Crossword Dictionary

What's The Definition Of Corrupt?

\Cor*rupt`\ (k?r-r?pt"), a. [L. corruptus, p. p. of corrumpere to corrupt; cor- + rumpere to break. See {Rupture}.] 1. Changed from a sound to a putrid state; spoiled; tainted; vitiated; unsound. Who with such corrupt and pestilent bread would feed them. --Knolles. 2. Changed from a state of uprightness, correctness, truth, etc., to a worse state; vitiated; depraved; debased; perverted; as, corrupt language; corrupt judges. At what ease Might corrupt minds procure knaves as corrupt To swear against you. --Shak. 3. Abounding in errors; not genuine or correct; as, the text of the manuscript is corrupt.
\Cor*rupt"\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. {Corrupted}; p. pr. & vb. n. {Corrupting}.] 1. To change from a sound to a putrid or putrescent state; to make putrid; to putrefy. 2. To change from good to bad; to vitiate; to deprave; to pervert; to debase; to defile. Evil communications corrupt good manners. --1. Cor. xv. 33. 3. To draw aside from the path of rectitude and duty; as, to corrupt a judge by a bribe. Heaven is above all yet; there sits a Judge That no king can corrupt. --Shak. 4. To debase or render impure by alterations or innovations; to falsify; as, to corrupt language; to corrupt the sacred text. He that makes an ill use of it [language], though he does not corrupt the fountains of knowledge, . . . yet he stops the pines. --Locke. 5. To waste, spoil, or consume; to make worthless. Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt. --Matt. vi. 19.
\Cor*rupt"\ (k?r-r?pt"), v. i. 1. To become putrid or tainted; to putrefy; to rot. --Bacon. 2. To become vitiated; to lose putity or goodness.