Vulgar \Vul"gar\, a. [L. vulgaris, from vulgus the multitude,
the common people; of uncertain origin: cf. F. vulgaire. Cf.
Divulge.]
1. Of or pertaining to the mass, or multitude, of people;
common; general; ordinary; public; hence, in general use;
vernacular. ``As common as any the most vulgar thing to
sense. '' -- Shak.
Things vulgar, and well-weighed, scarce worth the
praise. --Milton.
It might be more useful to the English reader . . .
to write in our vulgar language. --Bp. Fell.
The mechanical process of multiplying books had
brought the New Testament in the vulgar tongue
within the reach of every class. --Bancroft.
2. Belonging or relating to the common people, as
distinguished from the cultivated or educated; pertaining
to common life; plebeian; not select or distinguished;
hence, sometimes, of little or no value. ``Like the vulgar
sort of market men.'' --Shak.
Men who have passed all their time in low and vulgar
life. --Addison.
In reading an account of a battle, we follow the
hero with our whole attention, but seldom reflect on
the vulgar heaps of slaughter. --Rambler.
3. Hence, lacking cultivation or refinement; rustic; boorish;
also, offensive to good taste or refined feelings; low;
coarse; mean; base; as, vulgar men, minds, language, or
manners.
Be thou familiar, but by no means vulgar. --Shak.
Vulgar fraction. (Arith.) See under Fraction.
Source: Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913)
|