deform

adj

1. Having an unusual and unattractive shape; deformed, misshapen; hence, hideous, ugly.

   “[…] I did proclame, / That vvho ſo kild that monſter moſt deforme, / And him in hardy battayle ouercame, / Should haue mine onely daughter to his Dame, and of my kingdome heyre apparaunt bee: […]”

   “Sight ſo deform what heart of Rock could long / Drie-ey’d behold?”

   “The common overgrown vvith fern, and rough / VVith prickly goſs, that ſhapeleſs and deform / And dang’rous to the touch, has yet its bloom / And decks itſelf vvith ornaments of gold, / Yields no unpleaſing ramble; […]”

   “Angela the old / Died palsy-twitch’d, with meagre face deform; […]”

   “[W]hat is wanting to success, / If somehow every face, no matter how deform, / Evidence, to some one of hearts on earth, that, warm / Beneath the veriest ash, there hides a spark of soul / Which, quickened by love's breath, may yet pervade the whole / O' the grey, and, free again, be fire?”

verb

1. (transitive)To change the form of (something), usually thus making it disordered or irregular; to give (something) an abnormal or unusual shape.

   “I that am curtaild of this faire proportion / Cheated of feature by diſſembling nature, / Deformd, vnfinisht, ſent before my time / Into this breathing vvorld ſcarce halfe made vp, / And that ſo lamely and vnfaſhionable, / That dogs barke at me as I halt by them: […]”

   “They ſay this tovvne is full of coſenage: / As nimble Iuglers that deceiue the eie: / Darke vvorking Sorcerers that change the minde: / Soule-killing VVitches, that deforme the bodie: […]”

   “[Y]ou muſt take care to keep the Bitt ſtraight to the Hole you pierce, leſt you deform the Hole, or break the Bitt.”

   “Me Pallas gave to lead the martial ſtorm, / And the fair ranks of battle to deform: / Me, Mars inſpir'd to turn the foe to flight, / And tempt the ſecret ambuſh of the night.”

   “The chairs were also damaged, many of them severely; and deep indentations deformed the panels of the walls.”

2. (transitive)To change the form of (something), usually thus making it disordered or irregular; to give (something) an abnormal or unusual shape.
3. (also, figuratively, transitive)To change the look of (something), usually thus making it imperfect or unattractive; to give (something) an abnormal or unusual appearance.

   “a face deformed by bitterness”

   “Shortly vnto the vvaſtefull vvoods ſhe came, / VVhereas ſhe found the Goddeſſe vvith her crevv, / […] / Some of them vvaſhing vvith the liquid devv / From of their dainty limbs the duſty ſvveat, / And ſoyle vvhich did deforme their liuely hevv, […]”

   “The yeare next enſuing he [Edward Seymour, 1st Duke of Somerset] invaded the Scottiſh borders, waſted Tinedale & the marches and deformed the country with ruine and ſpoile.”

   “[E]re Sun-riſe, his [Khusrau Mirza's] afflicted vvife (Cavvn Azems daughter) goes to viſit him; vvhere finding him ſpeechleſſe, and (by his contus'd face) murdered; never did poore vvretch ſhed more teares, or ſhevv more paſſion; by tearing her faire hayre, deforming her ſvveet face ſo fiercely, ſo amazedly, that her Father and all his family heare her, and ſee it to their griefe and admiration.”

   “Still to deform thy gentle Brovv vvith Frovvns! / And ſtill to be perverſe! It is a manner / Abhorrent from the ſoftneſs of thy Sex: […]”

4. (transitive)To mar the character or quality of (something).

   “a marriage deformed by jealousy”

   “[Y]our beautie Ladies / Hath much deformed vs, faſhioning our humours / Euen to the oppoſed ende of our ententes.”

   “But, Sʳ, I will no longer tire your patience wᵗʰ these monsters (the subject of every contemptuous pamphlet) then with the madness of the Anabaptists, Quakers, Fift Monarchy-men, and a cento of unheard of heresies besides, which, at present, deform the once renowned Church of England, and approach so little to the pretended Reformation, which we in France have been made to believe, that there is nothing more heavenly wide.”

   “It made me tremble a little […] to think what a sad thing Passion is, when Way is given to its ungovernable Tumults, and how it deforms and debases the noblest Minds!”

   “VVomen in vain to keep their place have ſtriven; / From ev’ry trade, from each profeſſion driven. / […] / VVhile narrow prejudice deform’d the age, / No actreſs play’d, no female trod the ſtage; / […] / But vvoman once brought forvvard on the ſcene, / By man, like Eve, vvas lik’d as ſoon as ſeen.”

5. (intransitive)To become changed in shape or misshapen.

   “If I answer that metal’s hard and shiny and cold to the touch and deforms without breaking under blows from a harder material, [David] Hume says those are all sights and sounds and touch. There’s no substance. Tell me what metal is apart from these sensations. Then, of course, I’m stuck.”