallboy said he had a nasty mind.

   1933, Dorothy L Sayers, Murder Must Advertise

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   We want threesomes, blowjobs, and orgies. That's just the way it is. We want the good girl who's nasty in bed.

   2009, Okera H, Be Your Priority, Not His Option, Mill City Press, published 2009, page 45

5. Spiteful, unkind.First known use 19th c.

   She had said: "I love the block button on Twitter. I don't know how people expect to send a nasty comment and not get blocked."

   2012 June 3, The Guardian

   Synonyms: inhuman, ruthless, sadistic, barbarous, bowelless, brutal, compassionless, cruel

6. UKAwkward, difficult to navigate; dangerous.First known use 19th c.

   There was a nasty period during the First World War when the family's allegiance was called into question - not least because one of the Schroders had been made a baron by the Kaiser.

   2007 August 5, The Observer

7. UKGrave or dangerous (of an accident, illness etc.).First known use 19th c.

   Moving into the middle ages, William the Conqueror managed to rout the English and rule the country, then see off numerous plots and assassination attempts, before his horse did for him in a nasty fall, killing him at 60.

   2012 March 2, James Ball, The Guardian

8. USslangFormidable, terrific; wicked.First known use 20th c.

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   "Well," she grinned, looking hot and sexy. "They say you doing some real nasty shit in the NBA, but on the mic you a little too competitive. They say you a gaming niggah who likes to keep up all kinds of go-to-war gangsta friction between rappers. That shit must work for you though, huh? You stickin' all over the charts when other artists are failin' off. They rotating your cuts on the radio like mad too."

   2006, Noire [pseudonym], Thug-A-Licious: An Urban Erotic Tale, New York, N.Y.: One World, Ballantine Books, →ISBN, page 15

plural nasties

1. informalSomething nasty.

   Processed foods are full of aspartame and other nasties.

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   This video game involves flying through a maze zapping various nasties.

   I also urge the regular visual examination of the rectum (anoscopy) for people who engage in rectal sex, for the early detection of rectal warts, hemorrhoids, fissures — all those rectal nasties.

   1981 August 1, Ron Vachon, “To Your Health”, in Gay Community News, page 13

2. euphemisticslangpreceded by "the"Sexual intercourse.
3. A video nasty.

   Jones evokes the nasties discursively to brand the Splat Pack as 'authentic outlaws'.

   2014, mark Bernard, Selling the Splat Pack: The DVD Revolution and the American Horror Film

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   In this way, it is hoped that the nasties will be dealt with, and the remainder regularized.

   1984, ThirdWay, volume 7, number 5, page 17

present singular third person nasties · participle present nastying · participle past nastied · past nastied

1. alsofigurativelyreflexivetransitiveTo besmirch, to befoul.

   But you was at much trouble, I should think, in taking care of the Doctor's fish, in gutting and cleaning them, wetting and nastying yourself with them.

   1875, Benjamin Graf von Rumford, The Complete Works of Count Rumford, volume 1, Macmillan

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   You're just another 365 night stand / But you're so handy, you're so handy / You cheapen and you nasty every woman in this land / But you're so handy, you're so handy

   1992 September 19, Paul Heaton, Dave Rotheray, “36D”, in 0898 Beautiful South, performed by The Beautiful South

1. A hamlet in Great Munden parish, East Hertfordshire district, Hertfordshire, England (OS grid ref TL3524).