Slan"der (?), v. t. [imp. & p. p. Slandered (?);
p. pr. & vb. n.
Slandering.]
1. To defame; to injure by maliciously uttering a false report; to tarnish or impair the reputation of by false tales maliciously told or propagated; to calumniate.
O, do not slander him, for he is kind.
Shak.
2. To bring discredit or shame upon
by one's
acts.
Tax not so bad a voice
To
slander music any more than
once.
Shak. Syn. -- To asperse; defame; calumniate; vilify; malign; belie; scandalize; reproach. See Asperse.
Slan"der (?), n. [OE.
sclandere, OF. esclandre,
esclandle, escandre, F. esclandre,
fr. L. scandalum, Gr. &?;&?;&?; a snare, stumbling block, offense, scandal; probably originally, the spring of a trap, and akin to Skr. skand to spring, leap. See Scan, and cf. Scandal.]
1. A false tale
or report maliciously uttered,
tending to injure the reputation of another; the malicious utterance of defamatory reports; the dissemination of malicious tales or suggestions to the injury of
another.
Whether we speak evil of
a man to his face or behind his back; the former way, indeed, seems to be the most generous, but yet is a great fault, and that which we call
"reviling;" the latter is more mean and
base, and that which we
properly call "slander", or "Backbiting."
Tillotson.
[We] make the careful magistrate
The mark of slander.
B.
Jonson. 2. Disgrace; reproach; dishonor; opprobrium.
Thou slander of thy mother's heavy womb.
Shak. 3. (Law)
Formerly, defamation generally,
whether oral or written; in modern usage, defamation by words spoken; utterance of false, malicious, and defamatory words, tending
to the damage and derogation of another; calumny. See the Note
under Defamation. Burril.
Hear it pronounced